Section · 10 stories
Engineering decisions that make zero sense until, suddenly, they make total sense.
For about 15 years, American cars strapped you in with a little motor that dragged the shoulder belt along the door frame. Here's why they existed, five cars that had them, and a vote.
Weirdest quirk A shoulder belt on a little motorized track that slid along the door frame and buckled you in when you closed the door, while the lap belt still waited for you to do it yourself.
OpenAI is the minivan that started a craze, Google is an SUV with five names and Anthropic drives a Volvo 240. Five AI labs, matched to five US-market cars.
Weirdest quirk The GMC Envoy XUV's rear roof slid forward and a 'midgate' folded down, turning an SUV into a pickup. One product hiding inside another.
Headlights that steer, doors that sink into the floor and a roof that folds into the trunk. Five genuinely clever car features that were ahead of their time.
Weirdest quirk The Ford Skyliner's folding hardtop used seven electric motors, ten limit switches, ten solenoids and 610 ft of wire.
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.
Once upon a time, a little vent under the steering column blew cold air exactly where you needed it. We tracked down the cars that really had one, and counted honestly.
Weirdest quirk An A/C outlet under the steering column, aimed straight between the driver's knees.
To get into an Isetta you open the entire front of the car, and the steering wheel and dashboard swing out with it. It probably saved BMW.
Weirdest quirk The whole front of the car is the door, and the steering wheel and instrument panel swing out with it.
Everyone else gave up on the rotary engine. Mazda spent six years fighting it, then raced it for 84 hours straight at the Nürburgring.
Weirdest quirk It has no pistons. Two triangular rotors spin inside the engine, with two spark plugs per rotor.
For decades, Saab drivers groped around the center console for the key slot. The reasons were smarter than they looked.
Weirdest quirk The key lives on the floor between the seats, and on manuals it only comes out when you've selected reverse.
A brake 'button' instead of a pedal, a car that stands up when you start it, and 12,000 orders on day one. The Goddess was gloriously strange.
Weirdest quirk The brake isn't a pedal. It's a little rubber button on the floor that barely moves.
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.
