Also check out the Tango T600

July 7, 2006 9:18 PM

The Encyclopedia of Strange Vehicles.This is really just an excuse to link to the Fab 1, a car I wish I could drive even once.
posted by The Castle (31 comments total)

I meant to link to the main page, though. That was kinda dumb.
posted by The Castle at 9:20 PM on July 7, 2006

As I recall, the fellows on Top Gear did a road test of Fab 1.

The driver hated it. Of course, he went through small English towns where it was wider than some of the houses, so YMMV.

I want to drive away from my wedding in Fab 1.
posted by Dipsomaniac at 9:21 PM on July 7, 2006

Fab 1, a car I wish I could drive even once.

Who hasn't? Also, why didn't anyone tell me that we had Mechs now?
posted by kosher_jenny at 9:36 PM on July 7, 2006

All of the microcars look like they escaped from Brazil.
posted by SPrintF at 9:58 PM on July 7, 2006

The 1934 McQuay Norris Streamliner is an uglier, four-wheel version of Buckminster Fuller's innovative 1933 three-wheeler, the Dymaxion Car (three were hand-built, and #2 is in the National Automobile Museum in Reno).

Norman Bel Geddes' 1934 Car No. 8 may be the most aerodynamic of the lot, but the Czechoslovakian Tatras of the 1930s are also pretty unique.
posted by cenoxo at 10:05 PM on July 7, 2006

I think that's the first website I've been to in years where I felt compelled to click on every single thing. Good post.
posted by blacklite at 10:15 PM on July 7, 2006

Yeah, that Fab 1 is really... uh... fucking lame.
posted by squirrel at 10:39 PM on July 7, 2006

Its a coolgreat site but the Fab 1 scores a 1 out of 10 for me. Nah, I'll take a VW Concept T or a Yami Deinonychus.
posted by fenriq at 11:40 PM on July 7, 2006

Lady Penelope rocks!

Parker: "I s'pose I'll have to miss my beauty sleep, ma'am"
Penelope: "Poor Parker. And you so need it."
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 11:46 PM on July 7, 2006

The website is wrong - FAB 1 in the movie was NOT a Rolls. Rolls refused.
posted by A189Nut at 12:52 AM on July 8, 2006

"The futuristic 6 wheeled Rolls-Royce was built by Ford, and it really drives."

Awkwardly constructed, but I took it to mean the car pretends to be a Rolls-Royce but was built by Ford.
posted by Phantomx at 3:43 AM on July 8, 2006

When walking to & from high school, I used to see both a Messerschmitt and an Isetta. Not in Brazil, either. I also saw a turbine-engined MoPar (probably a '64 Plymouth Fury) a few times. (But not the Chrysler shown here.)
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:46 AM on July 8, 2006

So how the hell does the car propelled by gravity work?
posted by Orange Goblin at 4:12 AM on July 8, 2006

Put it on a hill.
posted by quite unimportant at 4:17 AM on July 8, 2006

Never mind the cars, the bionic dolphin is where it's at. Although I suppose you'd have to worry about their natural predators, the cybernetic sharks with frickin' lasers attached to their heads :)
posted by kaemaril at 5:23 AM on July 8, 2006

Blasphemy! Goertz didn't design the Z. They've lost all credibility with me.
posted by IronLizard at 5:56 AM on July 8, 2006

...how the hell does the car propelled by gravity work?

The blonde simply poses by the side of the road with it, and gets picked up. Unlimited mpg, but subject to overheating...

More on Volvo's ECG at Gizmag (additional images.) Think Soap Box Derby for the big boys: it was originally designed for the 2004 Extreme Gravity Racing Series, and won the 2005 race (video links.)
posted by cenoxo at 6:29 AM on July 8, 2006

Holden EFIJY - Sometimes you look at a car and know exactly how it was born. The EFIJY was first sketched out when the designer was twelve, reading Christine under the covers.

Beautiful and evil looking. I'd love one but the other half has banned me. Lucky they'll never make it really... :)
posted by twine42 at 6:45 AM on July 8, 2006

I need one of these. But then, don't we all?
posted by mygothlaundry at 8:57 AM on July 8, 2006

As Dipsomaniac points out above, i've seen a bunch of these on Top Gear, including the Ariel Atom 2, for which, i have a deep burning passion.

Nor would i kick a Spyker C8 Spyder out of my garage.

[this is good]
posted by quin at 9:20 AM on July 8, 2006

Oh wow. They have the Warwagon. I actually had one of these pull up next to me outside a Blockbuster video one night about a decade ago. Guy hops out, leaves the door open and the engine running as he ran in to... i dunno, rent an emergency video or something.

My buddy and i stood there looking at it, we both had the same though, 'if we stole this, what could they send after us that could stop us?'

The picture makes it look ugly as sin, but in person there was something really slick about it.
posted by quin at 9:28 AM on July 8, 2006

this jeep is crazy maneuverable but probably didn't need 2 engines.
posted by uni verse at 10:06 AM on July 8, 2006

twine42: wickedly beautiful and powerful, christine meets her match.
posted by uni verse at 10:31 AM on July 8, 2006

twine42 writes "Holden EFIJY -"

That is one gorgeous car.
posted by Mitheral at 11:12 AM on July 8, 2006

Good post. Thanks.
posted by Afroblanco at 11:22 AM on July 8, 2006

Needs more Big Daddy Roth, though.

(And maybe the Pink Panther limo, and Tommy Ivo's "Showboat" four-engined dragster... one engine per wheel!)
posted by arto at 5:44 PM on July 8, 2006

Loved this bike. Closest I can get to the bike I want (not really the one, but I think you get the idea).
posted by Samizdata at 6:54 PM on July 8, 2006

This would be fun. Top Gear's Clarkson said of it "This had to come from a country where drugs are legal". Partly it would be good because noone would ever ever ask you to help move using a Carver.

My other issues with the movie aside I allways liked the The I, Robot concept car. It'd make parallel parking a cinch for starters, "Allright, line yourself up with the space, now drive sidways untill you're next to the curb".
posted by Grimgrin at 8:46 PM on July 8, 2006

Arto--

I'd settle for one engine per axle.

Excellent post, Castle. Lotsa fun.
posted by adamrice at 1:40 PM on July 9, 2006

Oops. Here's the link
posted by adamrice at 1:40 PM on July 9, 2006

I love that Segway Centaur. I want one...
posted by Me_Korak at 9:25 AM on July 12, 2006