Tesla Cybertruck
Boasting enormous panel gaps that would have put even 1970s-era British Leyland to shame and razor-sharp stainless steel bodywork ready to dice up any unlucky pedestrians that may cross its path, the Tesla Cybertruck is a truly frightening sight on the road. While its silhouette is instantly recognisable even under a sheet, we couldn’t imagine anything more terrifying than testing the functionality of this supposedly self-driving affront to elegant design ourselves.
Maybach Exelero
If the Classic Driver office ever got a call from Alfred looking for a new set of wheels for Master Bruce, we would instantly suggest the Maybach Exelero. Sure, Lamborghinis are often put forward as potential Batmobiles, but the expansive bonnet of the Exelero combined with its gothic aesthetic harks back to the golden age of Batmobiles from the 1980s and 1990s. Even better, its unique 5.9-litre, 691 horsepower Maybach V12 made it capable of hitting 218 mph, perfect for hunting down the criminals of Gotham City.
Fiat Multipla
If any car embodies the spirit of the 1958 sci-fi horror classic ‘The Blob’, it’s the first-generation Fiat Multipla. Equipped with bodywork that looks as though head designer Roberto Giolito styled the car exclusively by dribbling wet sand (or ectoplasm) into a pile, the Multipla’s perfectly-blobby Y2K aesthetic is arguably more friendly than frightening in today’s world of Transformer-lookalike crossovers. Nevertheless, its ultra-practical cabin would make it the perfect chariot to go trick-or-treating with your mates.
G-Wiz
The G-Wiz, also known as the REVAi, may have paved the way for the small electric cars that now swarm the world’s city streets, but this was very much a first-generation piece of technology. It boasted a whopping 17.6 horsepower electric motor and could drive a maximum distance of around 65 kilometres if you were lucky, meaning range anxiety was something more akin to range terror. However, the scariest aspect of this glorified Tupperware on wheels was its shockingly frail frame, which failed crash tests at speeds as low as 40 km/h. Crumple zones? Who needs them!
Panoz Abruzzi
Equipped with an appearance that would be right at home among the alligators which supposedly prowl New York’s sewer system, the Panoz Abruzzi unsurprisingly failed to attract the 81 buyers needed to satisfy the planned production run. It may be a good thing that this ultra-rare automotive what-if didn’t achieve financial success, because the sight of its monstrous nose — which housed a 650 horsepower LS3 V8 — would certainly give your neighbourhood kids nightmares for weeks.
Packard Twelve Concept
The Packard Twelve concept may look like a Werther's Original that was left out in the sun the morning after Halloween, but swap the concept’s original metallic beige paintwork for black and it would be right at home parked outside the Addams family residence on 1 Cemetery Lane.
Jaguar TYPE 00
To some there’s nothing scarier than one four letter word: woke. The jaGuar Type 00 threw their design history to the wind in a frightening attempt to “Copy nothing” that left some in fits of rage at their choice of an inclusive pastel colour palette, while others mourned the extinction of the classic British big cat.
