The ½ Car (read as "half car") was one of the gameplay elements on Wheel of Fortune.
History[]
Original style[]
A ½ Car Wedge.
The original ½ Car Wedges were used for a special Road Trip week in Season 28 (the week of April 11-15, 2011). Similarly to the $10,000 and Million-Dollar Wedges, it had a one-third-sized "Car" space surrounded by one-third-sized red $500 wedges, and a license plate-shaped "car" tag on top. Hitting the "car" space in the middle awarded the tag plus $500 per consonant; solving the puzzle allowed the contestant to keep the tag, and getting two awarded a Hyundai Accent. The ½ Car Wedges were in play from Rounds 1-3, and located over the orange $300 and blue $500 next to the red $900. If a tag was landed on, a car horn sounded.
The original "Car" tags were unique in that they were not lost to Bankrupts hit in subsequent rounds (but were lost to Bankrupts hit in the same round). Also, if one was claimed, it was replaced with another in the next round. During the week that these were in play, only two tags were ever hit, with one lost to Bankrupt and the other "kept", and several variables involving the tags were not explored.
Another unique property of the ½ Car Wedge was that it affected two other spaces on the Wheel for aesthetic purposes: the red $900 wedge became blue until Round 4, and the Wild Card moved to the pink $900. These changes were reverted for the rest of Season 28.
The mechanic is somewhat similar to the Gem Car in Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck, which required contestants to land on two special spaces to claim a car.
Second style[]
A ½ Kia license plate.
Shortly into Season 29 (starting September 26, 2011), the ½ Car pieces returned as "½ Kia" license plate-shaped tags featuring the logo of said manufacturer and offering a $15,000 Kia Soul. These were placed over dollar amounts in a similar fashion to the Gift Tag. One was still over the blue $500, but the other moved one wedge counterclockwise to the green $500 (changed from $700), also resulting in Wild Card's relocation to the pink $900. The car horn still sounded if one was landed on. Also, the tags became vulnerable to any Bankrupt. When a tag was picked up, a large graphic of a tag appeared on the contestant's scoreboard before shrinking to fit under their score. Beginning on September 28, 2011, collecting a tag also awarded $500 per consonant. They were still replaced in subsequent rounds if one was picked up, unless the car was won.
From October 24-28 and 31 (the first episodes taped in Season 29), the tags said "½ Car" in blue, similarly to the first ones, and offered a $14,999 Ford Fiesta plus $500 per consonant; the Kia tags returned on November 1, but were absent on December 5 due to it being the sixth episode from the taping of the season premiere week.
On several occasions, contestants picked up tags in situations where winning the car is impossible, most often by picking up the second one in Round 3 after the first one had been lost to Bankrupt. Conversely, five contestants have managed to win the car after picking up three tags.
In Season 30, the tags reverted to the "½ Car" design to reflect a change in the cars offered (by this point, the Ford Fiesta, Chevrolet Sonic, and Smart Car). Also, the tag next to the green $300 was moved onto it (now increased to $500). In Season 31, the Smart Car was replaced with the Chevrolet Spark, and in Season 32, the Chevrolet Sonic was replaced with the Nissan Versa Note S.
For the week of September 30, 2013 only (and its sixth episode, aired November 5), two changes were made: the car offered was a Mazda2, and the tags had a black license plate frame around them with the Mazda logo at the top.
The tags were not used on team weeks unless the teams were all married couples, likely due to the difficulty of sharing a car otherwise. They were also not used during the weeks of November 3 and 10, 2014; February 9 and 16, 2015; March 2, 2015; and April 27, 2015. The former four weeks were taped on-location in Hawaii, with the 9th being a couples' week, while the latter two were sponsored by Disney. The tags were later removed permanently from couples' weeks near the end of Season 34, only to return in Season 36.
Starting in Season 33, the ½ Car tags were limited to Rounds 2 and 3, and the Ford Fiesta became the only vehicle offered by them. The former change was likely due to a large number of cars being won in Season 32. The car changed back to the Nissan Versa in Season 35. The tags were retired at the end of Season 36 on June 7, 2019.