Top Gear: Daft Cars - Tapa dura

From flying cars to amphibious vehicles, solar-powered saloons to rockets on wheels, these are over 50 of the most wacky cars ever devised. Fancy a car that drives sideways? Try the Jeep Hurricane. Or maybe a car in which the windows change colour according to your mood for a more serene and health-giving driving experience? That'll be the Toyota RiN. And if you like a flutter, you'll need the Chrysler Town and Country Black Jack, which contains a mini onboard casino.

Some concept cars are designed to demonstrate alternative materials and energy sources, or to showcase the gadgets of the future, or even cater for specific lifestyles or groups of people. Many don't even get beyond the prototype stage - for reasons of cost or practicality, or, in the case of the nuclear-powered Ford Nucleon of 1958, the danger of causing a small atomic explosion. Featuring everything from practical experiments such as the hatchback fire engine, and ideas that have managed to make it into production, to stunning yet impractical supercar concepts, this book both celebrates and cringes at some of motoring's most daft - and even idiotic - ideas.

Matt Master has been a motoring correspondent for five years. He started his career at Auto Express, and moved on to Top Gear magazine three years ago, where he is features writer and road tester. He is the author of the previous book in this series, Top Gear: Midlife Crisis Cars (2008).