Hi guys!

I love to collect automotive articles on rare prototype or production cars that usually flies below everyone's radar. Quirky cars that manufacturer thought it was a good idea at the time. So I've decided to start a thread solely dedicated to weird cars that I found on the internet and share it to all you gearhead folks.

I've set up some rules on what the article should be:

1. The car has to be made or commissioned by the manufacturer. I may consider boutique coachbuilders, but not straight up slapping bodykits & call it a day by tuning companies.

2. Pictures must be accompanied with some information. Pictures have a thousand words but they have a thousand questions if there's no explanation behind it.

3. Information must be cited & credited to the original source. This is not a make believe thread.

I'll be doing the write-up based on the info I find in Google search. The frequency of article posting will be IRREGULAR at best due to rarity of the models. I do this whenever I'm free.

If you find any inaccuracies or grammatical error.



A new article will be up in a few hours or less.

1997 FERRARI F40 YAMAHA AMI




A chibi Ferrari F40....there's no other way to put it really. There aren't much information about it other than it was based on Daihatsu Mira/Opti & possibly sold exclusively in Japan. Yamaha may have heavy involvement in automotive industry but you'll almost never see Yamaha badge on a car anywhere.



So...what the hell is this thing?

Well...it's a front engined, front wheel drive 1997 Yamaha AMi that comes in Red or Black with 2 choice of 659cc engine either 12-valve 55ps or 6-valve 42ps. Apparently this car had a limited sales to 600 units only.



I don't know Japanese language, but I assumed that the car comes with 3 trims where the top of the line gets a quadpipe exhaust & white wheels as in the brochure while normal gets a single pipe exhaust & normal alloy wheels.



I don't whether it's a homage to Ferrari F40 or they're just being weird. Who knew.

http://www.autoevolution.com/news/yamaha-a...ery-49835.html#
http://www.banovsky.com/archive/yamaha-ami
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/you-....102203/page-44
http://minkara.carview.co.jp/en/userid/113.../blog/34882378/

Suzuki Swifter by Zender

- 1.3-litre, 101 hp Swift GTI
- Only 15 units made
- Debut in 1990

Then in 1991 came the Swift Sterling. Similar to the Swifter, but without the front windshield.

Listed price, back in 1991 was $17,000




Via suzukiswift.blog.hu

Sweet.

1982..or...1987 VOLVO 24...er...3?...Sedan...or Coupe...I don't know what to call this...




There are 2 stories to this, in which 1 of them sounds absurd & other probably made sense...i think.

Story 1

There was manufacturing error at Volvo's Belgium plant mixing 242 & 244 in which they ended up making 30 units of these hybrids. Since they were fully functional vehicles, Volvo thought it was a good idea to sell it to Estonia rather than turn it to waste.

Story 2

The owner of this particular car claimed that the cars were custom made specially for the Swedish Police force by the Volvo Special Vehicles division in very limited units. Assuming that the apprehended criminal has only one way access & prevent them from escaping the other door.

Whether there's some truth in it or not, I find the latter story made more sense than the 1st one.

http://jalopnik.com/5148730/ultra-rare-or-...w.google.com%2F
http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/94167
http://forums.swedespeed.com/showthread.ph...er-The-1982-243

You can buy this brand new now! Nissan murano crosscabriolet



http://www.nissanusa.com/crossovers/murano-crosscabriolet

No reason for a suv roadster.. but yeah.

So this is where Hyundai got the inspiration for their Veloster.

nissan escargot..
it's took me months googling to find out what car i just saw..

1936 Mercedes Benz 170H



I know what you're thinking.

It's not a Volkswagen Beetle. It looks like a Volkswagen Beetle, but I'm telling you it's not a bloody Volkswagen Beetle. This car came out first 2 years before 1st Beetle did....ok Mr Porsche may have something to do with this during when he was working for Daimler in the 20s.



Headed by Hans Nibel, the Mercedes Benz 170H is the succesor of the unpopular Mercedes Benz 130 due to awkward handling thanks to extremely unbalance heavy rear axle. Now you would think the succesor have much needed improvement over the predecessor. It does...except for less trunk space & louder. Handling improved...slightly but it didn't help the sales.

The production ended in 1939.

http://www.dieselpunks.org/profiles/blogs/...e-77-rearengine
http://www.rmsothebys.com/lf13/london/lots...-saloon/1062322
http://www.carfolio.com/specifications/models/car/?car=85866

There were a few of these running around in KL in the 90's. Not sure about now though.

This car is real.

Totally not refuting that at all even though I posted a picture of a person holding a brochure & brochure contents.

Totally real.

This post has been edited by alpha0201: Sep 10 2015, 04:15 PM

1956 Volvo P1900 "Volvo Sport"



The 1956 Volvo P1900 isn't exactly Volvo proudest moment. The car was inspired by Chevrolet Corvette C1 when Assar Gabrielsson, former CEO & founder of Volvo went to USA & wanted to build something similar. The car construction were basically fiberglass body, tublar steel chassis & parts from Volvo PV444.

