Some people collect rare muscle cars and Ferraris. Some collect modern supercars. We've seen several collections of this type over the years. But it turns out not everyone is into expensive and flashy vehicles. This secret stash of weird custom builds and bubble cars stands as proof.
London is home to some of the most expensive supercars out there, but it's also home to a basement that houses what may be the world's largest and most important collection of bubble cars. It belongs to automobilia collector Gary Hillman and it also includes a few custom cars built by the great George Barris.
But you won't find the Batmobile or KITT from "Knight Rider" in his basement. Hillam owns some of Barris' even weirder projects, like Alvin's Acorn from "Alvin and the Chipmunks," the first car he built from scratch.
The Sidewinder V8 trike, the Sand Draggin' buggy, and Pool Hustler are the other three custom cars that spend their retirement years in this basement. The latter is downright insane because it's basically a full-size pool on top of a V8 engine. And it also has cue stick racks on the sides.
And they're not the only oddities you'll find here. Hillman also owns Andy Saunders' street-legal speedboat, which is essentially a boat built on a Reliant three-wheeler chassis.
But his collection of vintage bubble cars is even more impressive. He owns at least a half-dozen Peel microcars, including both the P50 and the Trident. Not only he has an all-original Trident, but he also owns the only P50 prototype with a single front wheel. But it should be noted that Hillman co-owns Peel Engineering.
The bubble car collection goes beyond Peel models to include a 1950s Scootacar Mk1, an all-original BMW Isetta, and a Trojan 200. But while these are somewhat famous, he also owns a few microcars you might not know about.
There's the Pocheron, a French microcar from the late 1940s, a Rytecraft from the 1930s (perhaps the grandfather of all bubble cars), and the only Lambretta Mink ever built.
And of course, he also owns a Messerschmitt bubble car, but this one's a bit special because it was previously owned by Evel Knievel.
But that's not all. Hillman also owns a couple of monowheels from the 1930s, a pair of vintage Supercar bumper cars, and more than 100 vintage pedal cars.
Did I mention that his daily driver is a Ferrari FF he bought from Jamiroquai frontman Jay Kay? Well, it's the first thing you'll see in the video below so hit that play button to check out this weird yet spectacular car collection.
Ask Ciprian about cars and he'll reveal an obsession with classics and an annoyance with modern design cues. Read his articles and you'll understand why his ideal SUV is the 1969 Chevrolet K5 Blazer. Full profile
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