This week the Gas Monkey Garage Collection closed, the 2026 Oktmotorfest Collection from DriverSource opened, and we’re hosting a collection of Kei trucks as well as a group of prewar cars from Roger Hadfield. Those are just a few of the ~1,300 auctions on the site, and we feel duty-bound to call your attention to some other exceptional vehicles. This is the Weekly Weird and Wonderful, our curated list of the strangest, coolest, and most interesting cars on BaT within the last seven days.
We hope you enjoy this week’s installment, and if you do, head on over and subscribe to get updates whenever the next post goes live.
1964 Plymouth Barracuda V8 Landau Prototype
In 1964, the word “targa” hadn’t yet been applied to the concept of a coupe with a removable roof, and the term “landau” wasn’t yet confined to vinyl mullets on luxury cars. Chrysler designers used the latter to describe this one-of-one pop-top Barracuda concept that came out of their studio late in the model’s first year. A letter from Studio Assistant David Cummings states that the car was made to gin up interest for the idea, but the designers soon got sidetracked getting the next generations of Fury, Belvedere, and Barracuda into shape. Somehow it survived the crusher and the intervening decades, and we’re happy to see it here on BaT.
210+ MPH, Supercharged 302 Chevy-Powered ’32 Ford Roadster Bonneville Land Speed Record Car
This fiberglass hot rod was built by Steve Davies in the 1990s to run in the Street Roadster class at Bonneville, and later owners Tony Thacker and Jimmy Shine used it to break the 200-mph barrier with a blown 302ci Chevy V8 built by Bill Mitchell. The roadster ultimately turned in a 216-mph record run during Speed Week in 2009 with then-new owner Steve Van Blarcom at the helm. This auction is being handled by Wayne Carini of F40 Motorsports, who acquired the car in 2016; it has since continued to compete, and its fire-breathing 302ci was rebuilt in 2021. If you’re looking for entry into the 200-mph club, this could be your ticket. But for God’s sake, be careful.
Hot Rod editor-in-chief David Freiburger drove the car (then powered by a 427 on loan from Mitchell) and documented his exploits in the December 2002 issue above, bombing it all the way up to Bonneville to compete on the salt flats “just for fun.”
Ex-Stéphane Proulx & David Donohue 1988 Porsche 944 Turbo Cup
We are always tickled when our website plays clearinghouse for some incredibly specific vehicular niche (like how we’ve listed seven different vehicles from the Fast & Furious franchise). Somehow, seven of the original 39 Porsche 944 Turbo Cup race cars have also been listed on BaT—three in 2026 alone. The Cup cars were slightly hopped up and slightly stripped down (A/C: no, carpet: yes) by Porsche employees in Weissach, and were set aside for a one-make series sponsored by Rothmans. This example was wheeled about by some notable names, among them Stéphane Proulx, David Donohue, Jacques Villeneuve, Davy Jones, Scott Goodyear, Bruce Jenner, and Motor Trend writer Don Fuller. For a race car with such serious provenance, it should remain relatively drivable—it even has a Texas title!
SEMA-Exhibited, 340-Powered 1970 Plymouth Barracuda-Style 4-Door Sedan
The late Dave Walden was meticulous when it came to Mopars, so who better to give shape to a four-door E-Body that Chrysler never built? Walden was partially inspired by a story from one Roger Johnson, a mailroom employee who swore he’d seen a red four-door ‘Cuda in the lot at the Highland Park Chrysler HQ. No photos or documentation ever surfaced—maybe Johnson was too busy talking about the mail. Walden and his ECS Automotive Concepts brought the concept to life using the roof of a 1972 Coronet sedan and a bunch of custom sheet-metal work to tie everything together. The result debuted at SEMA in 2017, and the build lives on 4doorcuda.com for posterity.
