RidiculousRides

A British inventor has spent $25,000 turning a pick-up truck into an ap-pealing driveable banana.Steve Braithwaite, who is originally from Woodstock, Oxfordshire, spent two years building the vehicle - which has a top speed of 85mph.The 55-year-old, who now lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan, came up with the idea for the Big Banana Car in 2009.The expensive concept cost around $25,000 and took Steve more than two years worth of Sundays to create.The finished vehicle is 10ft tall and 22ft long but its302ci Ford V8 engine still allows it to hit impressive speeds.

Quirky mechanics have created a ‘Topsy Turvy’ vehicle - by fusing two American school buses on top of each other. Brit Steve Braithwaite, 55, and his business partner Tom Brown, 56, from Kalamazoo, Michigan, took inspiration from a famous ice-cream maker for the wacky bus. The mammoth build took more than six months and required the pair to design their own machinery that would allow them to flip one bus on top of the other.

A DEDICATED father with no mechanical training has manufactured the world’s first fan-built Optimus Prime truck. Back in the summer of 2016, 36-year-old Joe Fiduccia worked day and night recreating the giant full-size replica that weighs around 21,000lbs. Optimus Prime is one of the most renowned characters to hit our screens from the hugely successful Transformers franchise that has taken more than 4 billion dollars at the box office worldwide. And being the determined father that he is, Joe from Monroe County, Pennsylvania, managed to produce this impeccable replica in order to inspire his 10-year-old son that anything is possible.

THE green, mean fighting machine - 'Hulk Camino' was reconstructed by the “do it once and do it big” scientist, Chris Walker. With Chris’ passion project in mind, he single handedly brought the once abandoned and rusted 1959 Chevy El Camino back to life, over the span of two months. This sensational “mad rod” weighs in at 2300lbs, with a 800hp and a 400ci Dart Block Chevy v8 engine. The door handles of Hulk are a unique detail to this build, as the doors do not open and Chris’ vision caused him to spend extra time crafting the impressive hood...

JIM Skank and his team present this custom-built street-legal hot rod truck that will definitely wake up the neighbours... Powered by an $80,000 NASCAR engine and a built-in switch panel in the roof, the vehicle shares characteristics with a fighter jet. The drifter has rear-wheel brakes, with a drift brake built in. Jim and his team went extra on the steering angle to make the car able to drift. He said: "This really was a very enjoyable project for us – to do something completely different from everything we had done before and really a lot more extreme. You get this rush of a feeling of like, wow we did it. It exceeded our expectations for sure."

GARDENER Kevin Nicks has taken British eccentricity to a new level - by building the world’s fastest shed. The 51-year-old, from Chipping-Norton in Oxfordshire, set the unlikely world record after reaching a speed of 88.086 mph at an event at Elvington Airfield in York. The high octane shed started life as a humble Volkswagen Passat in Kevin’s driveway and took the part-time mechanic seven months to build - costing more than £5,000. The two tonne vehicle has a 2.6 litre V6 petrol engine and boasts a "shed load" of features including a button to open the doors automatically, three cameras for better vision and a dash cam. Bureaucracy and red tape meant that the father-of-one had to wait almost half a year before the shed was declared road legal - even enlisting the help of Prime Minster David Cameron. Videographer / director: John Robertson Producer: Bunmi Adigun, Nick Johnson Editor: Jack Stevens

THIS Streamliner is a unique sci-fi car which turns every head at the traffic lights. "People think it’s a Buck Rogers car or something like that," says Jeff, who's collected so many cars that he had no choice but to open a museum. This Streamliner is steeped in history; there are six of its kind but this is the only one which is believed to have survived. The start of the second World War put an end to the Streamliner’s life on the road. The shape of the body is built with a wood skeleton framework. One of the most unique features is the wide windscreen that makes it look like you’re driving a bubble on wheels.

THE Helicron was constructed in France in 1932 but was rediscovered in a barn in 2000, having been abandoned there by its original owner. Found in terrible condition, it’s now been restored with as many original parts plus a modern Citroen GS engine. The one-of-a-kind propeller-driven car is 14ft in length with a 4ft propeller. David, from Tennessee, told Ridiculous Rides that “some people find it frightening, other people find it fascinating. It’s a very special car to drive” and “you’ll never see another one on the road”. The car is hard to miss as it is as “loud as a small aeroplane” and “steers like a boat or a forklift”.

