Mark Perkins has spent the last 25 years putting together an unmatched collection of vehicles from famous movies and TV series.

Mr. Perkins says owning a Ferrari or a Bentley is nice too, but he’s just not that type of guy. He’s rather interested in finding and acquiring famous vehicles that everyone recognizes. After a quarter century of scouring for this definitive movie motors, he’s now the proud owner of the original Flintstones car, Del Boy’s Reliant Regal, Batman’s Batcycle, Mr. Bean’s Mini, Starsky and Hutch’s Ford Torino, and the Aston Martin James Bond drove in Goldfinger.

He also owns replicas of the Batmobile, the Ghostbusters’ Ectomobile and Noddy’s Toyland car. They’re all stored in his basement , in Ascot, Berkshire. Aware of their value, Mark Perkins has insured them for a hefty sum, 500,000 pounds.

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All you Batman fanboys out there, better get your tissues, so you don’t drool on your keyboards, because this Batpod replica is a treat.

We’ve seen cool Tumbler replicas before, but this is the first functional Batpod I’ve seen, so far. And the best thing about this thing is that it’s for sale. Sure, we can’t all just whip out $100,000 to buy it, but at least we can dream.

The 1:1 replica Batpod took several months to complete, including 2 months of research and over 1,000 hours of intense labor. Its frame and tubing are made of hardened steel, the covers and arm guards are high tensile strength fiberglass. The engine is a whopping 650cc, which features nitrous injection boost and water cooling.

In case you’re wondering this custom made Batpod can be ridden, and although it’s not street legal, it has been tested in a controlled environment. According to the seller, it can be made street legal, at the buyer’s request. Still I wouldn’t recommend taking this thing for a ride on the highway, if you value your life.

The auction for the Batpod replica is ongoing on eBay, so you still have a chance of snatching it, for $100,000.

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If you’d like to get married in a special place that doesn’t have a church or chapel nearby, you can always count on the Best Man mobile wedding chapel.

This strange looking vehicle is actually a 1942 American la France, converted by professional tuners, on a TV show called “Trick My Truck”. It belongs to Darrell Best, an ordained minister who uses it to get people married, wherever they like. Based in Shelbyville, Illinois, the Best family travels across the Midwest, at various wedding destinations.

The Best Man is the result of about $100,000 worth of tuning work, and it includes a functioning organ, stained glass windows, an altar, and two wooden pews. Darrell’s wife and his two sons are also ordained ministers so the Best Man is always in demand. So far 30 couples were wed in this mobile chapel, including Darrell and his wife, Lisa, who renewed their vows.

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After seeing photos of himself and another supercar he built, back in 1981, Henrik I. Matevossian, from Armenia, sent Yaplakal forum some newer photos of his home-made Maserati.

Matevossian, a passionate motorist, started this project in 1985, and changed the design several times, trying to make his car look more sporty. He had to do everything himself, and progress was pretty slow. The building process stopped after the fall of the Soviet Union and the Armenian car enthusiast resumed work after 2000. He finished his masterpiece in 2007.

The engine, gearbox and rear suspension came from a real 1984 Maserati V6 BiTurbo. This home-made supercar also features a Weber carburetor, control unit for the turbines, altered front suspension and the steering wheel of a Toyota.

Matevossian’s greatest sadness is that Armeniean law doesn’t allow him to drive his home-made Maserati outside national borders, so he can show the world his creation.

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Presented at the beginning of 2009, Marussia has finally hit the streets of Russia, and we have the pics to prove it.

You’re probably wondering what a car has to do with an oddities blog, but i figured it’s not every day you see a super car that’s made in Russia. We first reported on the Marussia, in January of 2009, but if any of you had any doubts this futuristic looking beast would ever hit the streets, you were wrong. Livejournal user, quantum, took some awesome pics of the Russian super car, and it looks a lot better than I expected.

Marussia is the brain child of Russian GT driver, Nikolai Fomenko, and it’s the first GT model built in Mother Russia. Most of the parts, are however imported. Marussia features an ingenious light body that can be changed whenever you’re sick of the colors.

If you’re wondering if there’s more to this super car, than the aerodynamic look, you should know it’s got a 3.5 liter engine, and 300 bhp, under the hood. Marussia reaches 100 km/h in 4.2 seconds.

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Just because someone can’t afford a Lamborghini, doesn’t mean they can’t have one. Young Chen Jinmiao built the coveted sports car, himself.

