When Knight Rider came out during the 1980s, the nearly indestructible KITT, a heavily modified Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, blew everyone away. Even today, it remains one of the coolest cars ever, and fans spend valuable time and resources building their own real-life KITTs.

One such auto enthusiast from Detroit-area recently showcased his homemade perfect replica of the famous movie car, which he spent about three years working on, in a promotional video for a car insurance company . Chris Palmer says he needed five Pontiac Trans Ams, numerous custom parts and countless hours of work to create his four-wheeled masterpiece. He also had to rely on the generosity of his friends to finance his obsession of owning his own perfect KITT, but in the end “it was totally worth it – more than worth it”. He has been dreaming of sitting behind KITT’s steering wheel ever since he was a little kid, and his obsession stuck with him throughout the years. He has owned 15 or 16 Pontiac Firebird Trans Ams since he started driving, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that he decided to take on the challenge of building a perfect replica of the Knight Industries Two Thousand.

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Eleven years ago, Scottish biker Stuart Gunn was involved in a horrific accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Seven years later, following a seizure caused by the same accident, he lost his sight. Last Saturday, he became the fastest blind man on a motorcycle, after after hitting 167.1mph.

In 2002, Stuart Gunn was heading to a hospital for a pre-op on his shoulder. To avoid parking troubles, he decided to ride his bike instead of taking a car. At a junction in Edinburgh, Scotland, a van jumped lanes and crashed into the experienced biker. “When the van hit me, the base of my back hit where the windscreen and roof join. My head and shoulders went through the sunroof and my legs went through the windscreen, literally snapping me in half backwards. He then braked, as you might, and I got lobbed back out of the van,” Gunn remembered in an interview with Suzuki Bulletin. He nearly died, and doctors told him he was never going to walk, let alone ride a motorcycle again. But Stuart had always hated being told what he could and could not do, so he worked hard during his recuperation sessions, and in two years time he was walking with a stick. Unfortunately, the accident had caused more damage than anyone had realized, and in 2008 he started having really bad seizures which eventually left him completely blind and paralyzed on his right side.

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We’ve featured some outrageous cars on Oddity Central in the past, but this one definitely takes the cake. An automotive enthusiast from Moscow, Russia is selling a unique hot rod that is completely covered in Canadian wood bison leather. And by “completely” I mean interior, exterior and even the engine…

According to the ad posted on Russia’s biggest classifieds website, Avito, the vehicle’s fiberglass body is covered in genuine Canadian bison leather, tanned and artistically etched by a master from the Middle East. The car’s interior, including the dashboard, is also layered with brown bison leather and expensive natural furs. And as if this thing didn’t have way too much leather already, the inside of the hood, as well as the engine and several other parts are also encased in specially treated bison leather than can withstand high temperatures. The seller, known only as “Rustam“, claims the engine and trunk compartment also feature Swarovski crystal inserts.

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Jeff Bloch, a.k.a. Speedycop, is an American race-car enthusiast who likes to create all sorts of crazy contraptions for the popular 24-hour LeMons Race. His latest achievement – an upside-down vehicle he describes as “a frightening fusion of a wretched 1990 Ford Festiva and a horrible 1999 Chevy Camaro, with a not-so-subtle twist”.

Just two months after making headlines with a Cessna airplane converted into a race car, Jeff Bloch is in the spotlight once again, this time with a ridiculous upside-down car. To create this one-of-a-kind freak on wheels, he stripped off the Fiesta’s body and replaced it with the upside-down carcass of the Chevy Camaro. So he is basically driving a Ford Fiesta that looks like an inverted Camaro. The Ford’s underpowered 1.3-liter four-cylinder engine has thus been saddled with the body of the much larger car, including the extra set of wheels, making it easy prey during a race. But then again, Speedycop didn’t really build it to win the LeMons, just the attention and admiration of his fellow motorheads.

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Jerry Patrick, an automobile enthusiast from Newnan, Georgia, has been building cars for the last three decades, but a few years ago he got bored with the usual Camaros and Mustangs, so he decided to test his skills on some truly unique vehicles. Now his garage houses amazingly accurate replicas iconic cars like KITT from Knight Rider, Scooby Doo’s Mystery Machine and the Batmobile.

A few years ago, Jerry Patrick decided it would be a great idea to combine his love for cars with his passion for films, so he started building functional replicas of some of the most popular vehicles in movie and TV history. The experienced builder typically has 25 to 35 cars on hand at any one time, as his projects usually require parts from multiple vehicles to create the finished product. His creations start out as beat-down old cars he finds on Craiglist, eBay or by word of mouth, but after months or sometimes years of work they become dream rides that any movie buff would consider themselves lucky to drive. Patrick’s amazing collection includes replicas of Eleanor from Gone in 60 Seconds, Herbie the Love Bug, KITT from Knight Rider, the Mystery Machine from Scooby-Doo and an awe-inspiring Batmobile complete with retractable machine-guns.

