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?
1. Toyota Mirai
The 2017 Toyota Mirai drove out of a sci-fi film—a bad one. The biggest design flaws are the rear wheels which push out from the body and the strange grill that makes the hood float above the rest of the vehicle. It juts out and looks like a body shop grabbed the wrong bumper for your car. Gross.
(image via Instagram)
2. Nissan Juke
The Nissan Juke had odd curves, jutting headlights, and an overall bloated appearance. Maybe they were attempting an old-school bubbly look, but this just looks swollen.
(image via Instagram)
3. 1974 Vanguard-Sebring CitiCar
This electric car was produced during the 1970s (does energy crisis ring a bell?) and is basically a metallic golf cart. It had a range of about 40 miles, but about the only thing you could take with you in this duckbill-designed vehicle was a briefcase.
(image via Facebook)
4. “American Dream” limousine
In the 1990s, Guinness World Records certified “American Dream” as the longest car in the world at 100 feet long. On top of its 26 wheels were a jacuzzi with diving board, king-sized water bed, and a landing pad for a helicopter. Why? Just because. Like a firetruck, it needed a second driver in the back to help navigate any turns.
(image via Facebook)
5. Thrust SSC
“Driving” this vehicle is a bit of a misstatement. Really, you just want to keep it headed in a straight direction because it, quite literally, has two F-4 Phantom II fight jet engines strapped to its sides. Thrust SSC holds the world land speed record (763 mph) and is the only land vehicle to the break the sound barrier. If you don’t think a car with jet engines looks weird, we, honestly, can’t help you.
(image via Facebook)
6. 1957 Aurora
The Aurora was designed by a Catholic priest, specifically as a safety car. It had seatbelts, a roll cage, collapsible steering column, and padded instrument panel. But because of its safety-focused design, it looked quite ugly. The scooping front bumper literally scooped up any hit pedestrians (lowering fatality), and the bulging windshield avoided impacts with passengers during collisions (in a pre-airbag world).
(image via Facebook)
7. 1948 Tasco
The 1948 Tasco never met a wheel cover that it didn’t like. And, we’re not really sure what the silver protrusion in the nose was supposed to achieve (other than offering confusion from design choices). It’s unique, to say the least.
(image via Facebook)
8. 1956 BMW Isetta
This minuscule city car was designed for the tiny roads and spaces of European cities, and its single-cylinder engine was capable of around 78 mpg (U.S.). Could you take anyone anywhere with you? No. Could you bring back groceries from the market? You’d probably have to open a window for a long baguette. Where are the doors, you ask? Well, you open the hinged front, silly.
(image via Facebook)
9. Subaru Baja
The Subaru Baja was essentially a car with an open tailgate. And how fun is off-roading in a car? Yeah, that’s how fun off-roading in the Baja was, too. Plus, the lights on top and the bare metal exposed bars in the tailgate? Honestly, this looks like a utility vehicle from Jurassic Park and not something for America’s backroads.
(image via Facebook)
10. 1956 Buick Centurion
Telsa’s may be famous for their windshields that go up over the driver’s head, but Buick had them beat way back in 1956. On the plus side, this plexiglass globe surrounding the cabin offering great visibility. But if you really begin to study the vehicle, you wonder how practical it really was. Like just opening the car door without removing window panels.
(image via Facebook)
11. 1935 Stout Scarab
Its name was the Scarab, and it looked like its namesake beetle. Stout brought palindromes to car design by creating something that looked the same in its front as it does in the rear. Maybe they spent so much time designing the front that they decided to put it on the back as well.
(image via Facebook)
12. 1959 Cadillac Cyclone
When you have to lift up the roof of the cabin like a space capsule hatch, that is not a practical design. And Cadillac took the space theme too far with the rock fins on either side. Honestly, if we have to be strapped to rockets, we want to be able to go 700 mph. Not 30mph.
(image via Facebook)
13. Smart ForTwo Cabriolet
These huggable city microcars we explicitly about high fuel economy numbers. That made their design weird enough, to begin with. Then they came out with a convertible variation, even though the roof was only about a foot long anyway. Yay! So fun!
(image via Facebook)
14. 1959 Chevrolet El Camino
A two-seater car with a truck bed and tailfins. What more could you want? One positive is that it’s easy to load things into the bed because of the low height of the vehicle. But, seriously, why would you be doing any kind of work with this vehicle? How practical were these things?
