Woman spends 150 hours covering her car entirely in human hair
Maria Lucia Mugno, an Italian hair stylist, spent 150 hours sewing strands of human hair to the interior and exterior of her Fiat 500. She had already set the Guinness World Record in 2010 for the world’s hairiest car, but she then added 20kg to the Fiat to receive her second award this year.
The already iconic Italian city car has gained in popularity since its relaunch in 2007, due to its retro styling.
Woman has entire car covered in one million Swarovski crystals
Daria Radionova, a student from Russia, had her Mercedes CLS 350 entirely covered in one million Swarovski crystals. The job was rumoured to have taken two months, by a team flown in to the UK from Russia. Miss Radionova sold the vehicle on an online auction site for more than £150,000, allegedly donating some of the proceeds to charity.
The crystal covered coupe divided opinion, some experts valued it at only £25,000 even after Miss Radionova had spent £20,000 encrusting the entire motor in jewels including the Mercedes badge and door handles.
First flying car debuts
Aeromobil’s Flying Roadster 3.0 was first introduced at the Pioneers Festival in Austria in October 2014, the Slovakian company’s third prototype. They beat US company Terrafugia, who we spoke about in 2013 to the development of the flying car. The Roadster 3.0 has a top ground speed of 124mph and a flight travel range of 430 miles or up to 4 hours in the air. The flying car will need 900 feet of runway to take off and 170 feet of landing space. Aeromobil, founded by Stefan Klein and Jarauj Vaculik may be one of the first companies to realistically deliver a car of the future.
Most high tech off-road vehicle launched, the Kiravan
Californian Bran Ferren took almost four years to construct the Kiravan, an RV with the ability to go anywhere, for his four-year old daughter Kira. The vehicle can travel 2,000 miles without refuelling and is powered by a 260 horsepower diesel engine. With a top speed of 70mph in four-wheel drive, Kevlar reinforced tyres, 22 cameras to monitor traffic and the trucks exterior, with the ability to traverse a 45-degree slope as well as a nitrogen-hydraulic suspension system. The technology present may not be the car technologies you need, but the Kiravan includes terrain monitoring drones and claims to sustain a family of three for two or three weeks.
Man handcrafts wooden Volkswagen Beetle
Bosnian Pensioner Momir Bojic spent two years adding 50,000 separate pieces of hand-carved oak to his Volkswagen Beetle. The fully functioning car was transformed with thousands of small oak pieces that cover his car like fish scales. Mr Bojic created the fittings in his workshop. The steering wheel, hubcaps, gearstick, windscreen wipers and radio are all hand-carved oak. Who knows if this Volkswagen Beetle will float?
Lexus GS added to Dubai’s police force supercar fleet
The already impressive fleet of the Dubai police force was increased this year with the addition of the luxury Lexus GS. The fleet is reportedly worth $6.5 million and includes a Bugatti Veyron, BMW M6 Gran Coupe, a Ferrari FF, an Aston Martin One-77, a Bentley Continental GT and a Mercedes SLS AMG. The prestige cars are used to promote the police force within the country and always draw a crowd when out and about. In November the fleet led the annual Dubai Grand Parade and were part of a Guinness World record attempts for the most number of car brands to feature in a parade (57) and the longest selfie relay (289 participants).
The World’s first 3D printed electric car unveiled in Chicago
The Strati, Italian meaning layers, was revealed at the International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago this year. The two-seater is built from 49 pieces of carbon fibre-reinforced thermoplastic takes two days to construct. Arizona-based company Local Motors took four months to create the car and claim it will be available within the next 12 months.
Farmer disguises his car as sheepdog
Dave Isaac a farmer from Battle, East Sussex spent £2000 converting his car in to a sheep dog to help control the sheep on his 180-acre farm. He transformed the car as a tribute to his former sheepdog, Floss, and later sold it on an online auction site. The car attracted 19 bids and redeemed the money he spent on fitting out the vehicle to look like Floss.
Driverless cars a step closer to reality
In July 2014 a £10m fund was set up for collaborative research and development projects to look at how driverless cars can be integrated into everyday life within the UK. Oxford University researchers have been working with Nissan to develop technology that will be used in research and development. In the Autumn Statement from the chancellor George Osborne, four cities were announced as testing areas of autonomous vehicles in the UK, with the vehicles likely to be on the road by 2015.
Using coconut kernels and coffee to power your car
Research has been ongoing in to developing fuel cell cars powered by just hydrogen, but the storage of hydrogen was an issue. Research at the Benarus Hindu University in India found that coconut kernels are able to store hydrogen within the carbon particles for hydrogen-powered cars.
Researchers at the University of Bath discovered this year that coffee bean leftovers could power your car. Oil is extracted from ground coffee beans by soaking them in an organic solvent that transforms them into biodiesel (known as transesterification).