CAR enthusiast Rodger Dudding has amassed the biggest collection of classic cars in Britain - worth an estimated £40million. The business magnate started his collection back in the late 60s when he purchased a Jensen Interceptor FF and hasn’t looked back since. With more than 350 vehicles in his collection Mr Dudding, 79, is still planning to add to his ever expanding fleet of iconic cars after recently finishing work on his latest garage development which cost a whopping £7 million to build. The multi-millionaire’s love of cars started as a teenager when his father purchased a 1952 Morris Minor, which takes pride of place in his collection today.

JOE Tomaro relives his childhood everyday - in a car he built from his favorite amusement park ride. The 58-year-old took the old car from the locally famous Rocket Ship ride at Euclid Beach Amusement Park in Cleveland, Ohio, which closed in 1969. Joe bought the Rocket Ship in 2005 from a private buyer and made it road worthy. It took Joe about a year to complete the car which he built on top of a Chevy truck chassis.

A SUPERCAR salesman is catering to the millionaires of Dubai with a showroom of cars worth a staggering $45million. Displaying luxurious models from Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bugatti and Rolls Royce, amongst many others, Deals on Wheels has more than 100 sports and luxury cars to offer its elite customers. The business was opened in 2007 by 36-year-old Mohamed Redha Abdullah, who had always dreamt of selling elite supercars, and considers his supercharged stock as being his own private collection.

HITTING extreme rocky terrain at top speed is all in a day's work for one racer and his ‘rock bouncing’ buggy that knows no limits. Jack Porter, a member of Venom Racing, helped build the Venom Rock Bouncer which is basically a roll cage on wheels powered by a hefty 550 horsepower Chevy V8 engine. Rock bouncing is an extreme form of off-roading where the aim is to traverse the most challenging terrain at the highest speed possible. Jack, of Horn Lake, Mississippi, said: “When we go out rock bouncing we’re looking for the most extreme stuff we can hit. It’s the biggest adrenaline rush you could ever have. Driving this machine is very intense. We have lots of crashes and anything can happen at any minute. But Venom was made to kick-a**.” The impressive vehicle stretches 14ft 2 inches, and weighs in at 3,600 pounds but can still reach a top speed of 110mph. It’s assisted in its extreme off-road exploits by 43-inch tyres and can withstand falls of up to 150 feet – a necessity considering the intensity of rock bouncing as a sport. Jack added: “There’s also an RPM gauge but I don’t really use it. It stays on 8,000 rpm anyway. We’re pushing to the max at all times.”

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A car mad couple have amassed the world’s biggest Dodge Viper collection - worth an amazing $7.5 million. Texan couple D’Ann and Wayne Rauh have collected an incredible 80 Dodge Vipers - and they drive every single one. And incredibly, it’s not only the iconic American muscle car that they collect. The couple own another 60 cars - bringing their collection up to a whopping 140 cars.

A MASTER mechanic has become the unofficial king of rat rods in New Zealand, after building a series of incredible rat rod masterpieces in his home garage. David Jeffery, of Rolleston, has always had a passion for cars, but started making his own creations seven years ago, when he produced the award winning ‘BellaRat’. Named after his daughter, Isabella, the vehicle took a year to build and wowed the crowds at the 2012 Beach Hop – an annual New Zealand festival and car show where BellaRat scooped the overall prize for top car. David has since single-handedly produced five other incredible cars, including a converted Semi Truck, appropriately called ‘SemiRat’ which would lead David to yet more award success at Beach Hop 2016, where it too won the top prize. He now specializes in building rat rods - the spectacular custom cars that mix old and new parts and often emulate the hot rods of the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

KIERAN'S been a huge motor lover ever since he was a kid, so it was no surprise when he purchased a 1969 Camaro as soon as he hit 18 - but the car was far from ready to hit the road. He explained to Truly: "The car was a full-on wreck. This baby needed a lot of work." Despite having zero experience on restoring a car, Kieran rose to the challenge, dedicating over three years and $28,000 to transforming the ride to the sleek, classic American motor that it is today. And it's not just the driver who's in awe of this car. Kieran said: "Oh, the general public love it. The reaction is always great to see. The car is very special to me. It really made me realise that anything is doable and anyone can do this."

