U.S.S. Enterprise Model Easter Egg - U.S.S. Enterprise Model

I think it's probably there as a method of establishing relative scale...

I know the builder of the model of USS Enterprise in the Air & Space Museum. Yes, he deliberately put a scale model of a car in the model, but I don't remember why. He also comes back every year or two to do preventive maintenance on the ship (dusting, etc). He also moves the various planes around to change the scene. When moves the planes, he also moves that little car. The car is always visible, but it is usually not in a noticable spot. If you find it, you have an observant eye. In the decade that I have lived in the DC area and visit the museum, I don't always find the car, and I know that it is there!

The car may be the captain's. In the U.S. Navy, high ranking officers, espcially the ship's captain, can take their cars with them on long cruises. Mike (former sailor)

Sometimes the Sailors and airmen have a bit of a laugh and one of the things they do is attach a car to the steam catapults and fire it into the sea. I was never sure where they got the cars from, but maybe there were a few of the high ranking officers' cars on board.

The captains car? Hanging off of the back of th ship? Oh, some crewman's gonna hang.

I was stationed on an aircraft carrier, and we used small cars like vw bugs, valiants, etc. to test the catapults when we came out of the yards. It was great fun to watch them launch! Crewmembers of all ranks were allowed to bring back cars at the end of their deployment, (first come basis) and during tiger cruises.(they were until recently anyway) but personal vehicles are stored in the hangar, not on the flight deck.