Otherauto & mobilityMotorshows
From six wheels to integrated pool table, wackiest vintage cars.
Gathered under the vaulted roof of the historic Brooklands racing circuit, this assembly of mechanical oddities is far more than a simple car show; it is a curated cabinet of curiosities that speaks to the unbridled, often eccentric, spirit of automotive innovation. Stepping onto the concourse feels like walking into a conversation between eras, where the very definition of a car was still up for grabs.The star of the show, for many, is the six-wheeled behemoth, a machine that looks less like a vehicle and more like a land-going paddle steamer, its extra axle a testament to an engineer's pursuit of stability and power in an age before advanced aerodynamics. Then there's the car with the integrated pool table, a vehicle that defies all practical logic in the most glorious way.One can easily imagine it parked at a 1920s garden party, where aristocrats in tailcoats would take a break from their journey for a quick game, the green baize a stark contrast to the polished wood and brass of the automobile's interior. This wasn't mere transportation; it was a rolling salon, a statement of opulence and whimsy that today's hypercars, for all their carbon fiber and computational fluid dynamics, can scarcely match.The engineering on display is profoundly mechanical, a world of levers, gears, and hand-beaten aluminum, where every solution was a physical one. These cars were not designed by committee or focus-tested into blandness; they were the brainchildren of individual visionaries and coachbuilders who saw the automobile as a canvas for personal expression and technological daring.The exhibition at Brooklands is the perfect venue for such a display, as the circuit itself was a birthplace of British motorsport and aviation, a place where the impossible was routinely attempted. To see these wacky vintage cars here is to connect them to a lineage of audacity.It forces a reflection on how our relationship with the automobile has evolved. We've traded flamboyant individuality for efficiency, reliability, and safety—laudable goals, to be sure—but in the process, have we lost a sense of joy and wonder? These vehicles, from the bizarre to the beautiful, are not just artifacts; they are reminders of a time when the journey was an adventure in itself, and the car was a partner in that adventure, full of character, idiosyncrasies, and the occasional, utterly brilliant, terrible idea.
#vintage cars
#classic cars
#engineering
#design
#exhibition
#Brooklands
#featured