The Big Red Phone Car
This 1975 VW Beetle started out as part of a marketing campaign: Owner Howard Davis was looking for a way to promote his telephone company, Datel Communications. He took the chassis of the Beetle, removed the body and had a replica of a 1970s desktop-style phone welded on — a process that took almost a year to complete. The car's license plate reads "Phones," and its horn blast sounds like a ringing telephone. Davis, who repairs phones for a living, adopted the alter ego "Teleman" and can be seen driving the streets of Boston in a superhero costume, coming to the rescue of needy customers.
'Ghostbusters' Ectomobile
Actors Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis careened through the streets of New York City in the 1980s, hunting spirits in this modified 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor limo-style combination car, which they affectionately called the Ectomobile after the ectoplasm, or slime, secreted by the ghosts they were pursuing in the blockbuster hit "Ghostbusters." It has whitewall tires and chrome hubcaps, as well as an interior rack for storing four proton packs (the weapon of choice for a ghostbuster), and a roof rack that contains various detectors such as radar, microphones, infrared sensors and a satellite microwave uplink — along with a wailing siren, of course.
Owosso Pulse
Classified in most states as a three-wheeled motorcycle, the Owosso Pulse performs like a motorcycle, but has the amenities
of an automobile. Only 347 Pulses were ever built by the Michigan-based manufacturer Owosso Motor Car Co., between 1985 and 1990. It has two seats
and a long wheelbase that provides stability and a smooth ride for a vehicle of its weight (1,000 pounds). While it technically has four wheels, only three are in contact with the road at any given time. You may recognize the Pulse from the film "Back to the Future II." It drives just like a car, the only difference being that your body is positioned in the middle of the lane of traffic (as with a motorcycle).
Claire Martin has written for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Outside magazine. She's the former deputy editor of Men's Journal and currently lives in Los Angeles, where she covers technology, travel and food.