Cars
No seatbelt
1987: While making a safety film about the benefits of wearing a seatbelt, Anthony Galati lost control of his car and crashed, dying of his injuries. He wasn't wearing a seatbelt.More info: AP News
click to enlarge
Bowling Green Sentinel Tribune - May 18, 1987
Posted By: Alex - Fri Mar 17, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Accidents, Death, 1980s, Cars
Follies of the Madmen #559
That endless red-carpet SFX is pretty impressive for the 1960s. Plus, an eight-track player!
Posted By: Paul - Thu Mar 16, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Business, Advertising, Special Effects, 1960s, Cars
Miss Unsafe Brakes
According to Railey Jane Savage, in her book We have a winner!, Miss Unsafe Brakes appeared at the 1939 Chicago Auto Show.Miss Unsafe Brakes represents one of the few examples of a "miss" title named for something that's being criticized, rather than promoted. Another example would be Miss Smog America.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Mar 09, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, 1930s, Cars
Garner’s Backward Car
In the early 1970s, artist Philip (now Pippa) Garner converted a '59 Chevy into a "backward car." This involved flipping the body of the car around so that the back became the front. It was fully drivable.Esquire magazine ran an article about it in their Nov 1974 issue. They noted, "Even though the Chevy conformed to highway codes, it was stopped by police on numerous occasions. The car was legal, yes, but hard to handle. After these pictures were taken, Garner buried the car in a secret place, forever."
More info: Redling Fine Art (pdf of Esquire article)
Posted By: Alex - Sat Feb 11, 2023 -
Comments (7)
Category: 1970s, Cars
The Taylor Aerocar
Wikipedia article here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jan 27, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Inventions, Air Travel and Airlines, Twentieth Century, Cars
Motorway Snooker
In his book Bobby on the Beat, former London policeman Bob Dixon described the game of motorway (or traffic) snooker:Over the years some drivers have filed complaints, claiming to have been victims of motorway snooker.
Sydney Morning Herald - Sep 11, 1999
Of course, the official position of the British traffic police is that their officers would not engage in such frivolous games. But that even if they did, all the cars they stopped were speeding anyway.
The Herts and Essex Observer - Jan 16, 1992
More info: BBC News
Posted By: Alex - Sat Dec 24, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Games, Police and Other Law Enforcement, Cars
Driving Blind
London Daily Telegraph - Sep 5, 2006
Posted By: Alex - Tue Nov 29, 2022 -
Comments (5)
Category: 2000s, Eyes and Vision, Cars
Happy Thanksgiving 2022!
Posted By: Paul - Thu Nov 24, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Anthropomorphism, Food, Holidays, 1900s, Cars
Asleep in the deep with a jeep
A 1943 AP story about a jeep that traveled around the Pacific tied to a submarine became the centerpiece of an ad for ice cream the following year. The somewhat tenuous connection between the two was that the submarine crew eventually sold the jeep to a warship in exchange for three gallons of ice cream.
Nebraska State Journal - Aug 6, 1943
National Geographic - July 1944
Posted By: Alex - Fri Sep 16, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Military, Advertising, 1940s, Cars
Girl Gang Dodge Ads
This campaign was kinda genius, because they never explained what brought these three or four or five or six "wild & crazy" women together. Were they a troupe of actresses? Bank robbers? Insane asylum escapees? Rogue fashion models? You could stare at the ads all day in wonderment.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Sep 14, 2022 -
Comments (3)
Category: Unsolved Mysteries, Advertising, Women, Cars
| Who We Are |
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |