Car companies are always trying to innovate, just check out these 50 vintage cars that went too far.
|
| Circa 1900. Two Victorian ladies out for a drive with their chauffeur. (Keystone/Getty Images) |
|
| 2nd June 1911. Traveling to the Derby by chauffeur driven car. United Kingdom. (Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
 |
| 1st May 1911. A motor car at Brooklands race track which has been fitted with a propeller for extra speed. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images) |
|
| 9th April 1913. A demonstration of a vacuum cleaner for the London streets, with representatives of the London Corporation in the car. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images) |
|
| 1916. A very early Carden [Lightcar] being driven along the street. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images) |
|
| Circa 1920. Queen Mary (1867–1953) with Princess Mary, the Princess Royal (1897–1965) being driven across rough ground in a tracked car by Army officers. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images) |
|
| June 1924. English aircraft manufacturer Sir Edwin Alliott Verdon Roe riding his Avro Mobile, which he invented, at Southampton. (Kirby/Topical Press Agency) |
 |
| Circa 1925. Baker Mr. Sillitoe has constructed a delivery van with the drivers cab and the van in the shape of loaves of bread. (Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
 |
| Circa 1925. Dr. Manfred Curry standing beside his invention, the Curry-Landskiff, a man-powered vehicle which can reach speed of up to 35 miles per hour. (General Photographic Agency/Getty Images) |
 |
| 1926. A vehicle invented by George McLaughlin which was designed to travel on ice and snow. (Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
 |
| October 1926. The Peugeot motor-boat car, on a river bank. The front end is shaped like the bow of a boat, the middle part like a car and it has wheels. (Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
 |
| October 1928. A fruit importers lorry at Covent Garden, London, with its drivers cabin in the shape of an apple. (Harold Clements/London Express/Getty Images) |
 |
| September 1928. A man cycling a [One-Man Car Cycle] in a street in the West End of London. (Crouch/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
 |
| 27th February 1928. Back views of an English invention capable of being used as a car, boat and plane. Showing are a tail fin, rudder and propeller. It also has two wings which can fold back and another propeller at the front. (London Express/Getty Images) |
 |
| 1st March 1929. A man and a woman riding in an [Auto Red Bug], Americas latest electric 2-seater runabout, in a London street. Driven by a 16 volt battery, it is capable of 12 mph. (J. Gaiger/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
 |
| April 1929. A three-wheeled car made by Mr. A. Graham of Kingston, Surrey. The vehicle, designed in a nautical style, reaches a maximum speed of 70 miles an hour with a body made entirely of sheet iron. (Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
 |
| Circa 1930. A car driven by gas held in a large balloon on the roof and pulling a gas trailer. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images) |
 |
| 20th March 1931. Captain Malin with an amphibian Riley car going down the Severn. He is taking a convoy of these cars for a London to Cape Town venture.The car is mounted on a portable balloon apparatus and driven by its own power through small paddles on the rear wheels. (A. Hudson/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
 |
| August 1931. Mr. Grahams novel three-wheel car designed to look like an armoured car, being used to take himself and his bride on honeymoon after their wedding. (Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
 |
| 1st September 1931. Swiss engineer M. Gerder at Arles, France on his way to Spain in his [Motorwheel], a motorcycle with a wheel which runs on a rail placed inside a solid rubber tyre. (Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
 |
| Circa 1931. Three tricycles make car for two. Dr. J. B. Hanson and wife demonstrate their car. (Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
 |
| 24th November 1933. A view of the motor car that will be display at the Motor Show, which has only three wheels, and sells at £100. It is made by B.S.A. and the annual tax of £4 and running costs are the same as a heavyweight sidecar outfit. (G. L. Davison/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) |
 |
| Circa 1933. Customers buying snacks at the bar of a bus. (Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
 |
| Circa 1935. A pioneering experimental streamlined car with bodywork designed by Hungarian-born German aerodynamicist Paul Jaray being driven around the streets of Berlin for the first time (the Brandenburg Gate is in the background). (Keystone/Getty Images) |
 |
| 22nd January 1935. The newly built one horsepower Rytecraft lorry, believed to be the smallest motor lorry in the world, on the North Circular Road with other traffic. (Reg Speller/Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
 |
| 1st December 1937. A submarine motor car, which can travel both on land and underwater and is equipped with a 4 hp engine and steel fins on both sides. (Horace Abrahams/Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
 |
