Weird Cars: A compilation of 77 avant garde silly, slow, experimental, failed, rare, ridiculous, revolutionary, obsolete, obscure, idiotic, and X-rated machines

by Michael Banovsky

You know cars.

You know why Ferrari lost to Ford at Le Mans. You know that the Volkswagen Beetle was designed by Ferdinand Porsche. You know there’s nothing in common between rollin’ coal and Walter Röhrl. You can explain camber and draw a camshaft. You blip the throttle on downshifts and apex highway ramps.

But sometimes, strange things happen. Designs emerge. Tastes change. Economies collapse. Companies merge. Racing selects the winners. Weird cars are interesting because they’re different. Because sometimes the world wasn’t ready—and sometimes because people don’t want to buy a Ferrari with no doors.

From a royal car named after a nuclear bomb test to an SUV known by its exhaust pipes, Weird Cars is a collection of misfits thrown together simply because they don’t belong anywhere else.

314 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 13, 2014

Reviews

[Nick Maronese · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little biased, here, as I was the editor-slash-proofreader on this book, but even speaking less subjectively, this book chronicles some absolutely incredible histories you aren't liable to find most anywhere else. Each entry is just a few pages, keeping the reader engaged and serving up only the most pertinent information. It's arguably light on imagery, but the very well-written copy more than makes up for it, if you ask me.

[Betsy Wechtenhiser-grill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read and good info

I love the authors sense of humor. I recommend this book to anyone interested in strange and exotic cars throughout history and from around the world.

[Pablo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Banovsky's background stories are always interesting to read for car fans, but this book is badly let down by the lack of quality photographs