(image via Facebook)
15. The Popemobile
The President of the U.S. has his armored car, but it still looks like an actual car. After Pope John Paul II survived an assassination attempt, the Vatican had this modified van fitted with a bulletproof glass cage. The Pope could be safely protected and be seen at the same time. Success! Is this a strange Frankenstein’s monster of car design? Also, success!
(image via Facebook)
16. Chevrolet SSR
This list has seen two car-based versions of trucks. In 2003, Chevrolet thought you needed a drop-top roadster truck. It’s high price and lack of any real truck capability features means the SSR was wildly unpractical. And Chevy was still surprised that it didn’t sell like hotcakes. Interesting.
(image via Facebook)
17. Pontiac Aztek
The Pontiac Aztek actually had solid reviews from owners who actually bought this car. But…look at it. Now take a look again because we know you only glanced before your eyes started to water. That’s it; take it all in. Why is it a hexagon with a hood? Why are there four openings in the hood? Why did this exist? The only explanation is that the drafting pencils didn’t have erasers. AND THIS ONE IS GOLD. So much wrong here.
(image via Facebook)
18. Phantom Corsair
The Phantom Corsair too sleek and mysterious to all-new levels. Notice that there are no wheel wells or humps. Those babies are fully integrated into the body, a body that looks like a tortoise shell. Honestly, we start to wonder when a car’s front hood is longer than the rest of the vehicle. It looks like the superhero car for Turtle Man.
(image via Facebook)
19. Citroen C4 Cactus
The Cactus’s name derives from the unique side panels that come standard integrated into the car. Nope, you can’t take them off. They’re on there for good. The rugged plastic bumpers help protect your car from door dings in the parking lot. Ok, sure, but a brand new standalone vehicle needed to be created for this?
(image via Facebook)
20. Peel P50
The Peel P50 brought new meaning to the terms commuter vehicle. You could literally pick it up, and take it to work with you. Ok, not really, but this thing was SMALL! It only had three wheels, and we honestly don’t know where this woman kept her bag while she was driving in it. Maybe she sat on top of it?
(image via Facebook)
21. Davis Divan
With the Divan, Davis answered everyone’s need for a hovercraft that actually ran on wheels but you didn’t want to see the wheels because it would ruin the illusion that you were driving a hovercraft. Oh, no one needed that? Well, here it is anyway.
(image via Facebook)
22. The Oscar Mayer Weinermobile
Don’t get us wrong. We love the Weinermobile! Who doesn’t? But it is, objectively, a strange and weird-looking sight to behold driving down the road.
(image via Facebook)
23. 1967 Dodge Deora
Everyone seems hell-bent on redesigning the truck. This offering from Dodge was only possible during the days before safety requirements regarding bumpers and airbags. Doors? Why bother? Just climb in and out via the front hatch.
(image via Facebook)
24. 1942 L’Œuf électrique
The “electric egg” was one of the first electric vehicle options, but does driving around a glass egg actually seem safe? We still haven’t really seen anything like this, design-wise, in the 80 years since.
(image via Facebook)
25. Dream Car 123
Behold. The picture alone does it justice. Yes, this is a pyramid car. It’s electric, and the design allows for some solar panels for it to recharge as well. Also, did we mention it’s a pyramid? Weird!
(image via Facebook)
26. Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet
Thank you, Nissan, for giving us a convertible SUV, something we didn’t know we wanted. Funny how all the marketing materials didn’t show what it looked like with the top up (aka how you will drive it around most of the time). Hint: not very good.
(image via Facebook)
27. 1970 Ferrari Pininfarina 512 S Modulo
Ferrari is known for their racing-inspired vehicles, but the Pininfarina 512 S Modulo is from a different planet entirely. There are no doors. The cabin shell moves forward to open (along tracks that go down the front of the car?). And we’re not even sure what’s going on with those headlights. This thing is a UFO on wheels. But at least it has windshield wipers!
(image via Facebook)
28. Nissan Cube
There are many boxy compacts on the market, but the Nissan Cube is an odd duck. It bulges out in odd places and everything is a bit to curvacious for the sake of being rounded. The windows, for instance, look like their sunken into the vehicle. And on the opposite side of the Cube in the picture, the back rear window curves around the corner of the car becoming the rear tailgate. The tailgate is also hinged on the side like the passenger doors.
