This Week’s Weird and Wonderful—January 23, 2026 You Should Know
If you’re one of the millions out there hunkering down for a cold weekend, you’re probably pondering how best to spend your time indoors. Let us be the first to suggest that you spend a significant amount chunk of it immersed in the world of weird and wonderful vehicles here on BaT. To get you started, we’ve assembled a tidy collection of the strangest and most unique automobiles, motorcycles, and other mechanical wonders to grace our pages in the last seven days. And if this whets your appetite for more, there are hundreds and hundreds of others to peruse over on our live auctions page.
Enjoy this week’s Weird and Wonderful, and let us know what else caught your eye in the comments!
Ex–Swede Savage 1969 AAR-Chrysler Eagle Mk 5
The early history of this AAR Eagle F5000 car is pitiable—somehow it took over 30 years to reach its prime. It was initially sold to actor/privateer extraordinaire James Garner, who was driving with John Crean’s American International Racing. An engine deal with AMC fell apart, but the racing world was lousy with viable five-liter racing powerplants at the time. The car ran five races with Chevrolet power, tested with Ford power, and was then wrecked by Swede Savage while running a Plymouth mill at the 1971 Questor Grand Prix in Ontario. Two years into its short career it had become a relic, and it languished outside for three decades until the seller scooped it up and got it back into fighting shape with a multi-year refurb. For the last 13 years, it’s been living its best life, and we hope a deal can be reached to get it back on track with a new owner!
It was good to see user @GregPoz in the mix for this two-liter terror, since he purchased its spare BMW M12 engine a few months back. The car was for many years the favored steed of serial hillclimb champ Uberto Bonucci, who stuck with the formula when he later switched to an updated PA9/BMW S14 platform in his final decade of competition. At the moment, it’s in need of some sorting as it’s been sitting for some time, but look at it—this car wants to run. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: two-liter prototypes are often the fiercest competitors in any given field of vintage racers, and it would be thrilling to see this car thundering through the hills once more.
Rat’s Hole Best Of Show-Winning Indian Scout Boardtrack Racer
Going down the board track racing rabbit hole is never a waste of time. In those days, motorcycle racers hurled themselves around steeply banked wooden plank tracks at speeds over 100 mph on bikes with no brakes, no suspension, and no clutches while wearing helmets that did little more than flatten their hair. This Indian Scout isn’t a racer from the era, but it is a meticulously built tribute constructed during the late 2010s by the seller and his two sons. Thankfully, it’s (mostly) up-to-date with rider-friendly features like triple disc brakes, a wet clutch, and a leaf-spring fork. Following its completion, the bike won three Best of Show awards in Europe and earned Best of Show at the 2020 Rat’s Hole motorcycle show during Daytona Bike Week.
Ex–Domino’s Pizza 1985 Tritan A2 #1 of 10
It took us well under 30 minutes to note that we have now listed three of the 10 ex-Domino’s Titan A2 autocycles. In fact, this latest example is #001, built for Domino’s in December 1984. Most recently, the owner’s call to Wob did it all, and he’s serving it up piping hot and ready for delivery to its newest owner. This example retains its single-rotor Wankel engine, and there’s no avoiding the Noid here, as it comes with a trove of Domino’s promotional materials and period correspondence. Whatever the final sale price, it ought to include a dozen wings and a two-liter of Pepsi.
Town Car-Style 1928 Ford Model A
We’ll start off by saying this is NOT a Ford Model A town car. The Model A was an everyman’s car, and thus the idea of a limousine variant was a bit of an oxymoron. Only a handful of real town cars were built by the factory, while the offering above is a replica wearing a skillfully fabricated body converted from a Fordor. This information comes to us courtesy of the BaT community and overlapping members of the Ford Barn forum, who have done an impressive job identifying the relevant details and differences on a model made with few definitive markings. For the curious, some identifying factors are the lack of aluminum sheet metal in the rear, incorrect door hinges, differences in the placement of the windshield wiper motor and windshield header fasteners, no ashtray or vanity in the rear armrests, and no lock on the cabin partition. Taken together, these details paint a bigger picture, and the seller @Lagrange25 has been very responsive and forthcoming in helping the community suss out the car’s origins. We love to see it.
