Wacky vintage cars appear in Mercedes-Benz World exhibition
Mercedes-Benz World holds an exhibition involving some of the wacky vintage cars from the 60s and 90s at the Brooklands motor racing circuit in Weybridge, England. Running between November 27th and 29th, 2025, the exhibition presents vehicles linked to the long history of Brooklands, and visitors can see models from different periods and learn how each vehicle was built. The goal of the presentation, organized by Historics Auctioneers, is to bring many classic cars together in one space, showcasing their engineering, structure, and mechanical design. In fact, many vehicle projects show a clear link between small bodies, simple frames, low weight, and direct engineering. The Messerschmitt KR200 shows this idea, which uses a narrow body made from metal panels on a light frame. The seats are in line, and this reduces width, and it has a 191 cc two-stroke engine with air cooling.
The engine sits near the rear wheel and uses two sets of contact points so the driver can restart the engine in the opposite direction to move in reverse. The top is a clear plastic cover, and the KR200 often moves from road use to display use, and this shift appears again in many later projects. There’s also the Tornado M6 GT, which also uses a low-weight approach. It takes a space-frame chassis made from metal tubes, and the panels use carbon fiber for low mass and strength. The interior uses leather seats, metal controls, and simple gauges, and the body design follows motorsport practice with a flat floor, straight airflow paths, and low drag. These visual elements easily connect their looks to aviation-inspired ideas seen in the red Messerschmitt KR200 wacky vintage car.
Circa 1970 California Show Cars – ‘Sand Draggin’ | all images courtesy of Historics Auctioneers
Experimental automobiles built as display pieces
Some of the wacky vintage cars exhibited at the Mercedes-Benz World don’t operate on roads but serve as display pieces. The Lamborghini Miura fairground unit is one example. It is a fiberglass body for a ride and later becomes display art, as the owner removes the paint down to the gel coat and repaints it. This connects to the JPS Lotus display car too, which is a single-seat frame with inboard disc brakes and a metal and fiberglass body. It has been restored and mounted on a wall for decades, and the materials include metal tubing, suspension parts, steering parts, and composite panels. Both objects show how vehicle forms shift from transport to static display.
Custom wacky vintage cars are present in the event too, expanding the ideas of new forms and mixed functions for the automobiles then. The Pool Hustler by Steve Tansy is one, with a full pool table sitting on a custom chassis with a V8 Hemi engine. An automatic gearbox drives the system, and the exhaust exits from the sides under the pool table. The wheels have covers shaped like pool balls, while the steering uses a V-shaped rod with a pool ball in the center. Then materials shown include wood from the pool table, steel from the chassis, rubber from the tires, and metal from the engine. This is a show vehicle, just like the other show machines, including the Sidewinder.
1971 George Barris ‘Sidewinder’ Trike
Unusual materials in custom vehicles including aircraft tires
Speaking of the Sidewinder by George Barris, it is a three-wheel design with a Buick 329 V8 engine. The engine sits sideways and drives the rear wheels through a double-chain system, and the front uses long forks, like a motorcycle. The rear wheels come from a Douglas DC-6 aircraft and use magnesium and aluminum parts. The tires are Goodyear aircraft tires, and the frame uses metal tubes. Like the Pool Hustler, it is made for display and for event use, not for daily transport. Other wacky vintage cars were shown at the Mercedes-Benz World function only as static shapes. The 1987 American Fairground Ride cast in an aluminum body panel is one example, where it was painted and hung on a wall with a welded chain and has no engine or frame and works only as a form.
Other displayed wacky vintage cars mix concept design and promotion. The Wolfrace Sonic, for example, is a six-wheel concept from the early 1980s. It uses a space-frame chassis, Jaguar suspension parts, alloy wheels, and composite body panels, and the vehicle was built to promote the Wolfrace wheel brand. The frame uses steel tubes, and the body uses straight lines with sharp angles cut from composite sheets. There’s also the one-third-scale Batmobile, which builds on this same idea of form as identity. It uses a go-kart engine, a fiberglass shell, and small custom wheels. It copies the outline of the movie vehicle but at a small scale, and it is also for children and display. The body is light, plus it works like a go-kart with a steering column, basic brakes, and a small combustion engine.
1981 Wolfrace Sonic
Many wacky vintage cars at the Mercedes-Benz World show also link back to racing and sand events. The Sand Draggin by California Show Cars, for instance, is a 1970s drag car built for sand surfaces. It uses a 7.4-liter Oldsmobile engine, an automatic gearbox, four Weber carburetors, and a custom metal frame. The body uses fiberglass panels, and the exhaust uses short pipes for easy removal. The frame is built from metal tubes welded into a single unit, which is a similar tube-frame design to the Tornado M6 GT and the Wolfrace Sonic.
Even replicas show the same pattern. The Reliant Supervan III from the British TV series Only Fools and Horses is a three-wheel van with a small metal frame, simple body panels, and a compact engine. The replica uses the same frame layout and the same fiberglass shell, and this model only appears at events and functions mainly as a display and promotional item. When all these wacky vintage cars are viewed together, they show clear shared themes. Many of them use metal tube frames, fiberglass, or composite panels. Some shift from transport to display, while others draw their designs from aviation or motorsport design. There are models that use small bodies, direct layouts, and simple engines, but across all the wacky vintage cars, the sense of experimental designs lives on.
Child’s Batmobile (1989 version)
1969 Reliant Regal Supervan – Only Fools & Horses
around 1970 Steve Tansy’s The Pool Hustler
1959 Messerschmitt KR200
JPS Lotus Formula 1 Childs Car
1987 American Fairground Ride
Lamborghini Miura Fairground Ride
1990 Tornado M6 GT
project info:
name: The Brooklands Velocity; Mercedes-Benz World
organization: Historics Auctioneer | @historicsauctions
dates: November 27th to 29th, 2025
venue: Brooklands Circuit, Weybridge, United Kingdom
The post from six wheels to integrated pool table, take a look at some of the wackiest vintage cars appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.