I love to go to car shows when I get a chance. I don’t care too much for the production model cars, but I do like to check out the concepts. It’s so cool to see what comes from the minds of established and new car designers. They seem to have imaginations that boggle the minds of us mere mortals. Sometimes the designers get it right, and sometimes people don’t have a clue as to what the designer’s vision is leading. I think a lot of folks would agree that the designer’s way back in the day might still have a better view of what they wanted to project versus today’s current crop. Maybe that’s because the car industry was so new back then and there were no real boundaries to break down.
That’s not to say that designers of today can’t make anything anyone wants. There are still some really cool ideas out there from those who think outside of the box. Experimenting with ever-newer technologies and materials, questioning things like where to put all of this future traffic (and roads), what will be the best alternative for passengers, and how to make it all blend in is certainly within the world of the car designer and engineers. But like anything else, it’s up to the car-buying public to ultimately determine what, and when to purchase those ideas. Let’s take a look at some of these future reality-bending concepts from the past and the present.
19 BMW GINA: Catwoman Would Love It
The GINA is a concept from BMW DesignWorks, that was created to showcase very lightweight and strong materials being used for the purpose of integrating car design. BMW claims to have produced a nearly seamless design for GINA, while still focusing on individuality.
The body is made from a special Lycra cloth.
The cloth allows the driver to change the shape of the car at will, according to wired.com. You can also add and shape things like a spoiler for instance if needed. To access things like the engine bay, there’s a slit in the fabric making up the hood. Crazy.
18 Toyoda Gosei Flesby: Shapeshifting Rubber Car
I never thought I’d see anything as weird as a soft-body car. Check out the Toyoda Gosei Flesby. This wild rubber car is electrically powered and has the ability to communicate with other cars via Bluetooth technology. The exterior is soft because the creators of the Flesby wanted to make sure that if the car were to strike a pedestrian, the Flesby would absorb most of the impact instead of the person according to a report t allcarindex.com. Foxnews.com further states that the e-Rubber or exterior of the car can change shape and even display messages on its skin.
17 Lazareth Wazuma GT: Part Supercar, Part Lawn Mower
If Batman has the Batmobile, then I guess Robin would be equally at ease driving this crazy looking, Jaguar-powered beast. These models have at least 250 hp V8 engines available, Brembo brakes and Momo wheels, that simply scream “Swag” without even trying. Some magazines refer to the $230,000 vehicle as “Franken-Quad”. But there’s still confusion as to whether the Wazuma is a car or a motorcycle.
Publications like Autoblog are still not quite sure how such a vehicle is even street legal.
Lazareth, the company building the vehicle, claims that the Wazuma GT is neither car nor motorcycle, and the driver isn’t required to wear a helmet if that answer helps to clear matters up.
16 Golden Sahara II: Long-Winded
The Sahara II is certainly a unique car. How unique you ask? It paint/finish is made from pulverized fish scales, producing the “real essence of pearl” according to the car’s creator, Jim Street. The car even appeared on a TV show called “I’ve Got a Secret”, where Jim shares with the studio audience that the car cost $75,000. If you think that’s a lot now, you’re right. In today’s dollars, the Sahara II would cost you $616,310.00 with adjusted inflation. The car could be controlled with a remote. You didn’t have to be in the car to control it. It even showcased automatic braking and glass wheels that light up. The doors open automatically, the steering wheel was removable, and the car could be steered from either side of the car. There’s a lot more to list, but I do love the built-in bar.
15 Sbarro Triple: An “Extrusion Error”
The Triple is a weirdly designed car that’s street legal and yet a race car at the same time. That’s putting it nicely. Most critics have far harsher things to say about the Triple, but the car is more universally known as an “Extrusion Error”. That’s just a fancy term for ‘really messed up’.
It really is quite angular in design, and quite impractical, but hey, it’s a concept.
The Triple is a 3-seater car with only the driver sitting up front. It’s powered by a 395 hp mid-engine V8 that’s quick enough to give the car a 155-mph top speed.
