A common complaint about contemporary car designs is that many are starting to look rather similar. You can place any number of badges on most of the modern SUVs and none of them would look out of place. It seems the era of design innovation has taken a bit of a hit, but that won’t stop us from celebrating some from the glory days. We’ve compiled a list of what we consider the craziest car designs of all time, so sit back, pop the kettle on and reminisce about a time when cars had a bit more ‘character.’
Mitsuoka Orochi
When people heard that a car called ‘Japan’s answer to Ferrari’ was being launched there may have been a bit of excitement. However, as soon as they saw the Mitsuoka Orochi, they may have wondered what the actual question was if this was the answer. It certainly has all the hallmarks and loose DNA of a supercar, but no matter how long you look at it, you never quite feel settled. Something is rather unnerving and it makes you want to sit in a quiet corner for a while and think about life.
Well, once you’re inside the Orochi things didn’t improve a lot as you were greeted by an automatic gearbox and 3.3-litre un-supercar like Lexus engine. At least it… stands out.
Ferrari 166 MM/212 Export Uovo
You have read that correctly, this is indeed a Ferrari and quite a spectacular one at that. A one-off coach build that closely resembles an egg as its Italian name of ‘Uovo’ suggests.
Underneath this car is a Ferrari 166MM, originally bought by the Marzotto brothers to take part in the Targa Florio. The car was crashed in its first attempt and on a rebuild they decided it was time for a rebody, and thus the Uovo was born.
Covini C6W
Any car that was inspired by the six-wheeled 1976 Tyrrell P34 certainly gets our stamp of approval. With the same set up of two pairs of smaller front wheels, the C6W will certainly turn heads almost as quickly as it turns corners. It’s no slouch either with an Audi 4.2-litre V8 and a top speed of 186mph.
ISO Isetta
You can’t help but love the cute design of the Isetta. Originally produced by ISO, who also produced the quite magnificent Grifo, it later fell into the hands of BMW who made it the highest-selling single-cylinder car ever. One of the stranger features of the Isetta was a forward opening door, which connects to the steering wheel for that elegant dismount. Whatever you do, try not to park forwards close to any walls… you may be there for a while.
Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6×6
Whoever at Mercedes decided that this was a good idea, we salute you. Probably not the wisest purchase if you’re nipping to the shops in Kensington, but if you’ve got a bit of land, which let’s face it, if you can afford the £370,000 price tag you probably have, you can have the time of your life. Now we just need the Covini and Mercedes design teams to get together and produce that eight-wheel car we’re all wanting to see.
Fiat Multipla
We’re not sure what the Fiat designers had in their coffee the morning they confirmed the Multipla’s design was good to go, but we want some. At this point in the Multipla’s life it has had its fair share of criticism, but my goodness would we love a bit of this character in some new cars. The Multipla won many awards in the motoring world, and it certainly won our hearts with its unique design.
Toyota Sera
When you lay eyes upon the Toyota Sera, all seems well. You’re looking at a nicely proportioned three-door hatchback that looks like a lot of fun. Well, somewhere between the first design drawing and the final production car, things took a slight turn. We can only assume that one of the design team decided to haze the intern and tell them to add gullwing doors as a joke. Unfortunately, no one noticed and Toyota ended up producing almost 16,000 gullwing door hatchbacks nobody asked for. We aren’t complaining.
Tesla Cybertruck
Strictly speaking, this hasn’t gone into production yet and we were trying to avoid concept cars, but this is due to be made in late 2022 so we’re going to let it slide. When the public first saw the Tesla Cybertruck it was assumed to be an outlandish concept that would never see the light of day, but Elon Musk seemed adamant that this is the exact design we’d witness on public roads. A small part of us thinks that it would look rather ridiculous, but a bigger part of us wants to see that happen. The Cybertruck design is one that we doubt has been entered into the Euro NCAP test, but having a flat front and sharp-edged bonnet doesn’t scream ‘pedestrian safety.’Please make it happen Elon.
Ferrari image by RM Sotheby’s.
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