Ford has come up with an ingenious way of showing young people the dangers of driving while under the influence of drugs. They’ve built a ‘drugged driving’ simulation suit that accurately replicates the effects of being high. Driving while wearing the suit will now be a compulsory module in the company’s worldwide driver education program, ‘Ford Driving Skills for Life’.

The suit, developed in collaboration with scientists from the Meyer-Hentschel Institute in Germany, is specially engineered to simulate distortion of the senses. It comes with padding, ankle weights, goggles, and headphones, all of which create the effect of reduced mobility and vision. So anyone wearing the suit will experience slower reaction time, distorted vision, and poor coordination. The goggles create tunnel vision while the headphones play random distracting sounds. Knee and elbow bandages slow limb movement, a neck brace limits head movement, while tremor generators make the hands shake uncontrollably.

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Thanks to used-car website Carvana, it is now possible to buy your own set of wheels at the touch of a button, from the world’s first and only coin-operated car vending machine in Nashville, Tennessee. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s err… not cheap, but cheaper than  buying a car the old fashioned way.

The company has been working on the concept for the past two years – their original car vending machine was installed in Atlanta in 2013. But they’ve spent time on improving the design, in order to take user experience to the next level. “Our new Vending Machine is a state-of-the-art, multi-story structure that delivers our customers’ cars by merely inserting a custom coin,” said Carvana CEO Ernie Garcia.

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Larry Medwig, from Painesville, Ohio, is so passionate about motorcycles that he can make one out of pretty much anything. A few years ago, he built the aptly-named ‘tractor cycle’ using parts from an old tractor!

Medwig’s unique vehicle has been spotted at various events and hardware stores across Ohio, as reported by a variety of bloggers. The earliest sighting was in 2010, at the ‘Hit and Miss’ show in Orwell. And according to blogger Andy Rupert – who spotted the tractor cycle on display at Joughin’s Hardware shop in Painesville – it looks like a “homemade vehicle” with the “front forks and handlebars made of iron plumbing pipes.”

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Luxury car giant Lexus is making headlines for creating a fully functional, drivable cardboard replica of its IS sedan. The ‘Origami Car’ was made by gluing slices of cardboard together on a steel and aluminum frame, with an electric motor powering it. The one-of-a-kind vehicle comes with fully fitted interiors, functioning doors, headlights, and wheels.

The striking cardboard car is meant to be a tribute to the thousands of skilled men and women – called takumi – who work on the Lexus production lines. These people apparently sharpen their craftsmanship and dexterity by practicing making an origami cat using only their non-dominant hand.

“The Origami Car takes the spirit of this talent to a far higher level, while also embracing the spirit of Lexus’s Creating Amazing global brand campaign,” the firm said in a statement.

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Public officer Ricardo Azevedo is turning heads in his hometown of Sao Paulo, Brazil, with his intriguing invention – a motorcycle that runs on water. The revolutionary bike – aptly dubbed ‘T Power H2O’ – is able to travel up to 310 miles (nearly 500 kilometers) on a single liter of water!

In a recently released video, Azevedo is shown drinking from a water bottle before pouring it into the tank to prove that his bike runs solely on water and not some kind of fuel. But clean water is optional, as he later demonstrates by filling the tank with polluted water from the Tiete River.

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Chen Yinxi, a 27-year-old motorist from China, stole the show at the 2015 Hainan International Automotive Industry Exhibition, last week, with an impressive-looking futuristic supercar he built by himself, from scratch.

Majoring in automobile engineering, Chen has always dreamed of doing car design, and spent two years studying it in school. However, his parents always had other plans – their son was to work in the family factory, which he will one day inherit from his father. They encouraged him to drop out of college to work at the factory, but have remained supportive of him working on car design as a hobby. Now that the young motorist has gained international attention for building an original-looking supercar by himself, their plans may have to change.

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If you happen to be a motor enthusiast with a soft-spot for ‘extreme off road recreation’, we have great news for you. The world’s first luxury tank – the Ripsaw EV2 Extreme Luxury Tank – is now available for purchase!

According maker Howe and Howe Tech, the platform ‘Ripsaw’ platform was originally designed and built as a high speed super tank for military use. It quickly proved to be the “fastest dual tracked vehicle ever developed” and ended up on the cover of Popular Science magazine. In 2013, Howe and Howe decided to introduce the cutting edge technology to the high end, luxury market. They spent “thousands of man hours” working on the project, and finally unveiled the ‘Ripsaw EV2’, a “handcrafted, limited run, high end luxury super tank, developed for the public.”

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Russia’s newest taxi is unlike any other you’ve ever seen – it’s actually an armored reconnaissance vehicle that’s been modified to roam the streets of St. Petersburg just like any other cab. Although it has been painted red, its military design and deactivated turret gun machine can hardly be camouflaged and the vehicle never fails to grab attention every time it passes by.

The BRDM-2 Combat Command and Reconnaissance Vehicle was manufactured in the Soviet Union between 1963 and 1989. Well known for its ability to negotiate any kind of terrain, the BRDM was armed with a 14.5 mm Vladimirov heavy machine gun and a 7.62 mm Kalashnikov’s tank machine gun.

