Spotting such vehicles in our usual boring stream of traffic can be as rewarding as catching a smile of a beautiful woman - or on the contrary, may only produce a yelp of disbelief "what in the name of Motoring Mother Mary was THAT?"
Another entry in our popular "World's Strangest Vehicles" series, this article is chock-full of surprising, and wildly confusing designs, some of which only their mother (i. e. their creators) would love.
We'll start with some vintage coolness: this "truck/passenger trailer" scores on many points. It's rare, spectacularly different, and Swiss-made.
"This vehicle was used in Zürich airport to bring passenger from terminal to the planes. Picture taken in the Swiss transportation museum in Lüzern (note: the thing above cab that looks like gun doesn't belong to this truck; it's water-gun of a fire truck that stands behind)"
Possibly Fiat Multipla beach vehicle from the 60s:
"Modulo" from Pininfarina, 1970: (back when every Italian concept car was an instant classic)
Now, let's see what weirdness can be spotted on modern streets. How about -
T-Rex vehicle is bizarre and futuristic-looking enough to be worthy of some Star Wars concept art. The amazing thing is that it's currently in production by the Campagna Corporation located in Quebec, and has been commercially available since the early 1990s:
Colvini's 6-wheeled sports car looks pretty nifty and offers more traction for cornering and braking: (more info)
Speaking of super cars, this one is rarely mentioned and little-known, though it definitely looks the part. MC-1, made in cooperation between C2P Automotive and MotorCity Europe - very sharp design by David Hilton (more info) -
Getting back to the vintage cool designs, we can not pass by the concept vehicles created for the British "UFO" TV series. They were exceptionally sexy in the combination with futuristic ladies, posing in and around them: (click to enlarge)
Moon Vehicles that did not make it to the Moon (yet)
NASA had multiple ideas and concept designs for Moon exploration on wheels (or not) - here are some of the Lunar Rovers that were introduced:
Grumman LSS Rover, 1963 (was designed to be launched to moon by a single Saturn lB) -
The Lunar Sortie Vehicle (LSV), a North American Rockwell proposal from 1971:
The Lunar Worm! This Planetary Roving Vehicle Concept was introduced by Philco Corp. in 1966. "This was a bellows-concept mobile vehicle which could 'inch' its way across almost any kind of lunar surface."
This is really hard to beat: take a used Boeing 727, get rid of its wings and customize it into most luxurious and biggest limo on the planet! This is exactly what Mexican Vaca Meters Limos company did
"Up to 50 passengers can boogie on a dance floor, make a pit stop at a bar or retire to a "romantic" space in the back of the luxury aircraft/automobile." Top speed: 200 kilometers (124 miles) an hour, it has a six-cylinder, turbocharged diesel engine in the back and air brakes and suspension. The company plans to offer similar ultimate coaches to clientele in the US.
More interesting limos and stretches:
Art Cars
Our traditional section deals with more avantgarde vehicle creations (which some art critics would love and the others would immediately donate to the Kidney Foundation)
Seems to be a knock-off of the "Camera Van" by Harrod Blank:
Eric Staller's creations are uniformly weird and often tongue-in-cheek: Big Bang theory:
Communist Propaganda mobiles, made from trucks for some parade appearances:
Ugliness Turns Heads
This is the only explanation we can find to justify the existence of some of the disproportioned vehicles featured here.
Appropriately titled "It might fly, if it had wings - or an engine", this crazy styling gem comes from reputable Italian design firm Ghia - imagine that. The strange exterior is somewhat compensated by the cool aircraft-type steering wheel inside.
This is not VW Beetle any more (only eyes, er... headlights, are left after extensive car surgery) - This one seems to be similar to Dave Major's propellor cars
Half a car (what could be the reasoning behind this??) -
Similarly one-sided (wooden!!) car from Ukraine - more info:
The Monkees-mobile (there is no excuse for bad taste) -
The words fail us... Do not mess with this undertaker: "Kargoyle" by Brett Barris - with a traveling Kasket beer keg included! (made for the movie "Terror on Wheels" that was released in 1980's.)
The prize for intentional ugliness goes to this monster:
Unusual Bikes
Volvo's Extreme Gravity Car concept was designed for "The Extreme Gravity Competition", an annual downhill car race for charity. Charity does not begin to describe it. (more images here)
That would be Photoshop, sir - ("everything is possible" says the Russian text)
Perhaps the most fascinating vehicle -
...is the Japanese Land-Walker Exoskeleton, created by Sakakibara Kikai company. Over 3 meters in height, and weighing in at 1000kg (2,205 lbs) to see it waking around is quite impressive sight. It's powered by a 250 cc engine and controlled by the operator with the help of custom computer software. Amazingly, you can order your own Land Walker for only $350,000 (£185,000). You can walk around your neighborhood, scaring bejesus out of the sleepy elderly populace.
