5 Weird Vehicles That Are (Somehow) Legal To Drive

Throughout the evolution of transport, there have been downright weird vehicles created.

Some of these have been hand-built by hobbyists in their backyards or garages, while others have been mass-produced by some of the biggest brand names on the market. You may even have spotted some of these bizarre vehicles on the motorway on your way to work, or perhaps on a weekend afternoon on their way to a car show.

And while vehicle regulations in many countries can be very restrictive, fortunately, there are some clever and eccentric vehicle designers who have found ways to create bizarre modes of transport that are odd to look at, but somehow perfectly road legal and safe to drive.

Here, we’ve compiled some of the weirdest, wackiest, and most creative vehicles on the road!

1. The World’s Fastest Shed

Bespoke-made from the chassis of a 1999 Volkswagen estate with an Audi 4.2-litre V8 engine, the wacky project of Oxford residents Kevin Nicks and his 14-year-old daughter Sophie, has earned the nickname of 'the world's fastest shed'.

The shed was first tested in 2017 on Pendine Sands, Carmarthenshire, where it reached 80 MPH. Following this feat of engineering, the father-daughter duo then took the vehicle on an 870-mile sponsored drive from Land's End to John O'Groats to raise £10,000 for a hospice that cared for Kevin's mother prior to her death.

Barrelling onwards, the shed reached a top speed of over 106mph at the Elvington Airfield Straighliner’s event in September 2020 - a feat which achieved a spot in the Guinness Book Of World Records.

The shed is the only road-legal motorised shed in the UK, and cost just £5,000 to build. It has lived an eventful life so far, featuring at a wide range of motoring events across the world.

2. The Flatmobile

This modified 1983 Hillman Imp, nicknamed ‘The Flatmobile’ stands at just 19 inches above ground level with a ground clearance of just 2 inches, giving it a historic reputation as the shortest car in the world.

The Flatmobile was built in 2007 by custom car builder Perry Watkins and was modelled after the Batmobile, of Batman fame. The car is powered by a home-built gas turbine jet engine, which shoots flames of up to 20 feet out of the rear - taking the top speed up to 100 MPH. The steering wheel is also the smallest to ever have been installed in a car, at just six inches in diameter.

The Flatmobile is road legal during daylight hours, but not during the night, as it is too short to be caught in car headlights. It was recently sold for a total of £15,000 - a low price for such a unique vehicle.

3. The Casual Lofa

If you’re as much of a couch potato as you are a petrol-head, you may have daydreamed about taking your trusty old sofa out on the open road for a spin.

Well, Wheeler Dealers star and eccentric celebrity Edd China made this dream a reality when he designed ‘The Casual Lofa’, a fully road-legal sofa vehicle powered by the A-Series engine of a Mini 1275.

As ‘The World’s Fastest Sofa’, this absurd vehicle cranks out a surprisingly high top speed of 87 MPH, and in 2007, Edd even managed to break his own record in the vehicle, hitting a whopping 92 MPH, which earned The Casual Lofa a spot in the Guinness Book Of World Records under the ‘fastest furniture’ category.

The Casual Lofa is playfully designed, with leopard-print sofa coverings, a ‘Pizza’ steering wheel, a 'Mars Bar' handbrake, a lamp, and of course, the all-important television.

As expected, the Casual Lofa attracts the attention of many children and drivers passing by, and although it is fully road-legal, Edd is no stranger to police attention, having once been stopped 12 times in a single day.

Fun? Very. But maybe the Lofa isn’t for you if you don’t like being stopped by the cops on a regular basis.

4. The Peel P50

Famed for its place in the Guinness Book Of World Records as the world’s smallest car, the Peel P50 originates from the Peel Engineering Company based on the Isle Of Man and was manufactured for a short period of time from 1962-1965.

The P50 measures just 54 inches (137cm) in length, with the width of 39 inches (99cm) making it narrower than a phone box, weighing a minute 130lb. The car seats only one person and a shopping bag, and has no reverse gear, but can be physically lifted and moved using a handle at the rear.

It was originally sold as a city car, on account of its small size. Due to its light weight and petite build, its fuel consumption is incredibly economical, at just 100MPG.

The Peel P50 is fully road-legal in the UK and sits in the ‘three-wheeler category’. Only 46 have ever been made – only 27 of which are thought to still exist today - and they are highly collectable, with one of these tiny cars fetching a huge price of £111,000 at auction in 2022.

The P52 has been featured in numerous advertising campaigns including Cadbury's Bubbly advertisement, and it appeared in Top Gear episodes in 2009 and 2013.

5. The Amphicar 770

Touted by its owners as ‘the fastest car on the water and the fastest boat on the land’, this amphibious car features iconic 1950s fins, reaches a modest 7 knots on water, and has a top speed of 70 MPH on the land.

Despite these low-performance figures, the 1965 Amphicar 770 is undeniably unique. It is the only amphibious car ever made to be completely road-legal - and after all, how many other cars can you take for a swim?

It may handle poorly, and it may be much more likely to leak than a boat, but its reputation as a quirky and eccentric vehicle has made it highly collectable, fetching prices of up to £75,000.

Do you fancy driving around in a vehicle that offers you no swag whatsoever? Then get yourself one of these beauties!