Racing sports cars from the 1950s usually come in two varieties—thoroughbred European cars, and home-brewed specials. This Jomar inhabits a rare middle ground between the two. Its TVR frame was a purpose-built racing chassis, but the curvaceous aluminum body was hammered out by Jomar owner/racer Ray Saidel’s team partner Normal Leeds. TVR had designed their chassis to use VW swing-arm suspension at both ends, and power came from the popular one-liter Coventry Climax engine.
The documentation of this car is unusually intact. It begins with correspondence between Saidel and TVR, and includes detailed race notes and results from its three year career, as well as period articles and photographs. Even cooler, Saidel’s son is in the comments providing more detail and inviting community members to visit the old shop in Manchester, New Hampshire, where it remains as part of the family’s 100-year-old dealership complex, still in operation.
The car has a presence that masks how small it truly is. Most of the cockpit is taken up by the transmission tunnel, with the driver squeezed in on the right. In the photo above, you can see it being dwarfed by what appears to be the Aston Martin DBR2 of George Constantine.
Maserati has built racing cars since their Tipo 26 in 1926, and the MCXtrema was the automaker’s latest opus. Billed as their most powerful track-only weapon ever, it delivers some 730 horsepower. This is the first of a planned 62-unit production run, and it was specially delivered to its owner during Monterey Car Week. We’ll spare the superlatives and encourage you to peruse the 350+ image gallery for yourself.
Inskip-Bodied 1936 Rolls-Royce Phantom III Alloy Saloon
During the 1930s, Jack Inskip established JS Inskip after acquiring all of coachbuilder Brewster’s holdings and setting up his own shop in New York. Decades later in the 1970s, a leftover 1930s Inskip body was mounted onto this 1936 Phantom III, replacing its original Windovers coachwork. Bob Shaffner, a member of the Phantom III Technical Society, owned it following the conversion, and it has been with its current caretaker since 2015.
1935 Panhard et Levassor Type X72 “Panoramique”
Panhard et Levassor was already an old-timer in the automotive world by 1935, having been formed in 1887—just one year after the Benz Patent-Motorwagen. Both Emile Levassor and René “Don’t Call me Rod” Panhard had long since passed on when the company introduced their X72 for the 1930 model year. As one of the most experienced firms in business, they were at the forefront of innovation, and the sleek new saloon came to market equipped with a unique “pendulum” front suspension, a servo-activated freewheel device, seating for seven with folding jump seats, a gated four-speed manual gearbox, and a fascinating inline six built using Knight’s sleeve-valve system.
This interior shot best shows the three-piece windshield with curved corner glass, a hallmark of the new “Panoramique” bodywork. It also highlights the beautifully-shaped dash, which was (skillfully) painted with a woodgrain pattern over formed sheet metal. This is the second listing from @Fabolous in Slovakia, and both have made the Weird and Wonderful list. We’re excited to see what else he brings to the site this year!
Phil Read won back-to-back 500cc World Championships in 1973 and 1974, and MV Agusta celebrated by building a one-off mini-bike modeled after the winning motorcycle as a gift for his son. Read also used it as a paddock bike, and photos of him riding it sparked the public’s interest for their own. It was this image of the Prince of Speed pleading his case that garnered the most publicity. This example is the variant with 10″ wheels and is being sold out of Modena, Italy.
Honorable Mentions:
1991 Peugeot 205 CTI 1.6L 5-Speed
The Peugeot 205 GTI has been heralded by significant automotive names as one of the best-driving road cars of all time, its only fault possibly being that it was never particularly fast. Cutting off the roof didn’t make it any quicker, but certainly must enhance the impression of speed for those within.
1971 Mercedes-Benz O 309D 13-Passenger Bus
Here’s a nugget of knowledge for you: the 309D was the people-mover variant of the Mercedes-Benz T2 Düsseldorfer, which also came as a cargo van and a utility vehicle. This example seats up to 13 people, and had been off the road for years before being acquired by the selling dealer in 2025.
19k-Mile 1995 BMW M3 Lightweight Track Car
Since only around 125 E36 M3 Lightweight cars were built, most of the ones that come to market are impeccably-preserved stock examples. It’s refreshing to see one that’s been used as intended.
With a heady bolus of arctic air on the way for much of the US, this little skid-steer tractor suddenly appeals to a much broader audience. Unfortunately, there are still six days left on the auction—but it’s never too early to start preparing for next time!
Thanks for checking out this edition of the Weekly Weird & Wonderful! Follow this page to get updates when new installments post, and tell what caught your eye or what you think we’ve left out!
