Understanding this Week’s Weird and Wonderful—June 26, 2026
Two weeks back we hit a new record for site volume, and the milestones just keep coming as we hit the 250,000 auction mark this week. We’re pinching ourselves over here at BaT HQ, and we are ever grateful that we’ve had the best online community in the world alongside us for this incredible journey. As a small token of our appreciation, we have prepared our curated list of the Weekly Weird and Wonderful, a collection of the vehicles and auctions from the last seven days that we found interesting, exciting, odd, or all three at once.
Enjoy this week’s selection of Weird and Wonderful BaT auctions, and let us know what else you think should be on our list!
Lot #250,000: 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO
If you haven’t taken some time to check out the incredible Ferrari 288 GTO from @1600veloce that is BaT lot #250,000, please go do that now. You won’t be disappointed, and we’ll be right here when you get back.
3,600-Kilometer 1993 Autozam AZ-1 Mazdaspeed
Longtime BaT watchers will know about the Autozam AZ-1—perhaps the most charismatic of the Japanese kei-class cars with its RS200-inspired styling, mid-engine layout, and gullwing doors. The car before us today is perhaps the best example we’ve seen on BaT. It’s one of ~150 Mazdaspeed cars, each of which received strut braces, a limited-slip differential, and suite of scoops and spoilers to communicate its high-performance intentions. The turbo three peaked at just 64 horsepower, but those are the angriest little ponies that you’ve ever heard.
1957 Porsche 356A Carrera GS Sunroof Coupe and 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS Lightweight
We see A LOT of nice Porsches on our pages, and it’s been that way since the beginning. But our sellers have been particularly prolific this week, and right now we are hosting two of the grail-iest grail cars ever to roll out of Zuffenhausen—a 356A four-cam GS coupe with a factory sunroof, and a rare factory lightweight ’73 Carrera RS. The 356A came to the US by order of good ol’ Max Hoffman, and it shows the manual sunroof on the included Kardex. Nobody seems to know how many Carreras were so equipped, but the number surely isn’t high. Many of the 356 Carreras now have replacement motors, and we’re happy to say that this one was not converted to a pushrod engine but still sports a dry-sump Type 547/1 four-cam with a roller-bearing crank—mechanically the more fickle of the Fuhrmanns, but also the version most aligned with Dr. Ernst’s original vision.
Manufacturers used to charge less for their stripped-down, race-oriented specials, and this special 911 longhood comes from that blessed time. The cars were still by no means cheap, retailing for approximately $15,000 in 1973, but at the time Porsche hadn’t yet embraced the twisted logic of raising prices while removing equipment. The M471 lightweight package made the already-slim Carrera RS even lighter by 250 pounds through the removal of pretty much everything that hadn’t already been stripped or rendered in fiberglass: rear seats, carpets, clock, glovebox door, coat hooks, and armrests. Amenities included: heater. This one has been bopping around various collections in Europe and the US since 1986, and received a three-year refurbishment with Early 911s of Wuppertal, Germany.
Coot Industries Snoopy Funmobile and 2014 Gibbs Quadski XL
You don’t call your company something like “Coot Industries” unless you’re having fun, and founder Carl Enos Jr. named this model the “Funmobile” to make sure that nothing got lost in subtext. It’s a Snoopy-themed fiberglass monocoque go-kart with a 12-horsepower motor in the back and off-road tires underneath. The Snoopy theme was reportedly licensed from Charles Schultz for an undisclosed sum plus one Snoopy Funmobile. If the sales literature in the gallery is to be believed, this little car can really rip in the mud.
In a real “chocolate-meets-peanut butter” moment, Gibbs Sports Amphibians merged the features of a quad ATV and a wave-runner into the Quadski. The composite-hulled wader features retractable wheels, seating for two, storage compartments, a range of 370 miles on land, and two hours’ running time on the water. It manages to be utterly strange and utterly practical all at the same time, which is why the Top Gear crew had so much fun pitting it against an Alfa Romeo 4C in a race across Lake Como in Italy. If, God forbid, we ever had to break out of a prison in Florida, this is what we’d want waiting on the other side of the wall.
Ex-Pietro Frua 1967 BMW 1600 GT Coupe
For Frua fans, it would be hard to do better than Frua’s own Frua-built Frua finished in Frua Green. Bodies for his Glas GT (which became a BMW product when they acquired the small automaker) were built in Italy by Maggiora, but this car was ostensibly assembled at Carrozzeria Pietro Frua with components sourced from BMW. Frua penned around 200 vehicles over the course of his career, and this one (finished in the metallic green specified by the maestro to grace several other prototypes and concept cars in the 1960s and ’70s) is reportedly one of those that he kept until his passing.
