cars news 10: Weird and Wacky Cars at the 2018 Woodward Dream Cruise

The Woodward Dream Cruise is a rolling car show surrounded by at least a dozen more concurrent static car shows on city streets, parking lots, and parks. You’ll see everything from a Piaggio Ape three-wheeled truck to an AMC Javelin AMX and a Ferrari 488 GTB cruising down the boulevard if you look long enough. Between the hordes of Mustangs and Tri-Five Chevys, though, you’ll see diamonds in the rough. Not just hot rods and customs, but the real home-brew stuff. From award-quality work to the backyard hack job, here are the weirdest, wildest, and just plain most-interesting cars of the 2018 Woodward Dream Cruise.

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Max Max Ford F-1

The original Max Max movies inspired plenty of people to turn serviceable Australian-market Ford Falcons into gritty “V8 Interceptor” clones, but it’s nothing close to the raw creativity unleashed by the latest chapter, Fury Road. Now, anyone with an old car, a functioning welder, and some rusty scrap metal can get in on the action. Rather than recreate a movie car, this enterprising fellow has built his own war rig out of a later model Ford F-1 tow truck. Reportedly, the pile of propane tanks in the back supply a system that shoots flames 20 feet in the air, but the driver was loathe to demonstrate it in traffic. Witness!

Rod Iron Beetle

The Dream Cruise participant license-plate game was on-point this year, and there’s no finer example than the “Rod Iron” Volkswagen Beetle with a custom body made entirely of—you guessed it—steel rods. Like most vehicles of the era, Beetles mounted all of their important mechanical bits to a central frame and needed no body to function, making them excellent platforms for kit cars and wacky art projects like this. Although the actual chassis could be from any model year, the headlights an turn signals indicate the body work is based on a 1967 or later model.

X Vette

The doors of this mystery machine give it away as a fourth-generation Corvette, and the strakes ahead of them suggest it was an early ‘90s model. The wheels are from a fifth-generation car, while the taillights and deck lid badge are from a second-generation model. From there, it’s all custom. The quality of design and workmanship on the new front and rear ends suggest a commercially available kit, but could just be the work of a talented enthusiast with a taste for Chevrolet power and the Dodge Demon concept from 2007.

Thoroughbred Stallion Trike

There are all manner of trikes out there, from the legitimate business plans to the flimsiest home-built creations, but I’m pretty sure this is the only one with a steering wheel. First introduced in 2006, the Thoroughbred Stallion was pulled from the market in 2010 due to collapsing demand for the $34,000 trike. It was reintroduced in 2012 and if the website is to be believed, can still be ordered today. A Ford 2.3-liter I-4 and five-speed automatic liberated from a Ranger are crammed under the nose and interior parts are borrowed from an early 2000s Ford car,

VW Short Bus

There are plenty of heavily modified Volkswagen Type II busses out there, but the extent of work done to “The Short Bus” (as the custom metal badge attests) is tough to match. Originally a 1966 split-window model, it’s been shortened, pin-striped, rebuilt, and festooned with custom LED lighting. The owner is so used to the attention it gets, he hands out business cards with his website to photographers in convertibles as they’re trying to get ahead of him for a front three-quarter shot.

Ford Golf Cart

In some parts of this country, custom golf carts are big business. Few, though, are built to this standard. Mixing and matching design from a 1952 Ford and a 1955 Ford Fairlane, this cart has seen more body work than most award-winning resto-mods. It’s sure to be the envy of the golf course/planned community with its Coker white wall tires and two-tone bench seat.

Corvair Booger

The 1963 Chevrolet Corvair 95 Rampside pickup was an interesting vehicle in its own right, but far more so now that its overstressed, air-cooled flat-six has been replaced by a small-block Chevy V-8. Incidentally, the Rampside’s ramp has also been replaced with a radiator. Stacks, a Roadkill sticker, and a name to complement its well-patina’d green paint and you’ve got yourself … this.

The Upside-Down Van

Always a crowd-pleaser, we couldn’t help but include the upside-down van again. We’ve never caught it stationary, so I can’t tell you exactly how it was done, but peeking through the heavily tinted windows it appears a van or truck ladder frame has been trimmed down to form the base upon which a metal frame has been welded to support the body. The van drives backward as well as upside down, with the driver peering out of windows cut into what used to be the lower rear barn doors. My favorite touch is the spinning wheels on the roof, an effect that appears to have been achieved by mounting two solid axles to the roof, welding their differentials, then connecting two engine starter motors each to the pinion yokes to drive them.

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Weird and Wacky Cars at the 2018 Woodward Dream Cruise