(image via Facebook)
29. 1999 Fiat Multipla
The Fiat Multipla has the unfortunate distinction of looking like multiple vehicles sandwiched together forcibly. Why does the cabin sit on TOP of the body? And why does the front of the cabin have its own headlights? Mysteries we will never know…
(image via Facebook)
30. Messerschmitt KR200
The Messerschmitt KR200 takes everything people loved about the VW Beetle (a quirky and economical design) and makes it even quirkier. This little guy even has its own umbrella. Who needs 4 wheels when 3 will do?
(image via Facebook)
31. 2004 GMC Envoy XUV
Here we go again trying to reinvent the truck. The Envoy XUV was an SUV without a third row. Behind the second row, there was an internal window separation the seating part of the cabin from the cargo area. With the push of a button, the rear window would roll down into the tailgate and the roof would retract. Voilà, a truck bed! Cool, I guess. But why? Also, all the plastic black cladding surround that portion just looked tacky.
(image via Facebook)
32. 2014 Mercedes-AMG G63 6×6
When you think of Mercedes, you think of trucks. Right? A 6-wheeled truck sounds interesting, sure. But, as we ask for many of these vehicles, why? Who is this really for? Who needs six wheels over four? The exposed C-pillar pylons show Mercedes means serious off-roady business, too.
(image via Facebook)
33. Heinkel Kabine
The Heinkel Kabine is another egg-shaped entry on the list where you open the front hatch and…perhaps climb over the steering wheel? If you wanted to enjoy the weather, just roll back the canvas roof. A rear panel unlocks with clasps to access the engine.
(image via Facebook)
34. Lightyear One
At least the Lightyear One has a distinct reason why it looks so weird. It’s sideways teardrop shape is not only for aerodynamic purposes. The hood and roof (which slopes down continuously across the back of the car) house solar panels to recharge the car’s electric battery. The positioning allows them to readily access solar rays for energy production.
(image via Facebook)
35. 2018 Hennessey VelociRaptor 6×6
Hennessey stretched and propped up this Ford F-150 Raptor to ungainly proportions. Maybe it’s best if we left the design choices to Ford from now on? And if their design choices weren’t questionable enough, Hennessey has also run afoul of the Better Business Bureau far too often for our tastes.
(image via Facebook)
36. 1986 Lamborghini LM002
We’re not really sure why luxury carmakers want to try to get into the truck market. Mercedes was on this list earlier. Now we have a Lamborghini. It was a solid effort, except for the fact that it looked like it was a lego car. We can see that you were trying for something akin to a Jeep Wrangler, but you didn’t really make it there, Lambo. Sorry.
(image via Facebook)
37. Honda (Accord) Crosstour
The Honda Accord is a classic vehicle and one of America’s most popular. This…thing…was not popular. Wagons haven’t done well in the U.S. since the 1970s, and this oddly shaped wagon/SUV hybrid probably never stood a chance to.
(image via Facebook)
38. Isuzu Vehicross
Honestly, the Isuzu Vehicross was probably ahead of its time. It was a compact SUV, and compact (even subcompact) crossovers are taking the market by storm today! The U.S version only last 3 years, however, from 1999-2001. The main drawback was the distinctly kid-centric styling that screams “cute” instead of “rugged.”
(image via Facebook)
39. Honda Insight
The Insight was built for fuel economy specs. The two-seater had rear wheel covers and was clad outside and in with lightweight materials. Its harsh rear raking liftback helped aerodynamics allowing it the be the most fuel-efficient gasoline-powered vehicle ever sold in the U.S. It was rated an astounding 43 mpg in the city and 60 mpg on the highway. And that was the year 2000! Regardless, it still looked wonky.
(image via Facebook)
40. 2005 Hummer H2 SUT
Ah, yes, the Hummer. The symbol of American excess and the early 2000’s obsession with the SUV. A Hummer SUV wasn’t enough, however. It needed to be a truck, too! But the bed is only 2 feet long, you say. Who cares? It’s a truck! America!
(image via Facebook)
41. Chevrolet HHR & Chrysler PT Cruiser
You get two for the price of one! The HHR and the PT Cruiser were designed by the same guy. Bet you couldn’t guess that. Did we really need retro-styled faux station wagons? Not really. Did buyers flock to them anyway? Again…no, not really. Who would have thought?