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Tired of dealing with the unbearable summer heat, a 27-year-old driver from Eibenstock, Germany, had the not-so-brilliant idea to turn his BMW convertible into a mobile pool, by completely sealing the passenger cabin and filling it with water.

A pool on wheels sound pretty cool, but unfortunately for its creator, the local police didn’t think so. The nutty driver and three of his friends were driving their unconventional vehicle around town last Sunday, when they passed by a motorcycle policeman who happened to see the car had no license plates and that one of the passengers was riding on the trunk. As he pursued the suspicious convertible through Eibenstock, the officer noticed something very strange: every time it turned into a curb, water poured out of the vehicle. After a short chase, the BMW pulled over in a parking lot and the passengers, who were only wearing bathing suits, ran out and jumped into the nearby Mulde River. As he approached the empty car, the policeman discovered it had been converted into a regular pool on wheels. The interior had been sealed, painted blue and filled with water. The sides of the pool were lined with wooden planks, the steering wheel was covered in raffia, and next to the ignition switch was a beer bottle holder.

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Brad Doane is living his childhood dream of driving a life-size Tonka Truck. The 40-year-old tow truck driver from Menomonie, Wisconsin, has spent a year converting a Chevy pickup drive train into a scaled-up functional replica of the 1969 Mighty Tonka Wrecker Tow Truck.

As a little boy, Brad collected every Tonka truck there ever was, but it wasn’t until a few years ago, when his mother brought back an old Mighty Wrecker she had bought at a charity auction that he ever considered building a life-size one. Having grown up at his family’s towing garage, Brad knew a thing or two about building a car, and inspired by the new Tonka toy, he decided to put his plan into action. He spent $700 on an old Chevy pick-up and spent a whole year, cutting, bending and welding steel to transform it into a drivable Tonka Mighty Wrecker 12 times its original size. The white body of the vehicle is identical to the classic toy down to the mini cabin and hand-crank-operated towing arms, and Doane even added a tiny steering wheel for ultimate authenticity. It’s a fully functional and registered vehicle that turns heads everywhere he takes it.

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Italian car-maker Fiat has partnered with renowned body painter Craig Tracy to advertise their sporty Fiat 500 Abarth in a truly unique fashion.

Craig Tracy is a master of body-painted optical illusions. From realistic animals to breathtaking sceneries, he is able to create just about anything from a a few expertly-painted flexible bodies, but he has really outdone himself for this new Fiat advert. The talented artist spent five days working with a team of female circus performers and contortionists, mapping out each one’s position in this human vehicle model and painting all the tiny details on their bodies. Although it would have been much easier, photographer RJ Mura says the team never even considered doing it in Photoshop, and that everyone strived to get the human Abarth looking just right without relying on post-production editing. All things considered, the end result is mind-blowing.

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To relax after a hard week’s work, Qatar’s car enthusiasts jump in their powerful 4×4 vehicles and drive out into the desert to engage in “dune bashing”, an adrenaline pumping pastime that has passengers hanging to the edge of their seats.

What do you do to relax on weekends? Hang out with your friends, go camping, or stay home and watch TV all day, that kind of stuff, right? In Qatar, the crazy rich have found a different, more dangerous way to unwind after a stressful week. They take their specially prepared Toyota and Nissan 4×4 vehicles to remote desert locations, deflate their tires for extra grip and surf the endless dunes, racing each other and performing unbelievable stunts. There is no police, no speed limits and no rules. The drivers are as skilled and experienced as they come, but accidents are still very common at dune bashing events, and some of them result in fatalities. But that doesn’t seem to scare the other drivers from engaging in this insane and exhilarating activity.

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Some people prefer to wash their cars with a hose in order to save a few bucks, but for car owners with money to burn The Ultimate Shine, a car cleaning company based in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, is offering the ultimate car cleaning experience for the unbelievable price of £100,000 ($150,000).

You’re probably thinking “this can’t be true”, right? That’s more than a brand new luxury vehicle! But apparently, for many of the world’s rich and famous, $150,000 is a fair price to pay to have their exclusive rides looking squeaky-clean. Paul Wilkins, who owns and runs The Ultimate Shine says his service isn’t aimed at the average driver who keeps his Ford Fiesta parked on the side of the road, but at rich car collectors who keep their rare and expensive vehicles in temperature-controlled showrooms and want them to look perfect. Although he doesn’t want to reveal the identities of his high-profile clientele, 34-year-old Wilkins says he cleans about three cars at the price of £100,000 per year. He also assures interested clients that they’ll be getting their money’s worth.

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The municipality of Banaue, in the Philippines, is widely known for its spectacular rice terraces, but few people know it’s also the setting of a traditional race that has daredevils riding wooden scooters downhill at speeds of up to 50 kph, without any kind of protection.

