As workplaces empty out ahead of the long Labor Day weekend, your faithful BaT writing staff remains at its post to bring you this week’s Weird and Wonderful—our hand-picked list of the week’s most interesting and unusual vehicles on BaT. It’s merely a snippet of over 1,200 auctions currently live on the site, so once you’ve finished reading, feel free to make your way over there and explore the rest.
Enjoy today’s edition of the Weekly Weird and Wonderful, and let us know what else caught your eye!
Ex–Michael & Mario Andretti 1991 Lola-Chevrolet-Ilmor T91/00 Indy Car
For the 1991 CART Season, this Lola T91/00 racer—one of 38 examples produced—was delivered to the Newman/Haas Racing Team and driven by Mario and Michael Andretti. While Mario Andretti raced the open-wheeler to a podium finish alongside son Michael and nephew John at the 1991 Mille Genuine Draft 200, this T91/00 claimed the bulk of its 15 victories during the CART World Series with Michael Andretti at the helm—like father, like son.
Today, this refurbished Lola is being offered as a non-running project, so if any current or former Indy Car drivers are in the neighborhood, now’s your chance to bring this former racer over the finish line.
302-Powered 1966 Ford Mustang “Mustero” Pickup Conversion
According to the lore, a Beverly Hills Ford dealership received Ford’s blessing to recast some 50 Mustangs into a Ranchero-esque pickup during the 1960s, and the new creation became known as the Mustero. This 1966 Mustang pickup conversion isn’t one of the original Musteros, but a 2024 tribute build by @tripower54, making it his second (!) Mustero build.
The metalwork involved is impressive, and best of all, the tailgate works!
1929 Duesenberg Model SJ Sweep-Panel Dual-Cowl Phaeton by LeBaron and 74-Years-Family-Owned 1927 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Playboy Roadster
If you haven’t taken some time to check out these two beautiful prewar automobiles, then please go have a look now. If you prefer, however, to save both for some nice Sunday reading, then here’s a quick look at each:
Although it may not look the part now, this 1929 Duesenberg Model J was once a racer campaigned by playboy millionaire Argentinian racing driver Martín Máximo Pablo de Álzaga Unzué. By the mid-1930s, the car received a supercharged replacement engine during a factory visit and had its tail shortened back in Argentina, where it contested a trio of races. Back in its original form, it was acquired by casino magnate Bill Harrah during the mid-1970s, eventually spending over three decades in the Imperial Palace Auto Collection in Las Vegas until the 2010s.
Our next prewar car is also a playboy—just not in that way. Originally bodied as a Tilbury sedan, this Rolls-Royce Phantom went to Brewster & Co. for its Playboy roadster body in 1930. By the early 1950s, it was gifted to Landis Gores’s wife, and it remained in the family for 74 years until 2025.
1968 Norton 750GP Race Bike by VBNR
This Norton 750GP race bike is a track bruiser built by Village Bike Norton Racing of Australia with a gusseted wideline Featherbed frame housing a blueprinted 745cc parallel-twin featuring upgrades like a billet crankshaft and Cossie connecting rods. It competed at the Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motorsport in Victoria during the 1990s before moving on to AHRMA Formula 750 competition for Giannini Racing of Brooklyn, New York—we can only imagine how menacing it looked doing so.
1950 Healey Silverstone
The Silverstone was Donald Healey’s breakout sports car, named after the famed British racing circuit and introduced in 1949. This 1950 model is one of a claimed 105 examples, and earned its keep on the track when it was campaigned by its longtime Ohio owner, Jim Bennett, in SCCA events after securing his competition license in 1963. Jim and his wife, Elaine, went on to care for the car for the better part of six decades, and today this refreshed example is offered on dealer consignment by Local Partner @MichaelsMotorCarsPA.
1950 ZIS 110B Phaeton
If this ZIS 110B Phaeton looks anything like a Packard, that’s because it was essentially reverse-engineered from a One-Eighty Super Eight. It’s one of roughly 100 convertibles built by Zavod imeni Stalina, or ZIS, and reportedly one of three cars assigned to high-ranking officials in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 1955. The car remained in Ukraine through the early 2020s before being imported in 2022.
As for the company itself, the ZIS name honored Joseph Stalin from the early 1930s through the 1950s, when it was renamed Zavod imeni Likhachyova (ZiL) in 1956 as part of the Soviet de-Stalinization effort. The company ceased all operations by 2012, ultimately becoming zilch.
1952 Lazzarino Sports Racing Prototipo
Carrocería Lazzarino was a renowned coachbuilder based in Buenos Aires, founded by a family of Italian immigrants who, by the 1930s, found themselves in the limelight thanks to a Lazzarino-rebodied Packard built for Cardinal Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII). It was enough to catch the attention of the president of Ford Argentina, who commissioned the coachbuilder to hammer out this Ford-powered racing prototype to compete with the Ferraris, Maseratis, and others of similar ilk on Argentina’s racing circuits. And it did well, earning victory at the Gran Jornada Automovilistica “Presidente Peron” in 1954. Nowadays, it’s powered by a 239ci Ford flathead V8 after spending several decades with Chrysler slant-six power, and it has remained in the spotlight since the 2010s.
Modified 1951 Crosley Skorpion Roadster
Our last red sports roadster (for this week, that is) is a diminutive one—a 1951 Crosley Skorpion. We featured one not too long ago, but if this example looks like it could sting a little bit more, there’s a reason for that. Skorpion company co-founder John A. Wills himself modified this car during the 1950s with chrome bumpers, hooded headlights, a hood scoop, side trim, tailfins, and a rear luggage trunk.
Wills later reacquired the car in the 1980s. Today, it’s offered by our friends over at the Petersen Automotive Museum, which seems fitting given that the Skorpion was originally showcased at the 1951 Los Angeles Motorama, an event organized by the late publishing mogul Robert E. Petersen.
1996 Imperial Landaulette Wedding Car
Organ music intensifies. (Ahem.) Here comes this prewar-esque 1996 Imperial Landaulette, which was built on an Austin FX4 taxi chassis and used by the seller as a wedding car since 2011. Today, it’s offered by @Plamont out of the UK.
1970 Opel Rekord C 1900 2-Door Sedan 4-Speed
Opel introduced the Rekord C in 1966, with the aim of bringing “coke bottle” styling to the European masses. This Australian-market example was imported into the US following an extended stay in Canada, and the two-door sedan features a high-compression 1.9-liter four-pot paired with a four-speed.
Honorable Mentions:
Stoner’s 102 Six Select Candy Machine w/Diecast Cars
Sure, vending machines are still around, but few are as cool as this Stoner’s Six Select candy machine, which has been repurposed as a diecast display.
CDD Lider 85 Project
Per the listing copy, CDD (Carrocería y Diseño Deportivo) Liders were built in Mexico and based on a licensed SF84 Formula 2000 design from Reynard Motorsport. These machines competed in Mexico’s Formula K racing series made up of a broad swathe of Mexican-built racers powered by Chrysler K-Car-sourced four-pots. This one, however, is powered by a Volkswagen-sourced DOHC inline-four.
1930 Cadillac Series 452 V-16 Convertible Coupe from the Clive Cussler Museum
Clive Cussler was best known for his long-running Dirk Pitt series, and his car collection really took off after the novels became bestsellers. He passed in 2020, but the Cussler Museum continues to operate out of Arvada, Colorado. BaT seller @mgacouperacer brings us this stunning 1930 Cadillac Series 452 V-16 on behalf of the museum.
Thanks for checking out this edition of the Weekly Weird & Wonderful! Follow this page to get updates when new installments post, and tell what caught your eye or what you think we’ve left out!