When automakers want to bring a new idea into the market, they get into their studios and pen down a concept. Although they often get it right, sometimes these studios come up with outright outrageous concept vehicles that nobody would want to drive.
Vehicle concepts are like science fiction films. They come early to reveal the future before it happens. While many modern automakers have designed futuristic concepts, many of the most beautiful cars on the roads today were penned as early as the 1960s and 1970s. That said, featured here are some ridiculous classic car concepts.
10 Honda Fuya-Jo
The Fuya-Jo is one of the most insane JDM concept cars in history; if only it didn’t come out with the shape of a vacuum cleaner. With this car, Honda wanted to create a small urban runabout for party lovers.
The concept featured a powerful music system with potent speakers and a dashboard inspired by 1990s turntables. Additionally, it had seating space for four and would have been the perfect automobile for cruising to the clubs and house parties.
9 GM X Stiletto
In the early fifties, the American car industry, including GM, was obsessed with the idea of marrying cars with planes. They produced concept cars that mimicked jets and rockets. The infamous “Firebird” even had a wing and tailplane! Its windscreen wrapped around the car and swept up to meet the roofline. The windshield was also the door to enter the X Stiletto.
Inside, the car comes with not less than 31 indicator lights, 29 toggle switches, and a three-way speaker for inside and outside communication. The latter maybe was for drivers to voice out displeasure at other motorists.
8 Sbarro Chrono
The Chrono concept car was a two-seat roadster capable of sprinting from zero to 60mph in 3.5 seconds. For sure, it sounds great, but the car also had a central hinge that allowed it to fold in near half to give access to the engine.
Furthermore, the roadster offered little protection and a tiny windshield that could even stop bugs. Its interior was dressed in red leather seats and a timer set in the center console. It had no roof, and it was not a convertible.
7 Dodge Deora
Based on the mid-engined Dodge D-100 and the back hatch of a 1960 Ford station wagon, Deora was built in 1967 by the Alexander brothers and the designer, Harry Bradley. Chopped and sliced to an unstated degree, its windscreen was the rear window of the 1960 Ford station wagon.
Funny enough, entrance into the candy gold-painted conceptual car was still achieved by lifting the windshield at 180 degrees to enter through the front. Absurd, right? Although it has never managed to become a production car, it has become famous among toy cars.
6 Honda HP-X
The Honda HP-X was a concept car designed in 1984 and was characterized by wedge-shaped lines of extreme aerodynamics Berlinetta. The HP-X shared the exact semblance with Ferrari Testarossa because Italian firm Pininfarina penned them both.
The absurdity in this car was that it had no doors — the only way to gain access to its cockpit was by raising the transparent roof. The transparent roof was also a limitation, since it would be unbearable in hot summer and impractical in the rain. Lucky enough for this concept, it was reimagined to give birth to the iconic Honda NSX.
5 OSI Silver Fox
There is radical, and then there’s this. In an attempt to create a super-slippery shape, OSI came up with a car that featured two pontoons at the front and a well-equipped 1.0-liter Renault Alpine four-cylinder engine mounted behind the left side of the passenger seat.
Conceived for possible use in the race, the car was aerodynamically successful thanks to the pontoons connected by a central cockpit and two decks between the front and rear “fenders.” These elements were also part of the complex spoiler system that included a wing-mounted behind the cabin, similar to a modern tailgate spoiler.
4 Cadillac TAG Function Car
Hard to believe the Cadillac marque gets a spot on the list? This concept was designed by Franco Sbarro and a wealthy Saudi businessman. Resting on the chassis of the contemporary Cadillac Eldorado, the 7.2-meter long car was powered by an 8.2-liter V8 engine.
Inside, the concept car was for “busy” business executives; it had four large armchairs, two telephones, a massive CRT television, fold-out desks, extensive wood paneling, and a refrigerator. And out of the 25 models made, at least 23 of this office on wheels were sold, with two copies staying in Sbarro’s house in the spirit of remembrance.
3 Chevrolet Astro III
The 1969 Astro III was a two-passenger experimental car resembling an executive jet. Though it had four wheels with the front pair placed closed together under its nose, the conceptual vehicle appeared to be three-wheeled.
On top of a Model 250-C18 gas turbine engine that powered the envisioned high-performance vehicle, Astro III also came with an adjustable canopy meant for passengers to move in and out of the conceptual car. Its interior had aircraft-type features, including a pistol grip lever that acted as a steering “wheel” and closed-circuit television to provide rear vision.
2 Rinspeed X-Trem
Designed on an extended Mercedes-Benz M-Class chassis, the X-Trem is said to be a two-seater pickup vehicle, yet the pickup bed stayed empty for most of the time, if not all. Moreover, the Multi-Utility vehicle, as they sometimes called it, had no doors. Instead, it came with a hovercraft and a functional swivel crane for loading and unloading all kinds of goods.
This thing would have caused trouble at home if featured in the animation movie Cars — featuring Lightning McQueen since it gave an impression of a big toy car designed for children.
1 Mazda EX-005
Proposed to be used as an urban commuter car, the Mazda EX-005 was a bubble approximately the size of an office chair. It was a little four-seater in the way of comfort as passengers sat back to back facing towards its panoramic curved windshields. As far as safety and weather protection were concerned, there was none.
At the heart of this bubble was a “hybrid powertrain” — single-rotor rotary engine charged batteries that ensured the car to move on highways. Once the engine was ignited, it was steered by a joystick that controlled the rhombus-arranged four wheels.