Chen had dreamed of driving his very own Lamborghini, ever since he was a child. And when he became a skilled mechanic, this ambitious man decided it was time for his dream to become a reality. He downloaded the necessary blueprints, began searching and manufacturing the parts , and after a year’s work, he finally had his own yellow Lamborghini.

Chen Jinmiao, of Chenzhou, Hunan province, spent a total of about $3,000 on his home-made Lamborghini, and though it might not look exactly like the real thing, it has the wing doors that open upwards, and a top speed of 60 miles per hour.

Photos via People’s Daily

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British sculptor and active environmentalist, Buzz Knapp-Fisher, has spent the last six years working on the Womble Truck, an odd looking vehicle that has almost no impact on the environment.

Buzz bought the truck, six years ago, for a little over $400, and thought it was perfect for his environment art car. Named after popular TV show, “The Wombies”, who recycled all kinds of junk, in ingenious ways, the Womble Truck was modified to tun only on chip fat and biodiesel. One of the most amazing things about this weird looking truck, is that it was put together using parts from 21 different cars.

The Womble Truck had its original engine replaced with a biodiesel engine,and in the last year, the British inventor managed to make some adjustments that allow it to run on chip fat alone. If temperature is high enough, the truck will start and run on fat, if not, it will start on biodiesel and then switch to chip fat. And, believe it or not, this baby reaches top speeds of 110 mph, so it can hold its own, on the road.

Considering it only cost a little over $400, and the car parts were also pretty cheap, the Womble Truck is indeed a worthy technological achievement.

via Daily Mail

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Ann Conte and Jeanne Wiley have managed to renovate an old, beat-up car, by weaving it a new body, out of seat belt material.

The two artists set their sights on a 1960’s MG Midget that was used as support for firewood, in an American backyard. Their project was all about “recycling, reusing, repurposing and sustainability” so they decided to give their Midget a woven look. And what better material to use, than overstock seat belt material (over 500 yards of it). After weaving the body, the two simply bolted it to the car’s metal skeleton.

The seats of this woven vehicle are made of a partially recycled material, known as Corian Terra, and the headlights and tail lights are handmade ceramic. Conte and Wiley’s recycled car can be admired as part of a new exhibit at the South Shore Art Center, in Cohasset, MA.

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They don’t make them like this, anymore, that’s for sure. This bad boy is called Big Bud and it’s the world’s largest farm tractor. It’s 27 feet long, 20 feet wide and 14 feet tall.

Big Bud was built in 1977, in Havre, Montana, by Ron Harmonn and the crew of the Northern Manufacturing Company. It was commissioned by the Rossi Brothers, for their cotton farm, in Bakersfield, California. The main purpose of Big Bud was deep ripping, and it did the job for 11 years, until in moved to another farm, in Florida.

In 1997, 20 years after it rolled out of the Northern Manufacturing Company, Big Bud returned to Montana, to serve the farm of the Williams Brothers. Here, the giant tractor is used for cultivation purposes, pulling an 80-foot-wide cultivator. Even if you have no agricultural experience, you can tell that’s a damn big cultivator.

Equipped with custom-built tires, made by United Tire Company of Canada, Big Bud can work more than an acre of land in just one minute. The Williams Brothers made some minor modifications to the engine, and the tractor is now able to produce 900 bhp, instead of the initial 760 bhp.

When its gas tank is full, Big Bud tips the scale at 50 tons.

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Some people have a thing about covering their cars with the strangest stuff, but a 1969 Ford Mustang? There are those who would consider this to be blasphemy.

From the Pen Guy’s pen-covered Mercedes and General Carbunkle to the Camera Van and the plush-toys-covered Corolla, we’ve seen quite a number of vehicles covered in the most bizarre memorabilia, and this Mustang artcar makes a nice addition to our automotive collection.

Spotted on the streets of Alameda, California, this 1969 Mustang is covered in skulls, skeletons, clowns and creepy Jack-in-the-Box dolls. As you can imagine, people were circling this 4-wheeled mutant, trying not to miss any details. It’s nice, if you’re into strange-looking pimped-out rides, but Mustang fans could have a meltdown.

Jalopnik via AutoRoyalty

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Adorned with almost 500 stuffed toys, Bruce Mitchelson’s Toyota Corolla has to be the craziest-looking car in Melbourne.

