- What do you get when a steering wheel is not a wheel?
The steering wheel is one of the most basic components of a car. Without it, you wouldn’t be able to turn the machine.
It’s also pretty basic in its design. It might have grooves for fingers or a fine leather covering, but you always know what a steering wheel will look like.
But that’s only because car makers tried many wild things in the past. The fact that none of them is still around serves as proof that you just shouldn’t reinvent the (steering) wheel.
Here are the 11 most bizarre steering wheels — and other shapes — you’ve ever seen.
11. Lamborghini Athon
Let’s start this list off relatively innocently. There’s nothing that terrible or strange about the 1980 Lamborghini Athon’s steering wheel — except it seems to float in the air.
But that’s only when the car is parked. The Athon had a collapsible steering column that pulled out from the dashboard.
This was a concept car and the design never made it into general production. But it’s definitely one of the coolest-looking steering wheels ever.
10. Austin Allegro
Austin Allegro was a terrible car. We couldn’t list all of its problems here, but one was the steering wheel.
Never mind that it’s almost square. The thing was so big that you couldn’t fit in the driver’s seat if you had even slightly more voluptuous thighs.
No wonder the Allegro is often titled the worst car ever made.
9. Ford Edsel Teletouch
The Teletouch was an experimental automatic transmission by Ford’s sub-brand Edsel. It let you shift transmission modes through push buttons embedded in the steering wheel instead of a stick.
It’s not the worst idea in the world. But the execution was a disaster.
The system was utterly unreliable and regularly left drivers stranded on the roadside. Drivers used to shift sticks also found the button confusing and distracting.
8. Lancia Orca
Ever wanted to fly an ‘80s spaceship? The Lancia Orca won’t go to space, but it does make you feel like you’re at the wheel of some cyberpunk hovercraft.
Or maybe it looks like an arcade machine. It’s definitely cool, but we at least would find it hard to keep our eyes on the road with this thing in front of us.
7. Maserati Boomerang
Concept cars have to try something utterly harebrained — it’s an unwritten rule of the automotive industry. The Maserati Boomerang decided to give us this monstrosity of a steering wheel.
The wheel surrounded the circular dashboard with all gauges and buttons located in the middle. Not only is it ugly but this configuration can’t feel good to use.
6. Chevrolet Spinner
Ever wish your steering wheel had a steering wheel? That was apparently the concept behind Chevrolet’s Spinner wheel in the 1940s.
The idea was that by grabbing the freely turning small wheel, you could more easily steer the vehicle with one hand. This is a unique entry on this list because Spinner wheels still exist today on some large commercial vehicles.
5. Ford Wrist Twist
In the ‘60s, Ford introduced the Wrist Twist. It was an alternative steering system aimed at, in Ford’s words, “non-technical people.”
By which they meant women.
The Wrist Twist supposedly let you steer the car with both or either hand and made operating the car easier for all those terrible woman drivers. Well, Ford, we still have normal steering wheels and no Wrist Twists. Guess women can actually use a normal wheel.
4. Messerschmitt KR200
We’ve seen a lot of strange steering wheels, but now it’s time to leave the wheels behind. Let’s start with the Messerschmitt KR200, which has one of the most unique steering systems bar none.
Get it? Because it’s a bar? Thank you, we’ll be here all week.
In all honesty, the steering bar did allow the driver to control this three-wheeler with precise, small movement. It was a fun, weird steering solution for a fun, weird vehicle.
3. Mercedes-Benz F-200
Mercedes-Benz F-200 was a concept car for lovers. That’s because its mind-boggling double joystick lets either the driver or the passenger steer the vehicle.
The dual stick sits in the middle console where you would normally find the shift stick. This car really would’ve encouraged healthy relationships. We don’t even want to imagine what would’ve happened if the couple started fighting over the joystick.
2. Honda EV-STER
We said Lancia Orca looked like a spaceship, but we take that back. The Honda EV-STER concept car really puts you in the cockpit of a futurist space fighter.
According to Honda, the twin-stick configuration was intended to let drivers enjoy “the joy of driving.” But wouldn’t a regular steering wheel do that better since you wouldn’t have to keep wondering how the f*** the joysticks work?
1. Saab Joystick
In the early ‘90s, Saab thought steering wheels were a safety risk. So they, too, thought that the solution would be to replace the wheel with a stick.
Only, they found out that a regular steering wheel is a much safer solution. The stick made it very difficult to small turns to orient the vehicle. Additionally, it wore out the driver’s stick arm very quickly.
So, let’s just repeat it again for safety’s sake — stop trying to reinvent the wheel, steering or otherwise.
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