The 10 strangest motoring stories of 2015
Scrapheap challenge
At the start of the year a man created his own Pagani Zonda – from an old Ford Granada and a load of scrap parts. Nick Truman started by buying a scrap Jaguar engine to turn into a coffee table, but somehow created a fake Italian supercar instead. By the time he’d finished Truman had spent £15,000 on the project – including four engines and two gearboxes. We don’t think Pagani has much to fear from the competition just yet…
Slim gym
Modern life is busy and sometimes fitting it all in just isn’t possible. So what if you could combine the time that you’re driving with your sessions at the gym? No problem, because Nissan came up with a solution – its Gym button. By pressing this all assistance systems were switched off so you’d have to put more effort into your driving – steering, braking, windows and even changing gear. By using this technology Nissan reckoned you could burn an extra 1,415 calories per week – except the whole thing was an April fool, which was rather a shame.
No $%&!
The land speed record for buses was raised to almost 77mph in May, by a bus powered by cow manure. Run by Reading buses and with its usual speed limiter removed, the bus was painted supposedly to look like a Friesan cow, although we’d say it’s not all that hard to spot the difference.
Line ‘em up
Bristol City Council started painting yellow lines all over its roads in May, supposedly to deter selfish parkers. But many of these lines were less than a metre long – not even the width (never mind the length) of a Smart car. Unsurprisingly, Bristol residents aren’t happy with the waste of their money; maybe city mayor George Ferguson should be given lines as a punishment.
Wood you believe it?
In August, gardener Kevin Nicks revealed that he’s been toiling away in his shed to create – the world’s fastest shed. By converting his Volkswagen Passat into a timber-clad garden building he claimed the record with a 70.8mph top speed, beating the previous figure of 58.4mph.
Put that in your pipe…
When an elderly man drove his car into a lake in August, he did what any self-respecting Brit would do – relaxed and enjoyed smoking his pipe. While the emergency services extricated the man from his Ford Focus in the lake in Warwickshire, he chatted calmly, wondering what all the fuss was about.
Paper view
Lexus revealed its ‘origami car’ in October – an IS made of precision-cut cardboard. Built by production line staff, the car featured working lights, doors and wheels, while it could even be driven thanks to the fitment of an electric motor. We suspect the car is likely to be impervious to rust but we’re not sure how well it would stand up to being left out in the rain.
Brushing up
A carwash manager ended up getting taken to the cleaner’s when he got caught up in one of the automatic brushes while sorting out his hose. Failing to look where he’s going, the poor fella backs into the spinning brush then gets spun around as he battles to free himself. Still, it all came out in the wash.
Turning the tables
Australian police were not amused when nine men navigated their way through Perth traffic on a pair of motorised picnic tables. Each of the tables was capable of carrying six people, but with no licences or insurance and with none of the men wearing protective clothing, the police didn’t see the funny side – although pretty much everybody else did.
Keep on trucking
With the average mobility scooter packing barely enough power to pull along its own weight, converting one into an articulated lorry may not seem like a good idea. But that’s exactly what Lincoln-based Barrie Hall did when he turned his mobility scooter into a scale replica of the Coca Cola lorry, to raise cash for charity. The stunt comes hot on the heels of a project in 2014 that saw him turn his scooter into a sleigh, complete with reindeer.
Richard Dredge
December 2015