The wooden scooter has long been the preferred means of transportation for Ifugao (Philippine for “people of the hill) in Banaue, and is still used today, as a cheaper alternative to gas-powered motorcycles and scooters. They were created centuries ago to help people travel downhill faster. The men-folk had to walk up the surrounding hills almost every day to gather firewood and tend to their rice crops, and carrying the load back down was an exhausting task that took them hours to complete. People started making light scooters almost entirely out of wood, and pushed them uphill whenever they had something to transport back to their village. At the top, they would simply strap the load on both sides of the vehicle and let gravity take them back down in a matter of minutes. In time, making wooden scooters became an art form, and masters of the craft began decorating them with all kinds of designs, from local animals and birds to human heads. Today, the Ifugao still celebrate this useful invention by participating in a seven-kilometer wooden scooter race down a steep road along the famous Banaue Rice Terraces.

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“It is as MAD as it looks,” British garage inventor Colin Furze says about his crazy jet-powered bicycle, Norah. Strapping a home-made jet engine to an old bike, the nutty Brit has created what may very well be the most dangerous bicycle ever.

Looking at all the outrageous things he has created over the years, one might be tempted to think he’s an engineer with a passion for insane inventions. But he’s only a plumber who likes to create wacky-yet-fascinating things in his home workshop. He is known for building the world’s longest motorbike, the fastest mobility scooter, and a gas-powered stroller, using only “tools that proper engineers would laugh at”. But he is proof that “you don’t need an expensive lathe and huge welder to create something amazing.” His latest achievement is Norah, a jet-powered bicycle able to reach speeds of up to 50 miles per hour. As you can probably imagine it’s terribly unsafe, yet incredibly fun to ride. Norah is literally one hot vehicle, as the DIY engine’s exhausts get so hot they actually turn bright red at full throttle. Instead of using a heat shield and ruining the bike’s look, he oped to make it longer and put some distance between the rider’s bum and the engine. But extreme heat isn’t the only thing you should be worried about when riding Norah.

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Istvan Puskas, a wood crafting enthusiast from Tiszaörs, Hungary, has recently finished work on a unique vehicle that has a wine barrel fuel tank and the suspension and gear box made from wood.

The 51-year-old has always had a passion for creating extraordinary things out of wood. In fact, just last year we featured another one of his amazing inventions – a one-of-a-kind chopper made almost exclusively out of wood. Now, the crafty agricultural machine expert has decided to one-up himself by building a working car from the same unusual material. Encouraged by his wife, Iron, Istvan Puskas used the long winter break from working in the Great Hungarian Plains to design and build his wooden vehicle. “I started to work on it at Christmas and it took me four months to finish it. This kept me busy during the winter time,” he says. “My aim was to make it out of wood as much as possible. A wooden car must be made from wood!” And apart from the Polish-made Fiat 126 engine, the tires, and a few other necessary parts, Puskas only relied on timber for his build. The frame, wheels, axles, gearbox and gas tank are all made out of wood.

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The Chinese owner of a Maserati Quattroporte worth $423,000 paid three men two smash it with sledgehammers at the 2013 Qingdao Auto Show, because he was disappointed with the way the car dealer had fixed it.

The man known only as Wang told Chinese media he had bought the car in 2011 and was forced to bring it back for repairs only two months later. He said the dealer charged him for new parts, but they really replaced the faulty components with second-hand ones. Later, the staff failed to fix a problem with the car door and even managed to scratch it. That was apparently more than Wang was willing to take, so he decided to deliver a loud and clear message to Maserati. He waited for the Qingdao Auto Show and tipped off the media to show up for an unforgettable spectacle. On the day of the show, he brought in his luxury car draped in a banner accusing Maserati of poor service, and paid three men to smash it with sledgehammers, in front of hundreds of onlookers. They shattered the car’s windscreen, headlights, grill and mirrors, and left some serious dents in its metal body. “I hope foreign luxury car producers acknowledge clearly that Chinese consumers are entitled to get the service that is commensurate with the brand,” Wang said.

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International racing crew, Team Galag, have recently unveiled one of their unique cars for the 2013 Gumball 3000 race. It’s an exact replica of the awesome Tumbler driven by Batman in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy.

The Gumball 3000 is not a race in the traditional sense of the word. There’s no official timekeeping and no prizes for the fastest contestants. It’s more like a glamorous road trip adventure where the rich and famous drive across Europe in the world’s most exotic cars. Inspired by classic films like The Cannonball Run and The Gumball Rally, this event used to feature both expensive and unusual vehicles like police cars and camper vans, but in recent years it’s become mostly a gathering of brands like Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Rolls Royce and Bentley. The anonymous members of Team Galag decided to bring back the original theme of the Gumball 3000 and commissioned Florida-based Parker Brothers Concepts to create a street legal replica of the Batman Tumbler that can keep up with the other sports cars and complete the 3,000-mile rally. The crew, aged between 21 and 34, hailing from the UK, Germany, USA and Saudi Arabia, reportedly invested around £1 million ($1.6 million) into this one-of-a-kind ride.

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