There’s a lot of weird stuff out there. There are cars which are the personal expression of someone’s warped psyche, and there are some that, for some reason, managed to slip through the machinations of the corporate approval process only to be met with a collective WTF? by the buying public. Have you managed to slip behind the wheel (or to grip the tiller, or wiggle the joystick) of one of these odd ducks? If so, what was it, and more importantly, what was it like? In my case, the oddest thing I’ve ever driven was a BMW Isetta. Two lung, two stroke, all of nine and a half horsepower, it didn’t seem dangerous. However, climbing in through the nose and pulling the entire front of the car closed by yanking on the steering wheel was disconcerting. A trip around the neighborhood proved uneventful and leisurely, as there was little to no traffic. However, having to drive this snail-paced egg on a major boulevard during the evening rush hour would prove as butt puckering as riding on the handlebars of Evel Knievell’s Ceasar’s Palace bike. It’s my goal, one day, to pilot an Amphicar on both land and water, an achievement which might just eclipse the Isetta drive in its weirdness, but that is for the future. So what about you? Have you ever steered the back end of one of those block-long hook and ladders? Ever get behind the wheel of one of those peyote-hallucinations on wheels that inexorably ply the dusty hippy-fest known as Burning Man? Have you ever driven a banana bike? Weird is in the eye of the beholder, and one man’s culmination of a life-long dream can be another’s freak show candidate, so there’s lots from which to choose. And if the weirdest thing you’ve ever been on is that Goth you dated in college, well, that’s alright too. Image sources: [Bon Cherry.com, treehugger.com]
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