The Car To Be Seen In: 1968 Quasar Unipower

Paul Niedermeyer
by Paul Niedermeyer

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!

Paul Niedermeyer
Paul Niedermeyer

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  • Garak Garak on Apr 01, 2010

    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.

  • FrankyJ FrankyJ on Apr 01, 2010

    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.

  • SCE to AUX All that lift makes for an easy rollover of your $70k truck.
  • SCE to AUX My son cross-shopped the RAV4 and Model Y, then bought the Y. To their surprise, they hated the RAV4.
  • SCE to AUX I'm already driving the cheap EV (19 Ioniq EV).$30k MSRP in late 2018, $23k after subsidy at lease (no tax hassle)$549/year insurance$40 in electricity to drive 1000 miles/month66k miles, no range lossAffordable 16" tiresVirtually no maintenance expensesHyundai (for example) has dramatically cut prices on their EVs, so you can get a 361-mile Ioniq 6 in the high 30s right now.But ask me if I'd go to the Subaru brand if one was affordable, and the answer is no.
  • David Murilee Martin, These Toyota Vans were absolute garbage. As the labor even basic service cost 400% as much as servicing a VW Vanagon or American minivan. A skilled Toyota tech would take about 2.5 hours just to change the air cleaner. Also they also broke often, as they overheated and warped the engine and boiled the automatic transmission...
  • Marcr My wife and I mostly work from home (or use public transit), the kid is grown, and we no longer do road trips of more than 150 miles or so. Our one car mostly gets used for local errands and the occasional airport pickup. The first non-Tesla, non-Mini, non-Fiat, non-Kia/Hyundai, non-GM (I do have my biases) small fun-to-drive hatchback EV with 200+ mile range, instrument display behind the wheel where it belongs and actual knobs for oft-used functions for under $35K will get our money. What we really want is a proper 21st century equivalent of the original Honda Civic. The Volvo EX30 is close and may end up being the compromise choice.
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