Top Weird Cars In Automotive History

Cars are among the best vehicles that men have ever created. However, not all of them follows the exact forms of those cars we are driving nowadays. Instead, some of them have been designed in unusual ways that you couldn’t think of. Just look at the following super weird cars, you’ll know why.

01. ZOMBIE PROOF MAYBACH

Khaled Alkayed think of the scenario that when the zombie apocalypse finally comes, wealthy people should join the fight by using a stylish armoured Maybach. And that’s surely one of the weirdest ideas that a person can come up with. Alkayed set survivability his priority in mind when designing this weird armoured concept car. The design finished with a V-12 engine delivering 700 hp, tank treads for off-road travel, and a costly arsenal of rocket launchers and machine guns. This is definitely using money to eliminate undead corpses.

ZOMBIE PROOF MAYBACH

02. HAFNER ROTABUGGY

During the first phases of WW2, the British struggled to find heavy weapon to battle against Hitler. Then, in the madness of the war, Raoul Hafner suddenly came up with an idea of a jeep attached a helicopter propeller. He named it the Rotabuggy. Theoretically, this would provide the air forces with mobile vehicles for assaults.

HAFNER ROTABUGGY

03. HELICRON

Although being made in 1932, this propeller driven car was locked away in a barn in France until 2000. At the time it was rediscovered, the airplane engine was missing and was replaced by a new motor. What’s more, even though it must have been rebuilt so that it could function properly, many of its parts were original such as the headlights, frame, dashboard, wire wheels, steering gear, steering wheel, light switch and  brake pedal. The interesting thing is that the Helicron successfully passed the French safety inspection in 2000 and was approved for use on their roads!

1932 HELICRON

04. 1932 DYNASPHERE

In 1932, thanks to Dr. J. A. Purves, a 10-foot and thousand-pound wheel of steel vehicle named Dynasphere came into real life. Its original 2.5 hp gas motor were able to achieve a highest speed of approximately 25 mph. The driver were supposed to sit in the middle, tipping the weird vehicle left or right to steer, and clenching his or her teeth, hoping nothing unfortunate appeared in the way. Luckily, unlike the rest in this car list, the Dynasphere really worked really well in spite of its weird appearance and visibility issues.

The Dynasphere! Psychotic 1930s Vehicle!

5. CURTISS-WRIGHT MODEL 2500

By the end of WW2, the U.S military invested a fortune in the developing new hardware which would offer tactical advantages on future battlefields. Among the concepts evaluated by the  Army Transportation Research Command, the 1960 Curtiss-Wright Model 2500 Air Car got the most attention. The Air Car resembled Luke Skywalker's landspeeder. However, because the U.S hadn't quite perfected repulsorlift technology, they had to follow another direction which led to the term ‘'Ground Effects Machine' (GEM), or in other words, a hovercraft. Nevertheless, once again, the project had to move to change its direction due to failure in securing a military contract. To be clear, its purpose was changed into civilian uses. A smaller and stylish concept named “Bee” came in reality; however, the project soon went nowhere and the Air Car had to stop its journey before reaching production.

CURTISS-WRIGHT MODEL 2500

06. BMW 4219 ELI

BMW is one of the most reliable car manufacturers in the world. They have not only made many concept cars and supercars, they also support the society in many ways. For example, they created the BMW 4219 ELI only to full-fill 4-year-old Eli’s dream of a supercars that had supreme engines and a lot of wheels. Indeed, the car was installed 19 engines and 42-wheels with a trunk full of toys, and all sorts of other good stuff only 4-year-old minds can ever think of.

BMW 4219 ELI

07. ITALCORSCA/TARF II (Twin Torpedo)

The Italian seemed to be in love with the idea of making look-like-an-airplane car. In 1951, they introduced a weird automobile which was two huge fuselages connected with each other. The driver seat as placed on the right hull. However, the vehicle was too small that you could jump over it and it had insufficient space for a steering wheel, so the manufacturer decided to let the driver use two levers instead. Despite its small body, the Twin Torpedo had an oversized engine which could get the vehicle up to the speed of 185 mph.

08. BMW LOVOS

Looking at BMW Lovos (Lifestyle of Voluntary Simplicity), many people will think of those cool fictional automobiles in Transformers movies. However, it is just a concept car designed by Anne Forschner. The car’s exterior were made of 260 photo-voltaic-cell panels. The panels were supposed to act as air-brakes when Lovos moved at high speed. Nevertheless, no matter how cool it was, the weird car remained a concept due to its impracticality. Maybe, future technologies will be able to bring this concept into real-life.

BMW LOVOS

09. FIREBIRD XP-21

General Motors was inspired by how successfully the jet engines worked in airplanes, so they made an attempt to apply them in cars. Their first breakthrough was the Firebird XP-21, a wheeled fighter plane. On the other hand, as opposed to jet fighters, its exhaust didn’t function as the main thrust. Alternatively, its rear wheels took the job. Although the Firebird XP-21 tried it best to resemble a plane, its folding wings were too dangerous on the road. As a consequence, this weird car couldn’t make it to the production process. After the failure of XP-21, General Motors still held on their hope and planned to make a family version of the car, but it was also one of the maddest ideas they had ever come up with. Therefore, no wonder why the family version was soon doomed.

FIREBIRD XP-21

10. OSI SILVER FOX

Officina Stampaggio Industriale SpA (OSI) was an Italian automobile manufacturer founded in 1960. In 1967, OSI planned to build something different for the Turin Motor Show of the same year. They ended up in making the Silver Fox which had unique aerodynamic aids from the three spoilers. The two giant hulls that were connected by a compartment were which made its design weird. However, the speedster seemed to be small in comparison to other cars. What’s more, despite its small body and 1.0 litre engine, OSI Silver Fox could reach an outstanding speed of 155 mph. Unfortunately, not only the production of the Silver Fox, but also OSI remained forever in 1968 because of financial difficulties.

OSI SILVER FOX