Weird cars that are functional, but not for sale

Mumbai: Since the early 1990s, Hyderabad-based K. Sudhakar has created more than 170 designs of cars which actually don’t look like cars. His designs look more like a toilet seat, bed, football, cricket bat, camera, cup and saucer — you name it.

Though these cars are functional, we will never see them on the road, because Sudhakar doesn’t like to sell them. “It’s my passion to design weird cars. I just like to display them in my private museum in Hyderabad, which is open to all,” he says.

Cricket ball car was specially made to cheer the team India for 2003 World Cup and the football car was made to commemorate the 2006 FIFA Football World Cup held at Germany. Sudhakar has a family business of printing. He holds a Guinness World Record for creating the largest functioning tricycle in the world measuring 41 feet 7 inches in height and weighing about 3 tons.

It all started for him, when he visited the US for a trip and saw a skateboard shaped car. “I have been passionate about cars since childhood. The skateboard shaped car triggered a patter of thoughts which I am still continuing in my life,” he says. “It usually takes six months to one year to design a wacky car.  I do everything from building the body to specialized suspensions to installing an engine.

The engine capacity depends on the size of a car. For example for the tennis ball car, which is not so big in size, a scooter engine is good enough to pull the weight. But a car the size of a billiards table needed to have a Maruti 800 engine,” says Sudhakar.

Sudhakar buys most of the building material from scrap dealers. Each cars cost him approximately between Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 1 lakh. Till a few years back, he used to have a yearly road show in Hyderabad. “It gives me a huge high when I get one of my weird cars on the road  and people become so overly curious to know more about the thing with wheels cruising smoothly. When I had my first road show I was surprised by the turnout of lakhs of people. I keep getting numerous demands to create personalized designs but I decline,” he says.

His collection also features 12 different types of motorcycles, the smallest being 13 inches high, which can travel at a speed of about 30 kmph. For a social cause Sudhakar made a bike in the shape of a condom  to spread awareness about AIDS. The condom bike has a built-in player, which gives a brief history on condoms and AIDS awareness.

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