| 1937. Staff at work behind guarded doors at a workshop near Wolverhampton on the streamlined car in which designer and motor racer George Eyston will attempt to reach 400 mph on the salt beds near Salt Lake City, Utah. (David Savill/Getty Images) |
 |
| 22nd February 1940. Navy recruits riding in car and trailer at the HMS Royal Arthur training centre formerly Butlins holiday camp, Skegness. (Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
 |
| 24th April 1940. Gas-driven taxis in a street in Birmingham. The gas bags on the roofs of the taxis last about 15 to 20 miles without a refill. (Photo by A. J. OBrien/Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
 |
| Circa 1950. A tent that balances very neatly on top a car. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images) |
 |
| 1951. Designer Harley J. Earl of General Motors examining a full scale model of the Buick Le Sabre, a custom made sports car which will be used to test design features for other vehicles. United States. (Keystone/Getty Images) |
 |
| 14th November 1952. The Regal four-seater coupe, produced by the Reliant Engineering Co., Tamworth, Staffordshire, on show at the Cycle and Motor Cycle Show at Wasrls Court in London. (Ron Case/Keystone/Getty Images) |
 |
| Circa 1954. A new [Peoples Car], with an entirely plastic body, designed to seat three adults and two children and marketed as the cheapest car on the road. (Express/Express/Getty Images) |
 |
| 1955. French model Suzette Clairy takes her boyfriend for a spin in a Reyonnah, a narrow runabout vehicle named after its inventor, Monsieur Hannoyer. The front wheels can be drawn in to enable the car to pass into a tight parking space, or even through a doorway. (Serge Berton/Getty Images) |
 |
| 4th November 1955. Model Gay McGregor shows off the latest 1956 model Bond Minicar three-wheeler, at its London preview. (Folb/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
 |
| December 1956. Designed for comfort the Bedouin B collapsible caravan converts from a compact trailer into a spacious home for two in four minutes flat. (Harry Kerr/BIPs) |
 |
| 10th January 1957. Mr. J. L. M. Meikle, a member of the 500 Motor Racing Club of Ireland at his him in Bangor, Wales, with a jet-propelled racing car that he has built. (MacMullan/Fox Photos) |
 |
| 1958. A Fulgar show-model car made by French car manufacturers, Simca. Designed for the year 2000 it is intended to be atomically powered, guided by radar and using only two wheels balanced by gyroscopes when driven at over 150 kph. (Central Press/Getty Images) |
 |
| July 1958. Fernando Ruiz Luciarte driving his invention, the Oto-Pedal, through the streets of Paris. The car, specially designed for elderly people, is modeled on the child's pedal car and travels at a speed of 25 miles per hour. (Karel Berg/BIPs) |
 |
| September 1958. Fixing the laminated fibreglass body onto the chassis of the new streamlined kit-car designed by engineers Anthony Bullen and Bill Woodhouse. (BIPS) |
 |
| September 1959. Clive Talbot Of Chiswick, London, in his car built with the body of a boat. (June Lander/BIPs/Getty Images) |
 |
| 9th August 1960. The sun powered car, a 1912 Baker Electric Mode which has been adapted to run from energy obtained from the suns rays. Dr. Charles Alexander Escoffery, the cars inventor, explains the workings of the solar panel. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images) |
 |
| 9th November 1960. Lord Brabazon, the pioneer British aviator, demonstrates the hover scooter at Long Ditton in Surrey. The machine has been developed by American engineer Charles Rhoades, and combines the hovercraft with a scooter powered by a 250cc twin cylinder 2-stroke motorcycle engine. (Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
 |
| 16th January 1964. On the day after the official opening of the Tay Salmon Rod Fishing Season, Duncan McGregor catches an 8lb salmon from Ian Cameron's amphibious car “Ay-Ell”. United Kingdom. (Central Press/Getty Images) |
 |
| December 1964. The [Urbania], the worlds smallest working car, invented by Marquis Piero Bargagli of Poggio Adorno to solve the problem of limited parking space. The engine is situated in the centre of the chassis and the seats rotate on a circular rail, enabling the passengers to descend from any side. (Franco Sestili/BIPs/Getty Images) |
 |
| December 1964. The [Urbania], the worlds smallest working car, invented by Marquis Piero Bargagli of Poggio Adorno to solve the problem of limited parking space. The engine is situated in the centre of the chassis and the seats rotate on a circular rail, enabling the passengers to descend from any side. (Franco Sestili/BIPs/Getty Images) |
 |
| 1966. A man inspecting the engine of his miniature, motorised car, “The Scamp”. (Evening Standard/Getty Images) |
 |
| 12th June 1967. Prototype for a car-about-town, La Quasar, designed by Quasar Kahn. The car allows easy access from all four sides and can reach speeds of 95kph. (Keystone/Getty Images) |
 |
| 27th May 1968. A full size working replica of the pink limousine used by Parker to chauffeur Lady Penelope in Gerry Anderson's television series “Thunderbirds”, unveiled at Woburn Abbey. United Kingdom.(Jim Gray/Keystone/Getty Images) |
|
| 11th November 1969. Two models showing how a Dormobile Roma motor caravan can be extended. (George W. Hales/Fox Photos/Getty Images) |