5.4L M113-Powered 1963 Mercedes-Benz 230SL 6-Speed by Kwiek Classics
Matt Kwiek of Kwiek Classics has made a name for himself by building high-performance, manual-transmission-equipped MBZs. His devotion to the Way of Three Pedals is unwavering, and this six-speed, hot rod Pagoda is no exception. But the conversion goes far beyond the drivetrain swap; the old jointed axle setup has been replaced with a five-link setup cribbed from a C209 CLK, and the brakes and other gear have been upgraded to handle the extra stick. We especially love the purposeful rally scheme with giant driving lights and black steelies. And let us not forget the AMG-tuned M113 V8! This was a 355-horse mill from the factory, and has since received an ECU tune and improvements to air and fuel flow. AMG is in the habit of making engines with absolutely silly output figures today, but a spruced-up M113 sounds like the right way to have some serious fun in an old W113 roadster.
1959 Armstrong Siddeley Star Sapphire and 1983 Daimler DS420 Limousine
These two Brits are separated by 24 years and some wear and tear, but are otherwise cut from the same cloth. Automotive technology had made great strides between 1959 and 1983, but the English got the postwar luxury saloon right on their very first try with the Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith. The Daimler and Siddeley follow a similar plan to the Roller—inline-six power, a high beltline, a generous, rectangular greenhouse, a steeply sloping rear end, and yards upon yards of leather, wool, and wood inside. Oddly enough, both of these cars are left-hand-drive; the Armstrong Siddeley was made for one of the company’s American executives (the group included Hawker Aircraft), and the more luxe Daimler limousine was imported for serial automotive entrepreneur Kjell Qvale, who ordered it with jump seats, a privacy divider, and a burlwood bar cabinet.
289-Powered 1966 Ford Mustang Custom Limousine
While we’re on the subject of limousines, here’s a less conventional take—a pony car with the proportions of one of the Queen’s Corgis. Lest anyone cry blasphemy, it’s worth noting that nearly 500,000 Mustang coupes were made for 1966, so there are still more than enough standard-wheelbase examples in circulation. Some elements of the limo conversion are particularly clever (in our humble opinion) like the reversed doors, which offer rear-hinged entry to the passenger compartment and also made possible the installation of a reversed bench seat flanked by matching trim panels. There actually looks to be more room than in most of the more standard limos we see on the site.
Callaway-Turbocharged DV32-Powered 1928 Stutz BB Black Hawk Four-Passenger Speedster
Was there anything that the late Reeves Callaway wouldn’t turbocharge? This Stutz speedster proves that the answer is “no.” The provenance of this car is beyond strange—it was one of many that were hoarded by reclusive East Coast collector A.K. Miller (not to be confused with hot rodder and Bonneville legend Ak Miller), and later went to Bill Ruger, of Ruger Firearms fame. Stutzes were sporting cars from the very beginning, and this one all the more so; Ruger commissioned Mr. Callaway to tune and boost the DOHC, 32-valve, nine-main-bearing straight eight, which made over 300 horsepower thanks to his efforts. Oh, and someone later painted the car in a Blue Angels tribute livery. There’s all kinds of fantastic weirdness going on here, and we have barely scratched the surface.
SPO stands for “Sport Production Omologato.” The homologation requirement in this case was for the AMA Superbike series, to which the Ducati 888 was accepted for competition in 1993. To meet extra demand, Ducati made 100 more of the 888 SPO for 1994, badging them as LTD. According to Ian Falloon, these bikes were an amalgamation of the 888 Strada and the Euro-only SP5 performance special, and little changed between the two model years other than some cosmetic details.
Honorable Mentions
1942 Lincoln Continental Cabriolet
Even for the Class of ’42, the Lincoln Continental Cab is rare—just 136 were made. Buying spark plugs in bulk must be a fun flex for the owner of a V12-powered car.
Mid-Engine, Fiero V6-Powered ’27 Ford Roadster
Not calling this “The T-iero” feels like a missed opportunity.
1968 Mercury Cougar 7-Litre GT-E
The first-gen Mercury Cougar is one of the prettiest muscle cars of the 1960s. We will defend that claim with our fists. This handsome fella is one of 357 that got a 427 from the factory.
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!