1931 Plymouth Model PA Custom Promotional Vehicle Project
We are told that this Plymouth PA was built to promote the W.A. Sullivan Lumber Co. in western New York State for much of the 20th century. We are also told that the current owner is a window contractor who used it to promote his own company. The story is far too simple. What we really think (but cannot prove) is that someone has invented a way to bring Richard Scarry cars to life. Someday you’ll see a pickle car on the site, and you’ll know we were right.
1986 Lincoln Town Car Limousine by Corporate Coachworks
Like several other widebody conversions we’ve ever featured on BaT, the builders of this plump limo left the original face alone and added visual heft only to the middle and rear. Alas, many of us follow a similar pattern in our own lives, perhaps including the parents for whom the original owner commissioned the car. Hopefully, they weren’t too insulted; after all, the additional width left ample room to include a bar-slash-TV cabinet, a cocktail table, and ample storage without infringing upon passenger space. We wouldn’t pass up a ride in the back.
1923 McLaughlin-Buick Autotrac Conversion
Today, “AutoTrac” is a registered trademark used by GM to describe their line of automatically engaging 4WD transfer cases. But during the Great Depression, AutoTrac was a conversion kit manufactured in Canada by a company called Otaco, which allowed more or less any used car to be converted into a farm tractor. The kit contained, basically, a pair of tractor wheels and maybe a drawbar, and through a simple process of removing most of the bodywork, shortening the frame and driveshaft, and adapting the rear axle to accept the larger ag wheels, one could become the proud new owner of an affordable car/tractor centaur. This conversion was built using a Canadian McLaughlin Buick and is here as part of the Roger Hadfield Collection.
The Peugeot factory was in ruins ar the end of World War II, but—so the story goes—the 203 had already been developed and was kept under wraps until the end of the war, finally debuting in 1948. The 203 was Peugeot’s first postwar offering and remained their only model until the introduction of the 403 in 1955. Approximately 685k were built in a variety of body styles, but only a small fraction of those were offered as convertibles—fewer than 2,600. This handsome example remained with the family of its original owner for nearly half a century and is currently offered by @RCEurope in France.
Fun fact: the name Acadiane was a word-play by Citroën, combining the prefix AK (the designation for its utility vans) with Dyane (the model name for the modernized 2CV) into AK-Dyane, which (sort of) approximates the French pronunciation of Acadiane. This example was imported by the previous owner before being acquired by the seller’s father, who refurbished it in the early 2020s.
1989 Oshkosh M-985 HEMTT 8×8 Cargo Truck
Our last vehicle is from the complete opposite end of the size spectrum. This eight-wheeled behemoth comes to us from none other than @Wob, who has somehow become the provedore of armored vehicles on BaT in recent years. This 1989 M-985 is based on Oshkosh’s Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT) platform, which replaced the outgoing M520 Goer. We’ve seen one HEMTT 8×8 transformed into the ultimate overland vehicle, but this M-985 model comes with a cargo bed and rear crane. (Some were also adapted as battlefield recovery vehicles capable of flipping and hauling disabled tanks). We’d advise keeping this one in its current configuration, because someone’s going to have to dig all those monster campers out of the mud.
Honorable Mentions:
Scaled Rigs Scania S730 Electric Go-Kart
There are a lot of ways that being a kid is much more complicated these days, but toys like this can make it worth it.
F 2026 MAX 2 880-S Amphibious ATV
Those of a certain generation will remember the 6×6 amphibious ATVs of the 1970s. This MAX 2 880-S is a modern iteration built by Recreational Industries out of Florida. Of course, to fully appreciate a machine like this, one must see it in action. Enjoy!
We’ve all seen movies where a swimmer, pursued by a shark, almost makes it back to the swim platform before they get pulled under. The Four Winns H9 provides an elegant solution to this deadly problem.
Widebody 1980 BMW 635CSi Convertible Conversion
This widebody E24 convertible conversion is a prime example of 1980s excess—the widebody and convertible conversions done by ABC Exclusive Tuning Company would have cost ~$17k and ~28k, respectively, in 1985. This 1980 European-specification example was transformed by the German tuning company during the 1980s.
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