A blog devoted to RANTS ON AUTOMOTIVE DESIGN, car reviews, and - above all - fugly autos. whether looking for vehicular plagiarism or rides of extreme tastelessness, you've come to the right place.


Sunday, December 05, 2010

Pruck that.



Yes, it's a Pruis truck. Apparently someone saw fit to answer a question no one asked.

The awkwardly named Pruck looks as awkward as it's name. The Subaru Baja looks like it was the most fitting (I use that term loosely) candidate for grafting onto the Prius. I'm guessing it's because the width or ride heights were similar, because the rooflines definitely don't match. And what you're looking at here is the FINISHED product. Not sure why the creator choose to leave the Baja's plastic SUV style body cladding in it's contrasting colour. Maybe they thought it would divert the eyes from the warped greenhouse where the bodies meet. Or that you wouldn't see how the rear doors curve to make room for the rear wheels even though they were moved a foot back. Whatever the case, the builder also seems to be as good at taking photos as they are working sheetmetal (the trick to taking photos to get the whole subject within said photos).

Regardless, I wonder how the added weight and aerodynamic inefficiency of the bed factor into fuel mileage. Because if it has the fuel comsumption of a regular car wouldn't it just be easier, cheaper, and less embarrassing to drive something like - oh - a Subaru Baja?

*Sidenote: it appears this Pruis/Pruck has had a plug-in conversion which appears to have turned it from hybird to full-on EV.


Norster 600R

This answer to this question: "What do you get when you combine an Austin Healey Sprite with a modern mid-engine sports car and a golf cart?"

Basing anything off the looks of the frogeye Sprite isn't a good idea (surprisingly yet to be featured here), but add the awkward proportions of the mid-engine layout and the upright windshield and 20hp engine from a golf cart and you the recipe for automotive failure.

Chinese Tomahawk is more of a blunt object



What could be more frightening than attempting to drive the Viper V10 powered 2003 Dodge Tomahawk motorcycle? Probably driving it's Chinese knockoff equivalent. For a different reason however. In the Tomahawk, that fear was from the powerful V10 attempting to give you third degree burns or propelling you into immovable objects at alarm speeds. It's Chinese counterpart is powered by a 150CC single cylinder engine, so it's safe to say the prior fears are pretty much non-existant. However, a whole new set of fears manifest as you pray that it doesn't fall apart or that you aren't run over by other traffic while attempting to achieve anything resembling forward momentum.

UAE Land Cruiser

I'm quite sure the land this Land Cruiser will be cruising is mostly paved. And I think it needs more lights.

And Luigi Colani Strikes Again


I'm not sure if it's a testament to the aerodynamics in his often unsightly organic designs, but Colani's current designs (these are from 1999) don't look much different than some of his work from the late 70's. The only easy way to date his designs is to date the rims they wear. The Vipers here show various stages of mutation from the Colani virus. The one in the foreground obviously has show very little effect. But the one in the middle is suffering from a full blown case of Colani, including the typical sleek but up-swept nose and long fluid fender extensions melting back into the body. However I find the full blown case pales in comparison to car in the background, which ends up looking like a demonic Daffy Duck.

Luigi Colani Strikes Again


The 1977 Volkswagon prototype by Luigi Colani. I suppose this was the early days of aerodynamic design for everday cars (Citreon DS and Chrysler Airflow notwithstanding), so it could be considered groundbreaking, but you really have to wonder about some of the details. Is the a button in the interior that extrudes Playdo from the front grille? Why does the steering wheel look like it's going to bite me? Also, those seats look like a little too much like female anatomy for comfort.

Prowler Stretch Limo

How can someone have thought this would be a good idea? Besides looking God-awful, it must be the world's most uncomfortable limo (besides the fact that the Prowler was underpowered in the first place).

Rotten Roadster


The Roding Roadster is an experimental small track car in the vein of the KTM X-Bow. While producing impressive performance numbers (0-60 in under 4 seconds, 1.4G on the skidpad), it seems all of the money went to fortifying the performance of this ultra low volume production car rathing than making it something someone would want to look at.

Maybe they hired an ex-Lego stylist, as it looks a lot like one of those Lego model kits...

Camborghino



Being in what looks like a nice neighbourhood, I'm trying to decide whether this is just an elaborate joke. Sadly I'm not sure if the damage is reversible.

The Reventon is polarizing enough in it's own right - this is further proof that you should try and make one yourself.