Category: Weird Seen

What can I say, beyond… why?

I like the string holding the wing on though.

Don’t really know what to say about this one.

OK, so everyone has seen the jet-powered “hybrid” New Beetle, right? Speaking as a former Beetle driver, I can confirm that the guy is insane. The VW New Beetle has the aerodynamic properties of a wing. They start to take off around 120MPH. Ask me how I know!

The thing is, the guy is using the wrong car. He needs something with the aerodynamics of either a brick, or something with some serious downforce. Also, the guy is using a little jet engine from a small helicopter. If he had some balls he’d use one of these:

What is that you ask? Well, just about the biggest jet engine you can get. Living here in Boeing country we see a lot of weird stuff on the roads. Sections of fueselage, engines, entire wings driving down the freeway. So one day I see the engine from a Boeing 777 driving down Interstate 5:

Fire that baby up and set a land speed record for a tractor trailer!

I saw this one a few years back on Bainbridge Island. Something of a parody on wheels n’est pas?

* PVC? Check
* Snowboard/wing? Check
* Coffee can exhaust with real coffee can? Check
* Lime Green paint? Check
* Home made “ground effects package”? Check

All that’s missing is the “V-tec” and “bad boy club” stickers and it will be up for a starring role in “Fast & Furious 4”

This one is up on eBay right at the moment so if this sort of thing floats your boat, go bid now!

It is basically a Buick with an E-type FHC body. Thankfully it was just an FHC tub, saved from the crusher, not a complete Jaguar lumped and chopped. The latter is a crime, while the former… well let’s just call it “inspiration.” If what Picasso* said is true, this guy is an artistic genius. He stole the most beautiful car design ever, and plopped it down on … well… a Buick. So on the one hand it is a VASTLY improved Buick, but on the other hand it is a horrifically ugly Jaguar! Depends on your perspective I guess. So let’s change our perspective and have a look from the front:

Oh my.

* “Good artists copy; great artists steal.” –Pablo Picasso

I was out running an errand today and stumbled across this car. It is a psuedo-porsche built from a VW… which in a way is ironic because Porsches are just Psuedo-Volkswagens right? =)

Anyway, while I pull on the asbestos pajamas in preparation for the flames from Porschephiles, have a look at this:

Sorry for the crappy phone-cam images… I literally snapped it from my car as I drove by and did not have time to pull my camera out of my bag. Like so many repro-cars, it gets enough of the detail wrong to throw the whole thing off. It is obviously based on a VW beetle or ghia (likely the latter.) Note the 70’s style 911 wheels. I always liked those “flower petal” wheels on 911s, but they sure look funny on a “356”!

The weirdest of all is the roofline in the back. How hard would it have been to get it to consistently slope? That sedan-notch-thing going on is just bizarre.

I can see building a Speedster, or a Spyder from a VW, but a 356 Coupe? Oh well. Let me know what you think.

BTW: for reference, here is a real one (a hastily edited photo from my own collection… Dr. Fisher’s Porsche from the Forza Amelia… I beat this car on our track day driving a 450sl. 😉 )

I carry a camera with me at all times… a habit I started 20-some years ago. It has allowed me to capture some interesting images. Being a “car guy” one of the things I try and photograph is interesting cars. I have a collection of photos to share and today I stumbled across yet another “weird car” and came up with the idea of populating my web log with this kind of thing. So here it is… “weird seen”… I hope you like it.

I have enough photos, and run into enough vehicular oddities in life to present several a week, but if you have something of your own, feel free to contact me via email or a comment and even you can contribute to the madness.