When the word 'car' is mentioned, the picture that comes to most people's minds is quite similar. Regardless of the car's age or value, society expects it to have certain features and look a certain way to be classified as a normal car.
Some visionaries in the auto industry have attempted to challenge the norm and have designed some strange, crazy, and absolutely unique cars over the years. While most of these unconventional car designs end up being just concepts, a few have made it to production and can be spotted on the roads on rare occasions. The following are ten strange cars that are perfectly road-legal.
10 1948 Tasco
The strange-looking 1948 Tasco was an American sports car introduced after World War II that made history the first-ever car to have a T-top roof. Designed by Gordon Buehrig, the Tasco was an eye-catching car with its long, pointed hood and weird wheel covers that made it look like it had feet instead of wheels.
The unconventional wheel covers were actually a unique design features meant to protect the wheels from winds, reducing drag and boosting speed. With its eye-watering cost of around $57,000, it's clear why the 1948 Tasco was never mass-produced.
9 Bond Bug
The name 'Bond Bug' makes this tiny car sound like one of those special vehicles that 007 used, but that's not the case. In fact, the Bond Bug is the exact opposite of the car that James Bond would drive with its three wheels and tiny frame.
The Bond Bug was produced by the Reliant company, which, at the time, was one of Britain's biggest automakers with a reputation for building top-class three-wheeled vehicles. It had a Reliant 700 cc engine and was capable of 76 mph. Of the 2,268 Bugs produced, an estimated 150-200 survive today and are still road legal in most places.
8 Stout Scarab
The Stout Scarab looks a bit like the ISO Isetta, but it's much longer and has four wheels. Designed in the early 1930s by William Bushnell Stout and manufactured by Stout Motor Car Company, the Scarab is considered the first minivan ever and the first production vehicle to have an aluminum spaceframe unit-construction body.
The car was not very big, but it had a Ford V8 engine in the back, making it one of the fastest vehicles at the time. Unfortunately, the car was four times more costly than a luxury Chrysler Imperial, and only a handful of people were willing to pay for it. As a result, only nine were made, and 5 of those have survived until today.
7 Peel P50
The iconic Peel P50 is an extremely rare but well-known car for one main reason; ever since it was made in the 60s, it has held the Guinness World Record for the smallest production car ever made, weighing in at just 59 kg. The P50 had three wheels and seating for just the driver alone.
Although it had a pretty small engine, the P50 had a top speed of 61 km/h, but drivers were advised against going that fast as it could easily overturn. Interestingly, the car had no reverse gear, and the driver had to pick it up and turn it around using a special handle. Only 47 of the original P50s were made.
6 Nissan S-Cargo
Built between 1989 and 1991, the Nissan S-Cargo is a tiny van whose design was inspired by the Citroën 2CV Foirgonnette. The name S-Cargo is a pun that stands for 'small cargo' showing the vehicle's intended purpose and 'escargot,' which is French for 'snail.'
Unsurprisingly, the little van looks like a snail, especially its headlights that pop out of the hood just like a snail's eyes. Nissan made 8,000 S-Cargos during the 2-year production period, but only for the Japanese market.
5 Iso Isetta
Another three-wheeler, the ISO Isetta, is a little Italian car with a big door that opens at the front. The Isetta was designed right after World War II when the shortage of materials made tiny cars extremely popular in Europe.
ISO designed the car, but what made it popular across Europe was BMW getting the license to mass-produce it. Another thing that made the cute little car popular is that it was the first-ever car with fuel consumption of 3 liters per 100 kilometers. During its 8-year production period, more than 160,000 units of the Iso Isetta were produced.
4 F-Kart 100
Taking a kart for a drive on public roads is a fantasy that many people have, especially those who have played the classic video game Mario Kart. The F-Kart 100 was made for just that. The tiny F-Kart 100 may look like it only belongs in a go-kart racetrack, but it's perfectly legal and safe to drive on public roads.
The vehicle is equipped with mirrors, turn signals, and tubular metal bumpers that allow it to qualify as a microcar in multiple jurisdictions. It comes with a 95-cc gas engine that produces eight horsepower, enough to give it a top speed of nearly 40 mph.
3 Reliant Robin
The iconic Reliant Robin is a small three-wheeled car that holds a special place in British automotive history. The car was one of the most popular fiberglass cars in history and was produced for more than three decades, offering several different versions.
The Robin was often the butt of the jokes in English culture and has been nicknamed the 'Plastic Pig' due to its distinctive shape. The car has also made several showbiz appearances, including the famous motoring show Top gear and the film Only Fools and Horses.
2 Messerschmitt KR200
The Messerschmitt KR200 is also referred to as a 'kabineroller,' which means 'cabin scooter' in German. The car was another one of those tiny three-wheelers popular in the 50s and was designed by an aircraft engineer known as Fritz Fend.
The tiny car had a driver seat and a passenger seat right behind it, both of which could be accessed by pulling a lever and lifting the roof. The Messerschmitt holds the record for the fastest three-wheeled vehicle after one reached a top speed of 103 km/h. More than 40.000 of them were made from 1955 to 1964.
1 Norman Timbs Special
As its name suggests, the Norman Timbs Special was designed by a Los Angeles-based auto engineer called Norman Timbs and took over three years of hard work to complete. The elegant, streamlined car had a striking design that featured a long, swooping front nose, a front-mounted cockpit, curves leading to a raindrop tail, and no doors.
Only one Norman Timbs Special was ever built, and it survived for more than six decades before being destroyed in the Woolsey wildfire that ravaged California in 2018. Fortunately, its frame was left in good enough condition, and restoration plans are underway.