THIS movie buff has transformed an old golf cart into Mater the tow truck from Pixar’s Cars. Jerry Patrick, 51, first set up AKA Junk over a decade ago when he couldn't afford to pay someone else to paint his cars and do bodywork - now the team are experts in replica TV and movie cars. After a Cars’ themed dream, Patrick decided that he had to make Mater come to life outside of the cartoon world.

MEET ‘Swamp Thing’ - the 11.6ft tall battered beast and the UK’s most well known monster truck! From falling in love with monster trucks when he was just eight years old, proud owner Tony, had ‘Swamp Thing’ shipped in from the US, 20 years later. With almost £250,000 and being stripped down completely, Tony’s work of art revs more than 2,000hp and can go from 0 to 60 in just four seconds. Now the stunt-performing machine can not only power over cars, but even flies over caravans and charges its way through water. Though it leaves him with a lack of fillings in his teeth, Tony’s passion is undeterred, as the highest ‘Swamp Thing’ has jumped is 42ft in the air at the yearly ‘UK Monster Truck Nationals.’

WHEN asked to describe his beloved MK 1 Corvette, Tom from Englewood, California proudly beamed: “It looks like a fighter jet. It’s a really eye-catching car. It just knocks your socks off.” Initially the car was headed on a one way ticket to the scrap yard and it took Tom two years to get his set of wheels into the super slick condition that it’s in now. Tom pumped a load of cash into his mission, the car was stripped back to fibreglass and all the original 1955 parts were sourced, he told Truly the level of dedication that it took to do it: “A lot of blood, a lot of sweat, a lot of tears and a pretty good chunk of money.” Finally he had the car spray painted in its original colour - Harvest Gold. To Tom the corvette is more than just a car - it’s a piece of history, he explained: “It’s an honour to be able to help a piece of history come back to life and it looks, now that we’ve worked on it, looks exactly like it did when it was on the showroom floor.” Although the MK 1 is old, it still drives like a charm and he gets a huge kick from driving the Corvette around his local town, saying: “It’s good old American muscle. And man does it feel good.”

50 vintage cars have been left to rot and decay in a German forest. A collection of supercars have purposely been crashed into trees, buried in mud and placed on cliff faces by former racing driver Michael Fröhlich. Michael was sat down by his father at a young age and told to make something of his life by the time he turned 50. After winning a grand prix race in Germany in 1984, in his very own Jaguar XK120, Michael decided to collect one vintage car for each year of his life until the year 2000. His collection includes a Rolls Royce with a Queen Elizabeth doll at the wheel, a Porsche 356 racer and a Buick.

WHEN a motorist's car is their pride and joy keeping it somewhere safe is of paramount importance- whether that's parking it on a quiet street or having it locked-up it inside a garage. But the millionaires of Miami turn to the RoboVault - the 'Fort Knox' of storage in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Built to withstand Hurricane-force winds of up to 200 miles an hour, the high-tech fortress has an array of state-of-the-art security features. Deep within its thick-set walls are millions of dollars worth of high-performance and vintage cars.

TWIN brothers Geoff and Mike from Waterboro, Maine started making their own small vehicles when they were just six or seven years old. They have always been into four wheel off-roading and growing up they built vehicles out of any junk they could find. Originally the brothers wanted to build vehicles just for fun but after the 9/11 tragedy their focus shifted to building vehicles that have a duty. They now design and produce military standard Ripsaws for clients. The Ripsaws are kitted out with lux interiors and advanced stereo systems to suit their client's needs. The brothers promote the ease of driving a Ripsaw and state that: “If you can drive a car you can drive a ripsaw." Their vehicles have even appeared in movies and TV shows, recently featuring in Fast and Furious 8. The brothers have said: “We’re extreme personalities and we’re twins, and we’re very competitive. We would never have developed Ripsaw if we didn’t have that type of energy and competition.”

Some of the worlds smallest cars the roads have ever seen.

Welcome to the ‘well of death’, one of the most exciting and daring stunts in India. Daredevils ride cars and bikes around the wall of the well – defying gravity and death. Pooja Rathod, 20, is the country’s only stuntwoman brave enough to perform the breath-taking stunts with her team of drivers.

A BATMAN fanatic has forged a living building original 1966 BATMOBILE replicas. Mark Racop, 50, has been obsessed with the car since childhood and spent $250,000 researching and building moulds for the recreations. He and his team of ten staff at his shop, Fiberglass Freaks, work six days every week building the cars from the original television series. Mark said: “The 1966 Batmobile was very special to me because it was such an iconic design."