Bruce thought a great way to show his support for the Cronulla Sharks rugby team would be to paint his old Corolla in the team’s colors and stick on some plush sharks. This was back in 2008, but the Cronulla Sharks have barely won a game since.

But the idea of sticking toys to his car was so good that Bruce couldn’t stop. He kept buying toys at garage sales, and at one point he was adding up to 12 toys a day. Now he’s pretty much run out of space, but he estimates there are 300 stuffed toys on the outside, and around 200 on the inside of his Toyota Corolla.

And if you’re thinking the police might have something to say about Bruce’s toy car, you should know the man is totally in the clear. he has been pulled over several times, but as long as the license plate and side-mirrors are visible, he’s ok.

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A team of wacky scientists from BBC1’s “Bang Goes the Theory” TV show, have converted a 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco into a coffee-powered car, nicknamed Car-puccino.

As revolutionary as this concept sounds, it’s more of a fun project than a cost-efficient one. The idea behind Car-puccino is relatively simple: coffee, like wood or coal, has traces of carbon in it, so it burns. Use a bucket load of coffee, heat it enough to break it down into hydrogen and carbon monoxide, direct the gases towards the engine, and you’ve got yourself a running vehicle.

That sounds easy enough, but there is a down-side to using coffee as fuel. First of all, it’s between 25 and 50 times more expensive than petrol. Car-puccino is schedule to journey 210 miles, from Manchester to London, and the team estimates it will burn through 70 kilos of coffee. Multiply that by 13-26 British pounds per kilo (depending on the quality and brand) and you get some pretty big numbers. Plus, Car-puccino will have to pull over every 60 miles or so, so the crew can clean up the filters of tar.

Pretty original idea, but I doubt we’ll ever see Car-puccino go into production. I wonder what the exhaust fumes smell like, though…Espresso?

Daily Mail via AutoRoyalty

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I don’t know what it is about Formula 1 cars that makes people want to replicate them using the most unusual materials.

This time it’s Puma’s turn to make a life-size Formula 1 car out of cut-out shoe boxes.  The cardboard model was created in collaboration with UK-based Ben Wilson Design, and is meant to represent Puma’s ongoing relationship with motorsports.

The cardboard car was obviously very difficult to make. According to Ben Wilson himself, many Puma shoe boxes were used, especially in the development stage. First a real Formula 1 vehicle was scanned, then ‘ripped’ to pieces on the computer, and put together out of shoe box pieces, cut with an oscillating cutter.

The shoe box Formula 1 car is now on display at a Puma store in Chicago.

via PSFK

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After the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, Indians realized exclusive golf clubs are on the list of potential targets, and came up with an electric armored golf cart.

The Metaltech Anti-Terrorist Assault Cart, or A-TAC, was designed to assist Indian armed forces in dealing with terrorists, and can easily fit into lifts and narrow corridors, thanks to its cart-like shape. The A-TAC might look like a wacky golf-cart but it will protect you even against explosions, not to mention gunshots.

Weighing around a half-a-ton, the Meltatech Anti-Terrorist Assault Cart is powered by an electric battery and runs for six hours, on a single charge. As you’d expect, it doesn’t reach impressive speeds, but 25km/h is not bad for an armored golf-cart.

If you’re looking for protection on the golf course, you’ll have to fork out $45,000 for Metaltech’s Anti-Terrorist Assault Cart.

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Jim Jablon used the skin of a dead alligator to create one of the strangest bikes ever seen on the roads of Florida.

Ironically enough, Jim Jablon’s ‘Gator Bike‘ was created using the skin of an alligator killed by authorities, but it’s now used to raise funds for a wildlife foundation. Alligator are constantly culled, in order to keep their numbers under control, and most of the skins end up pinned up in people’s yards. So Jim thought to put one to good use and get some exposure for his Wildlife Rehabilitation of Hernando (WROH) foundation. That’s basically how the Gator Bike was born.

The Gator Bike took Swedish leather expert Benny Ohrman a full year to complete. The skin and tail come of the bike, but the alligator head is fixed in place and has the speedometer and the rest of the gauges in the back of the head.

Jim Jablon decided to raise money for his foundation by organizing a raffle with the Gator Bike as the prize. A raffle ticket costs $100 and only 1,000 will be sold. The winner of the bike will be selected in May, in Fort Lauderdale.

It’s worth mentioning the Gator Bike comes with a powerful Ultima engine, and over $86,000 to make.

via Daily Mail

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