The BRDM’s current owner has long since wanted to use it as a taxi, but city authorities refused to grant a permit at first. After a long licensing campaign, the authorities finally gave in, with certain conditions. They asked that the vehicle’s camouflage pattern be changed to something more civilian. That’s why the owner chose red, in order to differentiate it from the standard yellow taxi color. The BRDM taxi is also prohibited from entering certain streets in the historical center of St. Petersburg, owing to its large size and weight.

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Indian taxi driver Harpreet Dev is well-known in his hometown of Bhatinda, Punjab, for his amazing reverse driving skills. The 30-year-old has been driving his cab in reverse for the past 11 years. Harpreet is so used to it now that he says he doesn’t trust himself to drive forwards anymore! He even has a special government license that allows him to drive backwards in any state in the northern part of India.

Harpreet’s passion for reverse driving started in 2003, when his faithful Fiat Padmini  got stuck in reverse gear late one night. “I was outside the city, I had no money, so I thought of driving the car backwards until Bhatinda,” he said. “Then I drove backwards and later on I gained confidence.”

That’s when he realised that he was really on to something, so the next morning he painted the words ‘Back Gear Champion’ on the side of the car and redesigned its gearbox to have four reverse gears and only one forward.

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While most modified motorbikes are adorned with tattoo motifs using an airbrush, The Recidivist is unique because its wheels, tank, seat and rear fender are completely covered in tattooed skin. This was achieved by engineering the bike with light colored leather similar to the color of human skin. Polish tattoo artists Tomasz Lech and Krzysztof Krolak then spent a whopping 250 hours inking the bike, using the tools of world-famous supplier Cheyenne Professional Tattoo Equipment. The project was commissioned by Game Over Cycles.

“This is by far the most complicated bike we’ve constructed so far,” the Polish company posted on their Facebook page. “To tattoo the bike is one thing, but to include the construction elements that draw from the look of tattoo machines and make them fully operational units was some challenge.” They also added that the theme of the Cheyenne Bike relates to the traditional relationship between motorbikes and tattoos.

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Rocket-powered buses are undoubtedly among the most fun ways to get to school. I mean, if that doesn’t get kids excited about school, I don’t know what will. So an Indiana man actually invented such a jet powered school bus that can travel as fast as 367mph!

The bus, dubbed ‘School Time’ is the brainchild of petrol-head and engineer Paul Stender and his build team Indy Boys. Paul actually custom built the entire bus himself, because “there’s no way the original bus could have withstood the speeds” he takes it to. “A lot of it is hand-crafted and the types of metals used would be more at home on an aircraft,” he explained.

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While most Batman fans are content with collecting Batmobile action figures, 29-year-old Zac Mihajlovic from Camden, New South Wales, decided to build a real one for himself. He spent the past two years modelling a street legal version of the iconic batman car from the 1989 film starring Michael Keaton.

Zac is now the proud owner of Australia’s only working and registered replica of the 1989 Batmobile that can be legally driven on public roads. And although he has been offered a lot of money for it (a six figure sum, he says), the Batman fan plans to keep it and use it to make sick children happy. “It’s my absolute pride and joy,” he remarked. “I feel like if I do nothing else for the rest of my life, I’ll die happy.”

Zac was only five years old when he first watched Batman and his obsession began. “At the time, being a five-year-old kid, it scared me but I never forgot it. I just love Batman because he’s one of the only superheroes that don’t have powers so being able to connect to him on a human level is great.”

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Deporah Hornberger and Stephane Langelier, from Kendallville, Indiana, have an unusual hobby – collecting vintage hearses. The gothic couple have three well-maintained funeral coaches stowed away in their spacious garage – all are modified Cadillacs, two from 1949 and one from 1964.

Stephane, a talented artist and musician who runs a pipe organ service, explained that he has always loved hearses. He met Deporah, a local realtor, in a gothic-style bar in Washington D.C. 10 years ago, and they have been inseparable ever since. Among their many shared interests is a common love for hearses.

The couple are members of the ‘Just Hearse ‘N Around’ car club in Michigan, and participate in car shows around the country. Whenever they show off their cars in these parades, they make sure to dress up – Stephane wears a top hat, black jacket and black leather pants, and Deporah shows up in a red satin and black lace gown.

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Believe it or not, the most happening party club in St. Petersburg is a bus! Well, not just any bus. The Barbus Maxi is a one-of-a-kind vehicle that’s been completely transformed to resemble a nightclub. It is Russia’s largest and most expensive party-bus, complete with a dance floor, lounge, fully stocked bar, and even a toilet.

In its previous life, Barbus was just an old Ikarus 280 public transportation vehicle. A few Russian entrepreneurs decided to give it a new lease of life – they completely took it apart, leaving only the frame intact. Then they proceeded to cover the exterior with a film of black-and-white images of pin-up models and urban landscapes of London and New York. The interiors were designed with a pop-art theme.

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Unlike most other taxi services, the Japanese Turtle Taxi caters to people who aren’t really in a hurry and prefer a leisurely ride. Surprisingly, there are many who enjoy a service that is deliberately slow – the unique taxi has been steadily growing in popularity ever since it started in December 2013.

The taxi service was created by the Sanwa Kotsu Group – they’ve designated 10 of their 500 cabs in Yokohama as ‘turtle taxis’, and specifically trained cab drivers to accelerate and decelerate as gently as possible. They’ve also been told to manage the ‘centrifugal forces’, to avoid making sharp turns.

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