The long, strange year of 2025 is over. Time for the fresh hell that is likely to be 2026! I know you are all as excited as I am. I asked you way back in last year to tell me about the strangest cars you spotted in 2025. I had a pair of Zooxs just hanging out in my neighborhood, but the rest of you had equally odd and interesting answers.
The ones I liked best are the cars that should never have come here, like the VinFast, and cars I wish we could see more of, like the Honda Acty. And any list is a great one if it has the silly Reliant Robin on it. Scroll through and take a look, and I hope you’re new year’s resolution list includes to keep your eyes peeled for more weird cars on the horizon. I know I’ll be keeping my eyes firmly on the road.
VinFast
Definitely a VinFast. Sitting in a regular old neighborhood street. What is even crazier is that I found out that Baton Rouge (where I live) is almost halfway between two VinFast dealers in…Lake Charles and Pensacola. Not Houston or New Orleans or any other sizable city. Maybe VinFast is focusing on smaller municipalities where there is no competition, but also almost no buyers? IDK about that, but I do know everything about VinFast is bizarro world weird.
From Elvis Dogman
Classic Minis
Not really strange, but my neighbor has 3 original minis. That’s more classic minis on one street, than I’ve seen on the east coast.
From whale
1990s Honda Acty
From time to time I see a 1990s Honda Acty truck zipping around town. For those that don’t know, the Acty is a Japanese market microtruck. The biggest variant weighs about 2,000lbs and is roughly 40″ more narrow and 80″ shorter in length than a standard F-150. In suburban Georgia it is startling to see it share the road with much larger common American vehicles like the F-150, 3-row SUVs and even RAV4s.
From Stephen.
A Johnson Surfer boat hull mounted on a 2000 BMW E46 chassis
I go to a lot of shows and cruises, and I take thousands of photos at those events (plus a couple hundred carspotting photos throughout the year), and honestly I think the strangest car I’ve seen up close in 2025 was in the drift car exhibit at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia just last Sunday: A Johnson Surfer boat hull mounted on a 2000 BMW E46 chassis. It’s not the only boat-on-a-car-chassis I’ve seen, but it is the only one I’ve seen this year and the only one I’ve seen set up for any kind of motorsport.
The LS-powered, BMW-sprung ’69 Plymouth Sport Satellite sitting next to it looked positively normal by comparison.
From Paul Balze
Reliant Robin
Probably the reliant robin some student was puttering around in in the fall. Never seen one outside a collection in Southern Ontario
From JaredOfLondon
Lucid Air
I was at a customers job site earlier this month and had a Lucid Air with manufacturer plates park next to me. I was in Madison WI at the time. Very cool to see.
From Kelvininin
Fisker Ocean
somehow, some way, for some reason, someone near me owns a Fisker Ocean and I was genuinely suprised seeing one on the road.
From Scaramimer
Isuzu Axiom
Funnily enough, I spotted my nomination just now as I was logging in and loading up the page. I’m currently on a ski trip with family and I just saw an Isuzu Axiom merge onto the freeway as we are heading up to the slopes. I haven’t seen anything else that stood out this year so I’m picking that for its unusual design, short production run, and general obscurity.
From Giantsgiants
Canoo delivery truck
The first week of January, I saw a Canoo delivery truck in full Wal Mart livery with California plates in Dallas. I thought it looked incredible…functional and funky. About a month later, Canoo was out of business.
From Bob
Honda Vamos
Just last week I saw a white Honda Vamos going down the street and instantly wanted one!
From Kaleb Carter
