Section · 9 stories
Ideas that should never have left the sketchpad, and we're so glad they did.
Turquoise over ivory, silver over red leather and a Gremlin upholstered in fake jeans. Ten of the best paint-and-interior combos carmakers ever actually sold.
Weirdest quirk AMC couldn't use real denim in the Levi's Gremlin because it failed flame-retardancy rules, so it used nylon washed to look like broken-in jeans.
A Lettuce, a Thing, a Naked and a Mysterious Utility Wizard. Here are the strangest car names ever put on a tailgate, plus two famous naming 'blunders' that are total myths.
Weirdest quirk Kia put an apostrophe in the Cee'd because 'CEEED' had too many E's. It finally dropped it in 2018.
Unsafe at any speed, the worst car of the millennium and one very famous white Bronco. Ten cars famous for the wrong reasons, and a fair verdict on each.
Weirdest quirk The Yugo's 1986 US launch price was $3,990, and Yugo turned it into a '39-90' ad campaign.
Under 2,000 pounds, under $2,000 and built in record time. The Pinto was a huge hit, a porthole-windowed van wannabe and a legal landmark. Here's what really happened.
Weirdest quirk Ford's Cruising Wagon version had round 'bubble' porthole windows so a subcompact could pretend to be a custom van.
Longhorns in downtown Detroit, a Mustang on the Empire State Building and a 'shatterproof' window that shattered. These are the most absurd car unveilings on record.
Weirdest quirk At the 2019 Cybertruck unveiling, both 'Armor Glass' windows cracked when the chief designer threw a metal ball at them.
Subaru put two rear-facing plastic seats in the cargo bed so the US government would call its little pickup a car. It worked.
Weirdest quirk Two rear-facing jump seats bolted into the cargo bed, there mainly to dodge a 25% light-truck tariff.
One wheel at the front, a fiberglass body and an aluminum engine. Britain's most famous three-wheeler is a glorious mistake, and it wasn't really as tippy as TV made out.
Weirdest quirk One wheel at the front, plus a weight under about 990 lb (450 kg), so it could be licensed and taxed like a motorcycle-category tricycle.
A slippery Czech sedan with three headlights, a fin, and a V8 behind the back seat. Its handling became a legend of its own.
Weirdest quirk A dorsal fin runs down the engine cover, and a third 'cyclops' headlight sits in the middle of the nose.
The wedgiest wedge ever drawn had almost no rear visibility, so owners invented the 'Countach reverse.' Pure spec-sheet theatre.
Weirdest quirk The traditional way to reverse it is sitting on the door sill with the scissor door up, looking backward.
