Craigslist Crapshoot

Welcome to Craigslist Crapshoot, our weekly search for the most bizarre, awesome, and/or terrible vehicles that the online classifieds has to offer.  Little Twelve Toes was one of my favorite episodes of School House Rock, because it was both funky and creepy, what with an alien that had twelve digits on each extremity and a head that disembarked with his hat every time it was doffed. That attraction has translated to my adulthood as I now have an attraction to 12-cylinder automobiles even though I know they are all far from the most resource efficient, and there’s really not a one that wouldn’t cost you an arm and a leg – and maybe a head if you’re an alien – to maintain. Still, last week we dreamed big. We’ll see the most twelvalicious in a sec, but first this week’s challenge. This week’s quest comes from Jim Yu who wants to see some sweet factory decals. That’s right, this week we want all the screaming chickens, snapping snakes, and ICOC stickered cars you can find. The more garish the better. This quest will probably limit your findings to cars and trucks of the ’70s and early ’80s, but if you can find anything outside that age range, all the better. As always, we want your finds to go down in infamy and not in the site’s spam filter. Follow any of the following advice and you’re crap will be known far and wide.

Man, with all the ’80s and ’90s German and English luxo-boats out there, I’m guessing that there’s more twelve cylinder cars in the classifieds today than at any other point in time in history. You found a butt-load of them, and I can say for certain that there were one or two among them -especially the sweet-looking 1975 Jag XJ12 Coupe found by I Think Not – that I wouldn’t mind having myself. This week’s top twelve is NOT however a car that I would want, but it’s so WTF? that it warrants a win. Found by PotBellyJoe ©, and featured on the Philly Craigslist, this wannabe Bentley VW Phaeton is actually a W12, which is a V12, only scrunched up a bunch. Why anyone would think that slapping a bunch of Bentley badges on a Phaeton would make a difference is anybody’s guess, but perhaps it offers a psychological crutch to aid the dealing with the car’s massive and unstoppable depreciation. Congrats PotBellyJoe©, and thanks to you all for the great finds.