Hyundai is doing its best with cars like the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6, but sadly, even those cars aren’t truly insane. They’re real cars that are generally pretty practical, while just so happening to look a little different than the rest of their competitors. If you want something that looks like a real-life Hot Wheels car, you’re going to have to get a little more creative. Like buying this Automecca Sports Van that’s currently for sale on Bring a Trailer. I mean, just look at it. Now that’s a wild design.Â
Also known as the Brubaker Box (after the original designer, Curtis Brubaker), the Automecca Sports Van was built on an old Volkswagen Beetle chassis, looked like a spaceship on wheels and only had a single sliding door on the passenger side. Is it the most practical design ever? Not at all, but it looks cool as hell, and sometimes, sacrifices must be made in the name of fashion. It’s also only powered by an old Volkswagen 1.6-liter flat-four, so it definitely isn’t quick (even if the listing says the engine was rebuilt in 2022), but are you really going to mind the slow acceleration when you’re driving an ultra-rare space van?
One rare space van
Speaking of rarity, Brubaker reportedly only built three of them before he realized the company went bankrupt, and he sold the design to Automecca, which rebranded it as the Sports Van. Automecca then only built about two dozen additional examples before it, too, gave up on the Sports Van. So we’re talking about a vehicle that’s one of fewer than 30 that were ever built. Unlike other similarly rare vehicles, though, you should be able to do all the work to keep it running yourself if you want, since it’s pretty much just an old air-cooled Volkswagen underneath the futuristic bodywork.
Inside, the dash layout is, uh, “minimalist?” Yeah, we’re going to go with “minimalist” here. It has all the inputs necessary for driving, and that’s about it. Is it attractive? Not really, but it’s functional. Move past the front row, though, and you’re greeted with a glorious red lounge area that’s very 1970s and looks ridiculously comfortable (as long as you don’t bring a blacklight anywhere near it). Oh, and you do get a Brother Aquatron VX-33 8-track player, so if you’ve got an 8-track collection you’ve been itching to listen to on the road, this van is pretty much perfect.Â
Sadly, while the Sports Van absolutely screams “real-life Hot Wheels car,” and one of the two roof-mounted surfboards literally says “Hot Wheels” on it, as our friends at the Autopian pointed out a few years ago, Hot Wheels never actually turned the Brubaker Box into an official Hot Wheels car. That really is a tragedy. Still, how cool would it be to own such a rare, wild design?
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