That rocket-car thing is called the Vampire, and it nearly killed Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond in 2006. The crash: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tDTUSsGaaY
...the dragon on the ???tiburon??? isnt an 'artsy' thing like you said the 'smoke' is a nitrous purge... and the 1 sides car is nothing like the wooden car it reduces the drag coefficient probably for gas mileage but possibly(i doubt it) for 1/4 mile drag times also the hearse was pretty cool allot of these seem to not be 'strange' or 'wierd' or 'artsy'
Hi, the Fiat Multipla, is a Fiat Multipla. I know this as I took the photo :) It was taken at the Goodwood Festival of Speed a few years ago link : http://www.goodwood.co.uk/fos/ and if you're in the UK and like cars, it's a show worth going to. The other pics I took at the festival can be found here: http://gallery.spiny.co.uk
Also, the 2CV 'picasso' is a kustom by the venerable Andy Saunders, link: http://andysaunderskustoms.freeservers.com/index.html
In the picture with plenty of awesomeness, the armoured creatures appear to be the “Mondoshawan” aliens from the movie The Fifth Element. I don’t remember that scene, though.
Victoria Falls isn't in South Africa, it's on the northern boundary of Zimbabwe (where it borders Zambia)... and the Bloukrans (which is near the coast of South Africa) is a LONG way south of it.
If you asked enough questions, I expect you'd find that these "scientific" facilities were dug to provide nuke proof shelters for various and sundry political and military entities.
I guess, you don't know much about neutrino detector projects. The facilities are "hidden" under water and rock because this is one of prerequisites in detecting neutrinos.
Such facilities can be found all around the world (Sudbury Neutrino Observatory in Canada, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy, Kamioka Observatory in Japan and so on) They were intended for research and not cold war shelters from the very begining.
They are underground so that they are isolated from other comsmic radiation that would otherwise interfer with the detection. Please read at least something about it in Wikipedia (althoug that is not the best source) and then post clever post :)
The really cool thing about neutrinos is that they are virtually unstoppable. It would take something like 3 light years of lead to stop only half of them. Any other kind of radiation would be stopped extremely quickly compared to them.
I notice you post quite a few articles from English Russia like this one. The original is hare; http://englishrussia.com/?p=1857 It would be nice if you could credit the original source.
anonymous - english russia is not the original source. We have an exclusive agreement with the original photographer. We also credit english russia where credit is due.
These facilities were NOT built as a nuke proof shelters. SU was a very scientifically involved nation. Damn, USSR was a great country - as powerful as US and with a great avant-garde feel to it. Contemporary world had simply become more boring without it. I wish Russia some day will gain enough potential to revive its soviet heritage.
as a dexter from a formes socialist country with post communist govermnent - I wish the ussr would stay as low as possible - they killed more people and hurt the morale more than anything in human history .
Hey Dexter, I come from a socialist society and I can tell you that I wish for nothing else then socialism to make a comeback
You can blame communism for all of humanity's woes if you want, but I know that it is in the nature of individual humans to be corrupted by power
Any society that elects a dictator is going to suffer, no matter how good his original intentions were. Look at Stalin and Lenin, they tried to make a better world for the working class, but they got corrupted by power and did some really sick things
Now I ask you, is capitalism better? Without democracy, capitalism would be an Orwellian terror. Without democracy in America, how many people could the American army kill in the name of a dictator before someone stopped them? Horror. Keep in mind that Germany killed 60 million with an army that is no bigger then today, all because of a dictator.
Now consider this... How far would the Soviet Union get, if only they were led by a democratically elected leader that changed every 4-8 years? How far would they get with a triumvirate of opposing opinions, a council, senate, anything that did not focus power on one individual for any length of time...
The countries that were once part of the Soviet Union can now barely keep their people fed, considered third world, developing nations, where they once dreamed of space stations and colonies on the Moon, Venus and Mars; A people of great imagination, initiative and intelligence no longer focused on the glory of humanity but on who has the most money. So are they better off with capitalism?
Hey Dexter, I come from a socialist society and I can tell you that I wish for nothing else then socialism to make a comeback
You can blame communism for all of humanity's woes if you want, but I know that it is in the nature of individual humans to be corrupted by power
Any society that elects a dictator is going to suffer, no matter how good his original intentions were. Look at Stalin and Lenin, they tried to make a better world for the working class, but they got corrupted by power and did some really sick things
Now I ask you, is capitalism better? Without democracy, capitalism would be an Orwellian terror. Without democracy in America, how many people could the American army kill in the name of a dictator before someone stopped them? Horror. Keep in mind that Germany killed 60 million with an army that is no bigger then today, all because of a dictator.
Now consider this... How far would the Soviet Union get, if only they were led by a democratically elected leader that changed every 4-8 years? How far would they get with a triumvirate of opposing opinions, a council, senate, anything that did not focus power on one individual for any length of time...
The countries that were once part of the Soviet Union can now barely keep their people fed, considered third world, developing nations, where they once dreamed of space stations and colonies on the Moon, Venus and Mars; A people of great imagination, initiative and intelligence no longer focused on the glory of humanity but on who has the most money. So are they better off with capitalism?
the last two pictures are from different movies judging from the people in the photos as well as the NYC sets. I would say the top photo is some 9/11 movie and the bottom looks like maybe "Escape from NY"
I really don't think you can call that 2.34mm miniature gun "deadly". Unless, of course, you consider objects like paper clips deadly too. "This deadly paper clip can, when straightened, be used to make a puncture wound several centimeters deep!"
