OK folks, lets see the truly odd stuff thats hiding in your shed! dont get me wrong MGB's spitfires and X19's are cool! but lets see the stuff most people have never even heard of! Especially if your here in the USA. the Bond equipe that was just posted in readers is a perfect example. so lets see the trabants the DAF's, gogomobile, vauxhall, skoda, tatra, volga, OSI etc...
I'm not in the USA, but even here in Australia, where this car was sold in small numbers, it's now virtually unheard of.
Polish built Fiat 126, called an FSM Niki, (FSM stands for Fabryka Samochodów Małolitrażowych, in case you were wondering.)
Running gear is essentially that found in a Fiat 500, with the engine capacity bumped up to 650cc.
Nice one Luke...Niki's are cool little cars.
By the way...off the topic...but I have some Niki 650 brochures for sale on the 'OZtion' online auction site (www.oztion.com.au), under the seller name 'degruch', if you're interested. OZtion's a bit like eBay.
Sorry to spruik on here!
I don't own one, but how about a Panhard?
As if French cars weren't weird enough. Best description of the styling I ever heard was "It looks like it's sucking on a lemon".
Not to diss your Panhard suggestion, since that one does look a bit strangely cute like out of the movie Cars, but at least I've heard of and seen Panhards. But today at NJMP's Wheels and Warbirds Event, I saw this Turner and had no idea what it was or ever heard of it. Pretty cool car though:
Not really weird, but interesting in a "I can't believe any still exist" way...
I was at a show today and saw a Dodge Colt. Not the fwd one with the twin stick, I mean a real rwd, 1970s, little chrome bumper rebadged Mitsubishi. Similar, but not the car:
Nick, there was an article in Classic some time ago about Turners. Neat little cars. I'm trying to track down when that article ran.
How about the old SAAB two stroke engines that propelled the 92, 93, 95, and 96?
And the freewheel device that allowed coasting.
Now that is either odd or ingenious!
"I was at a show today and saw a Dodge Colt. Not the fwd one with the twin stick, I mean a real rwd, 1970s, little chrome bumper rebadged Mitsubishi. Similar, but not the car: "
I learned to drive in one of those! Then I drove it, and we ended up junking it with 37k miles on it. Not sure if the reason was the car or me...
Only "odd" things here now are my Gipsy http://fnader.com/Austin_Gipsy.htm
and Berk T60 http://fnader.com/Berkeley.htm
and maybe my "not ready for prime time" Bentley special (will be BRG before it sees the light of day...) http://fnader.com/Bentley.htm
Unless you count the Gyros http://fnader.com/BSA_Ariel3.htm http://fnader.com/Gyros.htm http://fnader.com/gyro_s.jpg
However, I've had some stranger stuff in the past (and some of the more rare stuff like my Trabant P600 and my Amphi aren't even pictured...)
http://fnader.com/FormerCars.htm
Bill
I never saw many of these around, but back in 1977 I owned a '73 VW 412 sedan...which I always thought was weird though practical. As you may know, it was quite large and roomy for a VW. I think the strangest part of the car was its gasoline fired heater; to get around the "issue" of earlier VW's that had no heat until the engine got hot enough to heat incoming air, this 412 had a button on the dash to activate burning of gasoline (from the gas tank, of course) to make heat in an air-to-air heat exchanger even before you started up the car, plus a fan to blow the hot air thru the car. I kinda liked the weirdness of the car but eventually was overcome by my desire for more weirdness so I upgraded to a '74 Peugeot 504 Wagon which I really really liked a lot and eventually upgraded to a brand new '84 505 Wagon.
This is a VW 412 like I had:
When I worked (briefly) for a VW dealer, the parts manager cited the 412 as the worst air cooled VW to work on. Apparently the engine bay access was miniscule. I remember them too, but haven't seen one for probably 30 years.
A co-worker of mine had one... that must've been '93 or so. That was in Arizona, where old VWs go to retire. I remember even then the Type 3 was considered a much better car.
Does that VW pre-date the Saab 99?
Styling wise, I think one must've been influenced by the other...from the front at least, they look very much alike.
Bill, I think you are the king of odd. And I mean that in the most respectful way... 
Bill, You win! That is a great collection of oddities!
At our local European Car Show a couple of weeks ago we had a category "Cars You Never Knew Existed". Examples included a Citroen Mehari, Ford Tanaus wagon, AC Bristol, a Noble, a Panther, a Nash Healey, a Triumph Italia, a couple of Italian beauties I can't spell, and more. It was great.
www.cvbcc.com for pictures. Click on Classics on the James 2008.
I know where there's a Taunus wagon in a junkyard near here, V6 automatic. Has those funky oval glass headlamps. It was in pretty nice shape until someone shot the windows out of it from an adjacent field. 
Kind of like this one:
When I was a kid, I had an ~Autobianchini Sedan~. We never drove it on the road....just ran it thought the woods and fields of the south Jersey Pine Barrens. I had several other interesting "orphans" too....all bought for less than $25. Including a SAAB 93B and an Austin A40.
By the way, Turners were really the inspiration for the Austin-Healey Sprite (and, of course, MG Midget). Prior to building these cars, Jack Turner actually designed and built a DOHC head for the BMC "A" series engine.
At the 2006 Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix at BeaveRun, they held a Turner Reunion. I was there and ran my Spridget against a lot of those cars.....it was great fun.
Kind of related to the Colt, but my grandparents' neighbors had a Plymouth Cricket. I can't remember ever seeing another one in real life.
'56 Panhard just popped up on Ebay, near me. http://cars2.ebay.com.au/Panhard-Dyna-LHD_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQitemZ330274117418
Sounds like a fascinating car, but I daresay parts are made of pure unobtainium by now. I'll be interested to see how much it sells for.
The Plymouth Cricket was a rebadged British Hillman Avenger imported briefly during that Chrysler Sunbeam/Hillman period of the late 60s and early 70s. Being British, and sold through dealerships normally peddling Roadrunners and Satellites, they quickly earned a reputation for being completely unreliable. How much of that was the fault of the car or the indifferent mechanics is debatable. It was Mopar's attempt at dealing with the onslaught of Toyoatsuns along with the previously mentioned Colt/Mitsubishi. Retro Cars magazine just had a story about the rare (in the hundreds) of the Avenger GT's that were built for rally homologation. Cool cars, though the rear wing was a bit much.
Toyota Sport 800. Never seen one yet, I found it browsing internet pictures and spent a while trying to figure out what it was.
Go to the Lane museum, as I'm pretty sure they have a Toyota Sports 800. They had it at the Mitty a few years ago. I have also seen one on display in Japan.
As far as something else that's a little weird, Google the Isuzu Bellett GT-R. I bought a die-cast one on sale. Very cool.
The Isuzu Bellett was the first Japanese car that I recall seeing. Odd, but common enough to be well known is the Morgan three wheeler. I think the design is unique in the automotive world.
Cheers Ron
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