Some of the Strangest Cars Ever Built

When a design team tries to think outside the proverbial box, the result is often one of the strangest cars we’ve ever seen.

Automotive design hasn’t always been straightforward, in fact, most of the time it isn’t.  While most of the oddities we see coming out of the design studios eventually get tamed to become more conservative, we can easily celebrate some of these interesting designs that have made it to the stages at auto shows.

1942 Oeuf Electrique

Shaped like an Egg, this little car had three wheels and ran on batteries well before gasoline was the primary fuel source. The designer from Paris, Paul Arzens, worked as a painter and designed railway cars before moving to road cars. The bubble is made of aluminum and curved Plexiglass which was novel at the time. This is certainly one of the strangest cars and it came out of a strange time in auto history.

1947 Norman Timbs Special

When you wanted to see a car with a seriously long rear end, this was the car. No other car looked like it and the front-mounted cockpit and curves give this car a raindrop appearance to it. Timbs was an Indy racing engineer and made this car with a Buick Straight 8 engine which was positioned at the rear of the chassis.

1932 Ford Speedster

This might have been one of the strangest cars ever made, but it was the inspiration for some of the classic models we would see later. This model offered an odd look but a strong build with a flathead V8 engine providing the power. This low, long roadster was the creation of Edsel Ford, son of Henry, and designer Eugene Gregorie. This model featured a starter button long before this feature became standard.

2001 BMW GINA Light Visionary Model

Hard geometric shapes and strong lines made up this amazing model which is one of the strangest cars you’ve ever seen. This car came from the BMW design director Chris Bangle who was famous for creating cars that carried strong lines. This car was covered with polyurethane-coated spandex that would shift according to the aerodynamic needs of the car at the time of the drive, making this an extremely interesting car.

1970 Lancia (Bertone) Stratos HF Zero

This car looks like someone took a door wedge and turned it into a car. The concept for this car was to create a car that would cut through the wind with ease. The Lancia Stratos stands only 33 inches tall and was so short that drivers had to enter through the hinged windshield to get in and take a drive. This car reached its goal and has amazing aerodynamics while being one of the strangest cars ever created. 

Have you seen a strange car recently? Did you wonder why anyone would make a car that looks like the one you saw? Some of the strangest cars ever made had a lot of good ideas to them, but others are just odd and make you wonder how they came out of the design studio.