14 Ferrari (Pininfarina) 512 S Modulo: Coming Or Going?
I’m not sure why Pininfarina would design such a strange and fascinatingly ugly body for a car. When I first saw one, I honestly couldn’t tell the front from the back of the vehicle. The Modulo has by far the most bizarre cockpit in the history of Ferrari. The entire roof, front and side glass swings forward from gigantic hinges built into the side of the car’s hood to allow occupants ingress and egress. I keep wondering who on Earth would want to actually step/sit inside one of these things for a ride? In all fairness, the Modulo was built as a race car, but Ferrari had to make a total of twenty-five of the things in order to meet racing qualifications. I know I wouldn’t buy one unless it was under duress.
13 Letrons: BMW Prime
Letrons is absolutely sick. To produce an actual Transformers car - one that actually functions is a stroke of genius. The Turkish-based company used a BMW 3-Series to pull off the incredible stunt. If you’ve never seen it in action, just check out Letrons’ YouTube channel to see something nearly magical.
The attention to detail is phenomenal.
I especially like the touches like the extending robot fists. Letrons claims to have the only 1:1 scale fully functioning specialty car in the world, according to the letrons.com website. I just know that I’m truly impressed.
12 Renault EZ-GO: Crazy Taxi
The Verge website calls the EZ-GO the taxi of the future, and it’s easy (no pun intended) to see why. It’s meant to be an alternative to both public and semi-private transportation. The EZ-GO is an autonomous vehicle designed to be able to pick you, as well as other passengers up, who happen to be going near or close to the same places, in an orderly fashion. Renault believes that this will further reduce traffic congestion in heavily populated urban areas. It also meant to be cheaper than using rideshare programs such as Lyft or Uber. Hopefully, we’ll get to see this soon.
11 Pal-V Liberty: One Big Drone
I gather that people really, really want to fly. To work, the grocery store, wherever. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many flying car concepts coming out of the woodwork as of late. The Dutch-made Liberty is one such vehicle, and its company claims that the Liberty is the first commercially available flying car. On the ground, the 99 hp engine is enough to give the Liberty a top speed of around 100 mph. You’ll need a couple of things like a pilot’s license and a small airstrip, but if you can afford one of these cars, I doubt if you’ll worry about having an airstrip for its use.
10 Russian Wedding Cruiser: The Vatican Wouldn’t Even Approve
Except for the Oscar Meyer Mobile, I rarely give much thought to “theme” cars. I tried to give some serious thought to the Russian Wedding Cruiser but lost interest a millisecond later. Freaky, scary, and sweat-inducing are the only words I can think of to describe the Cruiser. The Jalopnik website calls the Wedding Cruiser “The worst thing ever”, and even Autoweek calls it the “Stuff of nightmares”.
The sheer tackiness of the Cruiser is not to be denied.
There’s even a full, yes full gallery at the imgur.com website if you have the stomach for it. I barely have the words for this “car”.
9 Isuzu FD-SI: Toaster Mobile
Toaster or cheese grater, take your pick. Each name perfectly describes the Isuzu FD-SI. It’s Isuzu’s take on a light delivery truck. Yes, I know, someone is thinking the truck looks an awful lot like a beehive, and you’d be spot-on. Isuzu borrowed the honeycomb idea from bees, only in this case the combs are removable delivery devices, according to the web2carz.com website. The structure of the honeycomb-like carriers provides extra strength to the vehicle design while looking cool as can be. The truck also features a central-designed driver area, promoting more comfort and space, says Isuzu.
8 Rinspeed sQuba: Take A Deep Breath
It may look more like an extremely happy Miata MX-5 than a submersible vehicle, but the Rinspeed sQuba can handle driving underwater just fine. The sQuba is actually the world’s first truly submersible car.
Heavily inspired from the 007 film “The Spy Who Loved Me”, it’s a creation of Rinspeed founder Frank Rinderknecht and built by the Swiss engineering team Esoro.
The car is designed to remain quite stable at a depth of 10 meters. And of course, the car floats as well, if you’re into floating. The sQuba is an all-electric car, said to produce zero emissions. I wonder what sharks will make of the sQuba’s electrical field?