During the prototype testing, the car suffers quality build issues, ranging from cracked body, heavy vibrations, fluttering hood, water seeping into the trunk, premature brake fade...etc. Before the car even completed it's testing, the car were sold to the public as it was with little modification in later production that doesn't address the issue.

Then later when Gunnar Engellau took over Assar Gabrielsson's position, he took delivery of the car and took it for a drive. When he came back, he immediately ceased the P1900 production. He said, “The car vibrated so much that I thought the doors would fall off.”

Only 68 Volvo P1900 were built. On the bright side they started the P1800 development & end up becoming Volvo successful model.




http://www.volvoadventures.com/1900.html
https://www.motorbase.com/vehicle/profile/volvo-p1900/
http://oppositelock.kinja.com/cars-you-did...w.google.com%2F

My gawd! That F40 almost killed me.

Hahaha. But the car in the brochure is not the car that is standing there... for example the complete front end is different, the area after the B pillar is different (window...). Maybe it is a replica?

@xemoboyx: Well, they are now making a Range Rover Evoque cabriolet... soooooo...

Some models by Ligier... they are Microcars, limited to 45 km/h, no safety, no need for driving license (so they are basically driven by rich kids, people who never made a driving license and can't be bothered/are unable to make one or drunks who lost their driving license). Noisy, stinking piles of **** hogging roads and causing dangerous situations all over Europe. They have something like 6 hp, 2 cylinder engines (diesel or petrol), ...


Their designer saw an Opel Adam.


Their designer saw a Daewoo Matiz.


Their designer saw an Opel Tigra or Renault Wind.


Their designer saw a Fiat 500.

For some odd reason Ligier also makes proper racing cars... well, that's how they started AFAIK, before they discovered pathetic excuses on 4 wheels made money.

There is also Aixam, which does similar cars.


Their designer saw a Renault Twingo.


Their designer saw a Suzuki Swift.


Their designer saw a Suzuki... er... Splash? Also sold as Opel Agila.

There are more manufacturers... couldn't be bothered to look up who made these:


Their designer saw a Kia Soul and a Mini.

Oh, and if you were wondering what happens when a microcar meets even a very cheap, old and small Renault:


And if you are now wondering, how much do these things cost:
Well, this one is 13000 Euro... a decently equipped Fiat 500, itself not a cheap car, costs about as much. Or you could have a C segment Seat Leon, though it will be rather empty. A Kia Picanto can be had for 7000... 2 Picanto, one microcar. Resale value of these things is AFAIK barely there, either. Doing a driving license is maybe at most 2000 Euro? Basically you need to have a REALLY good reason why you won't just make a driving license and get a proper car, that rides better, drives better, is a lot faster, much more comfortable and less noisy, much safer, ... and that is you aren't allowed to make a proper driving license, are unable to pass (say you can't read, are virtually blind, ...) or are banned from driving.

It does come in multiple trims and 2 engine options. Plus the car being a replica is a bit far fetched for what it is.

Usually Japanese cars that are sold in their home country has pretty amazing or sometimes insane customization options directly from the manufacturer.

good tered. keep em kambing

1942 L'Oeuf Electrique



L'Oeuf Electrique, which is in French, The Electric Egg built by French industrial designer Paul Arzen, is an electric powered (later petrol powered) car. The car is masterfully hand crafted aluminium body & plexi glass.



At the time, France was occupied by Nazi. They imposed restriction on fuel in order to supply for their army in which petrol weren't available for civilian use. So Arzen installed an electric motor & lots of batteries, bringing the weight to 300++kg from the initial weight of 60kg. The car was capable of travelling up to 100km in range, with a top speed up to 70kph.



Then later after the war, he replaced the electric motor with a Peugeot sourced 5.5hp 125cc engine. I wasn't able to find a solid info on the range & weight of the car after removing those batteries. I'm gonna assume the car is whole lot lighter than 300++kg.



The survived today & appeared in many exhibitions & museums around the world in original unrestored condition.



http://www.carstyling.ru/en/entry/Paul_Arz...gg/images/7641/
http://www.mister-cars.com/Article/Arzens-...ubble-Car/1272/
http://jalopnik.com/the-amazing-electric-e...w.google.com%2F
http://losorigenes.net/marcas/arzens/arzens.html
http://www.evdl.org/archive/index.html#nabble-td4675345
http://www.arts-et-metiers.net/musee/loeuf...-de-paul-arzens

Really strange-looking MPV - this Fiat Multipla one of the rare 6-seater vehicles, with three in the front (in addition to the three backseats), together with the Honda Edix I used to drive.



This post has been edited by THTgadgets.com: Sep 11 2015, 09:34 AM

Can the cars of Sultan of Brunei be considered?

Something like this




Most probably one off cars anyways.

Looks like a 350z banged into a rolls.

This post has been edited by nm7: Sep 11 2015, 10:31 AM