The Weirdest-Looking Cars of All Time
Auto show after auto show, we see some of the coolest designs car manufactures can think up. But for every hit, there’s a miss or two. Do car manufacturers just compete to create the most out-of-this-world vehicle they can imagine?
We can understand concept cars being a little funky. They're concepts! That's the time to try new things out; mashup a couple of classes of vehicles to see if you can create something unique. Sometimes, however, when a concept is well received, the car manufacturer takes this as a sign that they should build the thing outright. When, in fact, what it probably should do is incorporate some design cues across its lineup or integrate some of the unique features into existing or upgraded models.
When the public reacts positively to a truck with six wheels and a flame thrower, it's mostly because of the uniqueness and novelty of the thing. It doesn't really mean that there's a huge market wanting to buy it for the real day-to-day. Yet, somehow, these manufacturers took what looks to have been concept ideas and made them a reality by releasing them unto the masses. You'll probably notice that many (if not most) didn't last very long. They were just too odd!
Allow us to present to you some of the weirdest-looking cars. Seriously, what were they thinking?
"American Dream" limousine
Did you know...
- Rolls-Royce is known for its high quality and bespoke approach to auto manufacturing. Buyers work hand-in-hand with the automaker to customize the model they are buying. With such a strong focus on quality, it shouldn't come as a surprise that 75% of Rolls-Royce models ever sold are estimated to still be on the road. It also helps that their yearly sales record is only just over 5,000.
- When your country's most famous automaker is Lamborghini, of course you get them to make you some police cars. Lambo donated a pair of personalized Gallardo's to the Italian police force. They have video surveillance systems, gun racks, defibrillators, and organ transplant fridges. It may come as no surprise that both were crashed. This is why we can't have nice things.
- The average car is made up of around 30,000 parts! It seems like a modern miracle, then, that everything works perfectly on most of the days that you drive it. That should also help ease your annoyance when something does go wrong, and your mechanic is able to fix it. There are a lot of parts to sift through!
- Dashboards are important these days since they hold all the display and input information for the driver, as well as safety features like passenger airbags. Back in the day, however, dashboards served a different purpose. They were a piece of wood on the front of horse-drawn carriages, and it prevented mud splatter from getting on the driver.
- Speeding tickets in Switzerland and Finland are assessed as a daily fee and linked to your salary. The more you make, the more you pay. The greater over the speed limit you are, the greater the number of days you are fined. This led to the most expensive speeding ticket in the world: a nearly $1,100,00 Swiss fine.