9th Edition - Friday July 10th 2009

 

1) Jet-powered Flatmobile: the flattest car in the world

This crazy, crazy "Flatmobile" is going to enter the Guinness books as the flattest vehicle ever. How flat is it? Nineteen inches. This Batmobile-like contraption is extremely dangerous—creator Perry Watkins shoved a gas turbine jet engine on the butt. It's also supposedly street legal, but we wouldn't want to be in it during a rollover.

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2) Colim: the detachable caravan

Colim, a new vehicle designed by Christian Susana, is a great blend of a car and a caravan camper. The front part of this unique looking automobile can be detached, if you are not going camping with your family, and used as a two-seater car. Colim might not be the best looking vehicle, but it is quite useful given the flexibility it offers. (Source)

3) World's Longest Limousine

This fancy limousine is actually the longest limousine in the world. Total length is 100 feet (more than 30 meters). It has 26 tires, room for a lot of passengers, a heated Jacuzzi, sun deck, swimming pool, a few beds and… a helipad! (Source)

4) Dream Car 123: the pyramid electric car

What weighs 8,000 pounds, turns on a dime, and looks like an Egyptian pyramid? The Dream Car 123! It may look like a pyramid, but it's outfitted like a tank and lights up in neon colors at night. The best part is that it runs on electricity. 3.5 hour charge will take the Dream Car 240 miles at up to 40 mph. Inventor Greg Zanis has also designed a tower garage that harvests solar and wind power to recharge the vehicle.


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5) Peel 50: World's Smallest Car

The three-wheeled micro car boasts the record for the smallest ever automobile to go into production. It has certainly got itself into a tight squeeze, but the world's tinniest car has every right to be there. Tucked in between two vans in London's Piccadilly Circus, the Peel 50 is legally allowed to take to British roads. (Source)

6) LEGO F1: Ferrari Race Car

With about 12k-20k invested and 80,000 LEGO pieces later, the biggest and most lifelike LEGO F1 car was created. This Ferrari F1, based on the F2008, is 1:1 scale, which is apparently drivable was presented in Holland, more specifically in Amsterdam, at the annual ‘Lego World' event held there. We would love to have one. (Source)

7) Evolution: Super Eco friendly car

Different from convenient eco-friendly car, this concept car from Loremo AG, a German car corporation, is not a based on hybrid but on its weight: about 450kg, achieving a stunning 157mpg. The speed will go up to 160km/h on a 2 cylinder turbo-diesel engine. Another surprising part is that comes with a front wing door rather than having two side doors for the drivers to enter the vehicle. (Source)

8) Mattrack Truck: the skiing car

This is a standard truck where the wheels have been replaced by mattrack belts. The company -Mattrack- can apparently do this to any kind of 4×4 vehicle – from ATVs to 20 ton trucks. The short belts allow the Mattrack Truck to drive almost anywhere unless the snow gets too deep. If the snow gets to deep, longer belts are required (like on the Piston Bully). The short belts also make Mattrack Truck able to cross small creavasses, while larger creavasses require longer belts. (Source)

9) Peugeot Capsule: an escape pod car

Escape pods are nothing new to our collective consciousness. Hollywood writers have used this concept to save presidents from crashing planes to landing R2-D2 and C-3PO on Tatooine. Now designer Alp Germaner has dreamt up an escape pod that may not take you off planet but will certainly take you off road like never before. The “Peugeot Capsule” is a one person, off-road, electric vehicle inspired by the KLR 650 motorcycle. Complete with integrated GPS, LCD screens that double as rear-view mirrors, full time internet connectivity (for jungle porn of course) and comes with enough luggage space to make a weekend of it. Master Chief not included. (Source)

10) Eclectic: world's first energy-autonomous vehicle?

Claiming its creation is the world's first "energy-autonomous" vehicle, Venturi equipped this nerdy car, called Eclectic with a solar panel and a wind turbine so it can get power from the elements. It also has a plug for recharging from an outlet, as the panel and turbine combined give you only something like 14 miles a day. But electric power still beats gas. You are able to buy an Eclectic for about $31,500, according to a Venturi press release. (Source)

11) Thrust SSC: runs over 750 miles an hour

Thrust SSC (Super Sonic Car) is powered by two 25,000 lb thrust Rolls Royce 205 Turbojet engines. This gives it a total power similar to 145 Formula 1 cars. Thrust SSC weighs 10 tones and recorded a maximum speed of 766 mph in the Black Rock desert Nevada, USA on October 15, 1997. (Source)

12) Bigfoot: World's Biggest Monster Truck

Bigfoot 5 is the world's biggest and heaviest monster truck. It has a 1996 Ford F250 pickup body with a 460 cu inch V8 for power. Bigfoot 5 weighs 28,000 lbs and stands 15 feet 6 inches tall. The enormous tires are from an alaskan land train, a vehicle used by the US army in the 1950's. (Source)