Cars
The Mad Martian Pinstriper
Posted By: Paul - Sat May 06, 2023 -
Comments (4)
Category: Aliens, Music, 1950s, Cars
Will Rogers Nominates Henry Ford for President
The election season heats up!
Posted By: Paul - Mon Apr 17, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Politics, Historical Figure, 1920s, Comedians, Cars
Vintage Trophy Girl Photos
Hot rod/dragstrip racing has always featured beautiful women to hand out trophies or generally add allure to the scene. The folks at Jalopy Journal have assembled nearly 300 pages depicting same.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Apr 16, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Contest, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, Women, Cars
The automobile of the future
From the Washington Times - Jan 6, 1918:
Compare this to the Zoox, the self-driving robotaxi that Amazon is developing. Not an exact match, but similar enough that I'm going to call the 1918 prediction a success.
Though note that the 1918 car still had a driver. So the future managed to outdo what the futurists of 1918 imagined.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Apr 02, 2023 -
Comments (5)
Category: Predictions, Yesterday’s Tomorrows, 1910s, Cars
The Dynasphere
Invented by Dr. John Purves in the early 1930s. The driver in the pictures and video is his son.
image source: rarehistoricalphotos.com
Many have noted the limitations of the Dynasphere. For instance, this is from Joe Rhatigan's Inventions That Could Have Changed The World But Didn't (2015):
It seems to me like these are all problems that computer-aided technology could overcome. So, given that the Dynasphere looks like it would be fun to drive, I'm surprised that a version of it isn't in production somewhere.
More info: wikipedia
Posted By: Alex - Mon Mar 27, 2023 -
Comments (6)
Category: 1930s, 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
| 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 |