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"         Ah, yes, the classics were there, great automobiles from the Thirties gliding across the lawn at the Amelia Island Concours. Then there were the superbly restored race cars, vintage Ferraris with their smooth red bodywork and nasty-sounding V-12s.   And then there were Amelia&amp;#039;s oddities. Concours chairman and longtime Road &amp;amp;amp; Track contributor Bill Warner finds these automotive quirks and brings them out for show, like long-lost cousins of dubious parentage. But it would be unfair to not admire the vision, curious as it might be in some cases, which created these machines. In fact, one was drop dead beautiful.                                          1971 Plymouth SuperBird       Garlits front-engine dragster       1957 Indianpolis 500 pace car      We knew a few of the offbeats. Warner was honoring King Richard Petty and had a NASCAR long-nose, high-wing Plymouth SuperBird from 1971. Don Garlits was another honoree and so it was natural to see one of his front-engine dragsters on the manicured lawn. How can you not gape at the 1957 Indianpolis 500 pace car, a Mercury convertible with its extended rear bumper and Continental tire kit? Don&amp;#039;t ever, ever run into one of these from behind.          1919 Leyat Helica  But then there&amp;#039;s a loud whirring sound, like a tethered and really ticked-off humongous hummingbird. And up floats the French-built 1919 Leyat Helica, &amp;quot;The plane without wings.&amp;quot; It could have doubled as the world&amp;#039;s largest deli slicer. Bizarre? Yes. Wonderful? Yes, to see it actually running at Amelia, humming away, looking like a World War 1 aircraft looking for a landing field...and wings.          1964 Hurst Ford Shift Special Indy car  What was Smokey smokin&amp;#039;? Even those of us who are great fans of legendary mechanic Smokey Yunick have to stare in wonder at his 1964 Hurst Ford Shift Special Indy car. The driver, a brave Bobby Johns in this case, sat in a pod attached to the left side of main chassis with its Offenhauser engine. Let&amp;#039;s make that super brave if you just vaguely consider hitting the wall with the left side of the car. It&amp;#039;s said Johns had trouble adapting to the car&amp;#039;s driving characteristics (no kidding) and hit the wall (thankfully tail first) during final qualifying. Still, a car like Smokey&amp;#039;s can make one nostalgic for the days when open rules at Indy encouraged innovation...no matter how odd.          1969 Fascination  Paul M. Lewis&amp;#039; first Fascination automobile was also propeller driven, but then more conventional thinking set in. This is the result from 1969. Only five were ever built, three with Renault engines, but if the Jetsons ever needed an automobile this one from Nebraska&amp;#039;s Highway Aircraft Corporation would be it.          Davis Divans  If Gary Davis had succeeded with his 3-wheel Davis, Van Nuys, California, might have had an auto industry besides the Chevy plant. In the late 1940s, Davis created the prototype for his vehicle and at one point hoped to build 1000 of his Divans a day. The futuristic Davis featured 4-across seating. As we know, that didn&amp;#039;t happen, but David did go to jail for fraud when the plan fell apart in 1948. And when he was released from prison, guess what Davis helped develop? Dodge-em bumper cars... Same styling, right?          1960 Di Dia 150  Detroit-born fashion designer Andy Di Dia built the 1960 Di Dia 150, but singer Bobby Darin made it famous. He even drove it to the Academy Awards and is said to have spent $93,000 having it built, which took seven years. The car has been restored, but its original paint job is reputed to have been 30 coats deep and had Swedish diamond dust mixed in.          1955 Forerunner  Automotive designer Bill Flajole\u2014who penned the Nash Metropolitan\u2014created his Forerunner in 1955. This is a great example of the thinking in the mid-Fifties, and it features a retracting roof panel. Flajole drove the car until the early 1970s.          1948 Timbs Special  Inspired by the prewar German Grand Prix cars, engineer Norman E. Timbs created his special in 1948...and it is drop dead beautiful. Timbs had been involved in the famous Blue Crown Specials at Indy and this mid-engine tube-frame machine is powered by a Buick straight-8.          1930s Stout Scarab  The first minivan? Hard to say, but William B. Stout&amp;#039;s Scarab is certainly better looking than minivans. Built in the 1930s, it has a unit body and a rear-mounted Ford V-8, so the interior is wide open for passengers. That exterior was shaped by designer John Tjaarda, who also did the landmark Lincoln Zephyr and whose son, Tom, gets credit for the DeTomaso Pantera. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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