Weird and wonderful
| Here we look at some ‘off the wall’ transport design ideas from the past hundred years created by people who liked to challenge the conventions of the day. Often they are serious responses to design challenges. Designers try out many ideas before refining them to a workable stage. |  |
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Toyota's designers stretch their imagination at the company's annual Ideas Expo. Past concepts include the three legged 'Hazumu' (1992) and the 'Hand Boy' (1996). |
| Marcel Leyat's 1922 'Helica' attempted to use aircraft propeller propulsion on a road car. |  |
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Robert Jankel's 1977 Panther Six sports car had six wheels, two fuel tanks and a claimed top speed of 200 mph. |
| This is a 1926 Rolls Royce rebodied in 1934 for King Edward VIII. It has a unique body with circular doors. |  |
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The Twike is a light-weight electric vehicle controlled by a joystick. It was first introduced in Switzerland in 1996. |
| Sir Charles Burney was involved in the production of the R100 airship. He was a great supporter of aerodynamics in car design and his Streamliner of 1930 incorporated this feature. |  |
Despite these images provoking some hilarity, many were designed with quite serious intentions. Those intentions may have been to address pollution issues, changes in vehicle use or to explore new materials.
Can you think of any innovations that seemed strange at the time but have now become mainstream design and technological features?
If you have any stories to tell about interesting or peculiar road transport designs then please share them on the Stories page of this Website.
If you would like to download high resolution images then please visit the gallery
