Bob Reisner’s Bathtub Car” of 1968. It’s the idea of bathrooms, the whole glorious concept of the mid-century Western bathroom, rendered as a car. It’s a crazy idea, sure, but its also wonderful in its insanity.

A toilet was the driver’s seat, with a fully and lavishly upholstered toilet seat and cover. Inside the toilet resided the fuel tank. pair of horns bookended the toilet, acting also as a sort of visual stand-in for headlamps, and the driver steered with a completely vertical steering column topped with a cut-down Model T steering wheel the pedals were toilet paper rolls The Chrysler engine with a pair of (fake) superchargers was directly behind and terrifyingly close to the driver’s toilet.

The exhaust headers very cleverly snake back to form the rear fenders with threaded ends, as one would find on plumbing pipes. The Bathtub Car was to many an elaborate, silly joke. But it’s really much more important than that, it’s a milestone of automotive design freedom, marking a point where all artificial constraints were shattered, and a riot of exuberant free expression was to follow.

– Jason Torchinsky