The Car To Be Seen In: 1968 Quasar Unipower
This is not the car for those who suffer from either scopophobia (fear of being seen) or amaxophobia (fear of riding in a car), or God forbid you suffer from both. But if you do and get offered a ride in a 1968 Quasar Unipower, at least a grab bar is handily available for the afflicted passenger.
The late sixties encouraged free thinking, so why not a car built around three sliding patio doors? French-Vietnamese designer Quasar Khanh took up that thought, and used BMC 1100 running gear, with the engine now in back, to create the ultimate city car. It’s actually not a cube, being the only car ever produced known to actually be wider (66″) then long (64″). Height? A towering 74″. And just to enhance the fear of being seen from every angle, the seats in the original version (above) were made of inflatable clear plastic.
And not surprisingly, the French bought the lion’s share (13) of the fifteen Quasars actually produced. There are some funny pictures, but whoever owns the quasar-unipower.com web site is very touchy about their collection, and make them near impossible to “use”. It’s in French, but the pictures of nude (non-scopophobic) women in a Quasar don’t require any translation.
Attention all you Curbside Classic fans: lets get these parked cars identified pronto!
More by Paul Niedermeyer
Comments
Join the conversation
One day later and I would've thought that to be an april fools article. I don't want to know how much drugs were used when designing that car. I don't think that's much worse safetywise than other cars of the period. Without seat belts you're pretty much screwed in any crash, and the French didn't start using them until 5-10 years later.
That really does look like the Pope's car. I would hate to see that thing get hit by a pebble the car would be totaled. I wonder if they are going to start selling those at Used Cars Elizabethtown Ky dealership.