7 Mazda Solaris: Sun Worshipper
The Solaris is by far best-looking solar and electric car I’ve seen so far. It won the Aurora Survivor 2050 Competition. The car’s designer, Ali Jafari, made certain that the Solaris was super-efficient and light. He commented on adelaidenow.com.au that The Solaris was a “magnificent reunion of the beautiful movements within nature and the silent but mighty presence of a stealth fighter plane." The car has a top speed of 93 mph, according to inhabitat.com. It’s a 2-seater car that was designed to be a more practical and appealing take on solar cars. I think Mazda hit it out of the park with this one.
6 Single Person Transportation System: Personal Rollercoaster
Every time I look at the SPTS, I think of the inner part of a dryer. This is a radical single person transport. It seems to be a close relative of the Segway but supersized. The driver is balanced on gyroscopes, and speed and direction look as if it might be controlled by a joystick-like device, according to a report from newatlas.com. The creator, Sanu K R, has never publicly commented on the SPTS, so it’s hard to say much more about the vehicle’s controls. It’s an intriguing concept to say the least. I can almost imagine people rolling down the streets in this type of vehicle. I think it’d go over well in places like New York City or downtown Chicago.
5 Shanghai Sphere Vehicle: Have A Ball
Designer Oliver May brings us this (these?) concept called the Shanghai Sphere, which is a person means of travel for specific megacities such as Shanghai. It’s imagined that the Sphere would be used widely in such a city starting around the year 2046. The vehicle could be used for both public and private travel, especially since the sphere’s design allows for connectivity. If a bunch of people was going to the same place or area, the spheres are designed to connect to one another. This would potentially reduce driving time and effort in any type of traffic. It’s a very interesting idea.
4 U-Wall Lizard Vehicle: Spiderman’s Car
Designed by Zhi Min Lin, the Lizard was created for use in densely populated cities as an enhancement to massive traffic gridlock, according to yankodesign.com. Eventually, the Lizard will be able to combat traffic using specially designed roads that can be applied to the sides of buildings and structures.
The car’s specially treated adjusting tires will allow the Lizard to grip nearly any surface or tackle just about any terrain, much like a real lizard can do today.
I gotta admit, it’s an ingenious plan, as long as the Lizard’s passengers can handle the rollercoaster ride.
3 Peugeot Globule: The Morphing Car
The Globule is just that – a globule. Four of them in fact, make up the design of the “car”. Created by Yanko-Design for Peugeot, the company’s thinking is that by using spheres as a way to travel, the all-electric vehicle will allow much more maneuverability than is possible with current car designs. The width of the spheres is crucial in bypassing obstacles such as narrow streets with minimum effort, for instance. Spheres can be added or dropped as needed, and the front and rear lights can morph and change to meet the needs of any situation. I think I’ll stick with the city bus.
2 Ford Speedster: I Can’t Believe It’s From 1932
The Speedster is so weird as much as slamming cool to look at. I think this car just might be the inspiration that Chrysler/Plymouth was desperately searching for when it began making all of these crazy cars like the PT Cruiser, the HHR, the Prowler, and the rest of that lot. All of those cars were lacking what the Speedster had already achieved in 1932: Class.
A report over at sothebys.com indicates that Edsel Ford handled the styling for the Speedster, making sure that it was unique to the existing Ford line-up.
Making sure there were no bumpers and adding bullet-shaped headlights transformed the Speedster into a masterpiece.
1 Manta Ray: Like A Rocket
There’s no mistaking that the Manta Ray was inspired by rocket engine designs. It literally looks like it’ll beat anything NASA could throw at it today even. The car came from the imaginations of two engineers named Glen Hire and Vernon Antoine, who were actually aircraft engineers. Hemmings.com says the Manta Ray is a heavily modified Studebaker. It’s the only car I know of with three fins, with three massive taillights attached to them. The car is very rarely shown, with 2016 being at least sixty years passing since the last viewing. Shows you what a little imagination can lead to.
Sources: yankodesign.com; letrons.com; Ferrari.com