Gadgetory

9 most fascinating cars in human history number 1 1942 the electric egg Paris 1942 at the darkest times of the Nazi occupation petrol shortages man that the horses and carts returned for delivery duties but then reports began circulating about a strange shiny little car that silently flashed around the streets this turned out to be the invention of engineer Paul arson who had dedicated to create a lightweight three-wheeled electric runabout for the city using a minimal amount of material the little car soon acquired the name the electric egg the egg consisted of an aluminum and plexiglass body and included full plexiglass doors for excellent forward and side visibility the remainder of the body was built of aluminum hand poured into an egg shape the Hoebel assemble was amazingly lightweight and the interior was minimalist in the extreme the value and scarcity of aluminum and Plexiglas meant that only one prototype could be built and arson kept his beloved electric egg in his collection for the rest of his life taking it out for the occasional drive number 2 1947 Norman Tim special Norman Tim's was a los angeles-based mechanical alter engineer who built this one-off streamliner in the 1940s it is said that the design was inspired by the mid-engine auto union racers of the 1930s the resulting car was five point five meters long curvaceous two-seater with an exaggerated tail that seemed to stretch the entire car its sensual and sleek hand-built aluminum body features a unique two-piece construction that allows the tail section to open behind the cockpit with the tail section up the gas tank spare tire engine and other mechanical components can be easily accessed tim's had spent ten thousand dollars to build a special enough to buy three new Cadillacs he would drive the special for a few years and then sell it the car was discovered in the desert of California in 2002 before this had sat in front of a restaurant while children would run out the back of the car to get into the driver's seat after it was restored and rescued the car won a number of awards and has since toured and been shown and exhibitions across the u.s. number three 1953 General Motors Firebird the 1953 General Motors Firebird 1x p21 was an actual jet fighter with four wheels a tail fin and a bubble cockpit the turbine engines spun off at 26,000 rounds per minute to generate the whopping for the time 370 horsepower it was the first gas turbine powered car tested in the United States the cars designer Harley Earl took his inspiration from the innovations in fighter aircraft design at the time Emmett Conklin the Firebirds desk supervisor was the only person qualified to drive the car and he tested it up 200 miles per hour but upon shifting into second gear the tires lost traction under the extreme engine torque and he immediately slowed down for fear of crashing General Motors never intended the cars for production but rather to showcase the extremes in technology in design that the company was able to achieve the car recently joined the display at the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan number four Chrysler Streamlight X Gilda the guilty' named after Rita Hayworth's famous role in the 1946 film of the same name was designed by Giovanni 7ot a pitiless Kia coach building firm Gilda is greatly constructed with a sturdy elegant aluminum body atop a square tube chassis a separate aluminum floor for the passenger compartment and the full belly pan for aerodynamic efficiency the car was shaped to take a gas turbine but it was never fitted with one the guilded toward the show circuit then was handed over the Henry Ford Museum where it said until purchased for a hundred and twenty five thousand dollars the cars new owner had the car restored and fitted as originally intended with a gas turbine computer and when tunnel modeling have determined that the 70 horsepower turbine would be capable of propelling the car up to a hundred and sixty miles per hour number five 1970 Ferrari Madhu Lou the weirdest Ferrari ever the Ferrari modular was a concept car designed by Pininfarina unveiled at the 1970 Geneva Motor Show the company president believed that it was too futuristic and that it would not sit well alongside some of its would be siblings it's easy to see why even more than 40 years later it was extremely impractical only the most negligibly proportioned adult would find comfort the car has an extremely low body with a canopy style roof that slides forward to permit entry to the cabin of the car all four wheels are partly covered another special feature of the design are 24 holes in the engine cupboard that revealed the Ferrari v12 engine which develops 550 horsepower a top speed of 220 miles per hour in 2014 pinin farina sold the car to an American entrepreneur who is restoring it to full operating condition number 6 1970 Stratos zero Bertoni the famous Italian automobile company specialized in car styling designed a concept car called the Lancia Stratos zero which was shown to the public in 1970 the prototype was fluorescent red in color and featured a distinctive windshield providing maximum forward visibility with almost no rear visibility the futuristic design featured the row of headlights across the front with 55 watt bulbs the turn signals were sequential going from centre to the edges the rear ribbon of lights consisted of a strip of 84 mini bulbs the initial concept behind zero was for bertoni's people to see how low they could build a car the seats were near horizontal and as close to the ground as possible the final version of the strata zero peaked at just 33 inches so short drivers had to enter through the hinged windshield number 7 2001 BMW Jena light visionary model the Jena light visionary model is a fabric skin shape-shifting sports car concept built by BMW Jena stands for geometry and functions and and adaptations the concept came from BMWs head of design Chris Bengal famous for upsetting the German automakers design standbys with hard geometry and chunky body parts he covered the car's exterior in polyurethane coated spandex that would shift according to the car's aerodynamic needs at the time the flexible stretchable water-resistant translucent man-made fabric skin resists high and low temperatures the car body changes its shape according to exterior conditions and speeds and it also allows the driver to change its shape at will the headlights are revealed when small motors pull the fabric back in an eyelid like fashion Jena project started in 2001 and it was unveiled to the public for the first time in 2008 number 8 1948 tasco the company named tasko is an abbreviation for the american sports car company this mostly aluminum prototype was created to inspire a contract with the Beech Aircraft Company for production of an aviation styled automobile the post-world War two American sports car prototype featured airplane inspired controls it is the first car in the world with t-top roof a one-off vehicle designed by Gordon Buehring aside from its rather uniquely designed nose winch eating wheel covers at all four corners and two passenger capacity development and production costs for the single car escalated to a whopping fifty-seven thousand dollars the tasko never even came close to scene production the car can now be seen at the Museum in Indiana number nine 1959 Cadillac cyclone the Cadillac cyclone is a concept car built in 1959 by Cadillac the cyclone was never mass-produced as a production model one of the last cars designed by the legendary Harley Earl the cyclone was a test bed for futuristic styling and technology the design was heavily inspired by the aviation and rocket designs of 1950s of the cyclone stylistic features the bubble top canopy was the most prominent silver coated for UV protection the canopy automatically opened along with the sliding electrically operated doors the canopy could also be stowed in the rear compartment where it rested on a special airbag base the black points on the leading edge of the front fenders hit a radar based guidance system meant to interact with future smart roads the cyclone appeared at various car shows before its ultimate retirement in 1961 hit that like button if you enjoyed this video and don't forget to subscribe and tell us what you think in the comment section below