Unknown pistol #8 was made by High Standard and is model number DM101..these were made in .22 LR and in .22 Mag. The .22 mag, from what I understand, was issued to certain state police agencies as a backup gun.
The unidentified pistol with three barrels is known as a "Duckfoot" pistol. They were reportedly favored by sea captains and prison warders because of their ability to keep multiple people at bay.
I once owned a Derringer like the one in Unknown #8. It was .22 Mag and very exciting to shoot. I destroyed it because I was never sure if the next time I shot it it would blow up in my hand.
The miniature fire fighter's pistol is a "Protector" palm pistol manufactured by the Chicago Fire Arms Company. These were usually 32 caliber. One was used to assassinate President McKinley in 1901.
The first pistol below the Graz is a James Reid "My Friend" knuckle duster circa 1880s, 22 rimfire.
Pistols three and nine, I believe are sometimes called squeeze pistols. Most were French, I think held four rounds and were six or seven millimeter in caliber.
Pistol number four is a German Brevete pocket pistol in 25 ACP circa 1906.
Pistol number seven is some sort of pepperbox pistol. These were popular in the US prior to the introduction of the Colt revolver.
Actually, the Glove Pistol was "issued" to the Construction Battalions --the SeaBees. They were not permitted to carry firearms, so this gadget was invented and attached to the back of a work glove. It held a single .38 special round, and was supposed to give the wearer some means of fighting back against on-rushing Japanese soldiers.
The text under the picture of the vintage car with the brooms says: "Nail protection". This is probably how that car owner used to protect his tires from punctures by nails deliberately scattered on the road.
PS - Your name suggests you might already know it by yourself, but I thought it would be nice to share it with other non-Hebrew speaking readers. Cool post!
Ivan Mladek isn't from Poland. He is from Czech Republic.I have no idea why everyone thinks he is Polish. And he sings in czech, polish sounds differently.
Ivan Mladek may lately be mistaken for being from Poland, because of the recent enormous popularity of "Jozin z bazin" among Polish internauts ;] but his definetely a Czech.
Pietryq, probably you're right. I"m from Poland and I know that everyone knows "Jozin..". There is also polish version of this song, made by Kabaret Pod Wyrwigroszem with alternative lyrics about polish politicians. If you are interested in: http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=v0eHLz1H-aE It sounds funnier if you know polish, understand lyrics and notice their strong accent.
I think the last picture must be a later satire. Much of the clothing actually reflects styles that were popular at various times in the latter part of the 19th century.
Do any of you remember "Twin Peaks"? And the dancing midget who talked backwards? The guy on the right, in the Czech video is as horridly fascinating to watch. Just to terrible to talk my eyes off him
"QUANTUM SHOT" #404
...+StumbleUpon 
...+Facebook 
|
Most recent DRB-SF site update
13 Comments:
That rocket-car thing is called the Vampire, and it nearly killed Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond in 2006.
The crash: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tDTUSsGaaY
Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hammond#Vampire_dragster_crash
http://www.harzer-bike-schmiede.de/panzerbike.html
based on V12 T34 WK2 Tank Engine
;-)
http://www.myvideo.de/watch/3806061/BMT_2008_Panzermotorrad_er_faehrt_entlich
i always like the nissan snail, or S-cargo
http://www.algysautos.com/scargo_page.html
The one sided car could be to reduce wind resistance?
Wow, that PanzerBike is a beauty - will go into next post!
Thank you
The Mystery Bike under the chap in the tophat is "Oomega" by Chemical Choppers.
http://www.chemicalchopper.com/
...the dragon on the ???tiburon??? isnt an 'artsy' thing like you said the 'smoke' is a nitrous purge...
and the 1 sides car is nothing like the wooden car it reduces the drag coefficient probably for gas mileage but possibly(i doubt it) for 1/4 mile drag times also the hearse was pretty cool allot of these seem to not be 'strange' or 'wierd' or 'artsy'
A couple more for your collection:
http://www.sidewaysbike.com/
and
http://aptera.com/
Lol, I am so getting that Jap walker, I hope it comes with the chain guns and a few hell fire missles, too ^^
The little blue half car looks like something designed to carry surfboards.
Hi,
the Fiat Multipla, is a Fiat Multipla. I know this as I took the photo :) It was taken at the Goodwood Festival of Speed a few years ago link : http://www.goodwood.co.uk/fos/ and if you're in the UK and like cars, it's a show worth going to. The other pics I took at the festival can be found here: http://gallery.spiny.co.uk
Also, the 2CV 'picasso' is a kustom by the venerable Andy Saunders, link: http://andysaunderskustoms.freeservers.com/index.html
cheers,
Phil W.
Thank you Phil for the info - credit included in both places.
These are so cool, the coolest collection of weird cars I have seen. Nice one :)
Post a Comment
<< Home