Top 5 Rare, Unique, Crazy and Abnormal Vehicles in India

How often do you encounter these following vehicles?

Well, let's see what they are, and what makes them unique.

1) Bajaj (Tempo) Hanseat :

It's absolutely debatable as to which Brand this eccentric vehicle belongs to. It was first made by 'Tempo', a German automobile manufacturer, but later homologated by Bajaj Tempo motors in India to fit in Indian road conditions. It became Force motors, later.

There has been a huge confusion with this vehicle among people or the ones who really, are curious about the facts as to which company this vehicle actually belonged to, or whether it falls under the 'Tempo' category or 'Rickshaw'.

First off, 'Tempo' is not a category but, was the name of a German based company, formed in the year 1924 and made small military vehicles during the 1930s-40s. But, later, due to it's massive usage in India, its name was stereotyped as 'Tempo' by Indians; Just like how Indians stereotyped all the new generation gearless scooters as 'Scooty', after TVS launched the scooter named 'TVS Scooty' which was specially designed for women. Another example could be 'Xerox' which was a pioneer in making photocopy machines and due to its monopoly trade, it created a special place in people's minds and thereby being stereotyped as Xerox machines.

Coming back to Hanseat, it looked quite funny with its lifted nose with the logo of Force Motors on (missing in the picture), and the exhaust pipe sticking out of it. It looked more of an auto rickshaw with bigger wheels and, was used by common people for daily commute on a shared basis. Although its production stopped a long ago, it could still be found ferrying around in places like Kolkata, Himachal-Punjab border, Pathankot etc.

Unlike other 3-wheelers, it has a steering wheel and a gear lever (4 forward and 1 reverse). It is employed with a 2-stroke, 400cc petrol engine, which offers a power of 15 bhp, pushing it to 50-60 kmph, depending on the road conditions.

2) Hindustan Motors (HM) - Trekker:

The vehicle was one of the most obnoxious one in the history of Indian automobiles. However, it served its countrymen quite well, be it, it's passenger or it's driver, due to it's economical operations and maintenance. It remained quite popular among the commuters, mostly in the rural areas, from the early 80s to the late 90s. 

This unique piece of machinery could give out a maximum power of 38 bhp, pushing it to 70-80 kmph, depending on the road conditions. It's normally seen with a foldable hood on, sometimes open. Also, some users used to get a steel roof welded with it's body to avoid water entering it during monsoon, but it would reduce the speed and consume more fuel as it, sure, was not designed to bear any extra load other than the permissible payload. Many called it an ugly vehicle due to its poorly and casually designed aesthetics but, had no other options except compromising due to its great performance on regular short trips. But, it undeniably, was not a good looking vehicle and hence, never considered by the buyers for their personal use. Although its production is discontinued, the old ones are still seen in some parts of Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

3) Maruti OMNI - High Roof Van:

Among all the unique vehicles in the history of Indian automobiles, this gentleman has a special place. We barely see this car rolling around. In fact, I have come across many people who never saw this even once.

People, who owned or own this car, have a huge sentimental value attached to it, it's nothing less a luxury car to them. The main purpose of this van having a high roof, was to facilitate more space inside the vehicle. It was primarily designed for cargo and ambulance services but later, due to it's uniqueness and demand from customers, the company made alterations to the design, to meet the requirements of a passenger car, too. 

However, for a passenger car, the standard version (without a high roof) served the purpose, to a great extent and hence, the standard one continued to remain popular among the buyers. Unfortunately, after being in production and serving the people of the country for 35 years, its production discontinued due to various reasons. Now, there is only one car in the 'Van' segment from Maruti named, 'EECO'.

4) Bajaj M-80

Bajaj M-80 was the first successful crossover bike in the Indian market. Its unique step-thru design took the 2-wheeler industry by storm in the 80s and 90s. It was conceived as a combination of a motorcycle and a scooter to facilitate both men and women to ride it with comfort. Men would ride it with a feel of a motorcycle without compromising on the power with the ingress-egress facility. On the other hand, women could easily ride it without thinking of swinging leg over, to get on a typical motorcycle. On the whole, it turned out to be an amazing concept. 

Its wheels and the rear part was like a motorcycle whereas the front part, like a scooter. It had a semi fearing in front, which used to be usually in white or cream color. Unlike scooters, it was a chain driven vehicle as the engine was mounted underbelly just like on a motorcycle. It was powered by a 2-stroke, 74.08cc petrol engine (approx 80cc) engine, which could generate approximately 5 bhp of power. It had a 3 speed gearbox, hydraulic shock absorbers and leading link in front, and coil spring shock absorbers at the back. Another big advantage was, it had huge amount of spaces in both front and back to carry a good amount of load on a ride. 

5) Sipani Badal

Another cranky car! We all know that everything in this world is inspired by something else, and this weird piece of machinery is an example of another inspiration. Even if you didn't know about this particular car, the shape of it must be somewhere there in your subconscious mind. Any guesses? Yeah! 'Mr. Bean' must have struck your mind. This is the very vehicle that kept overturning on the popular show, Mr. Bean.

Well, the fact is, this is not the very car that was used by Mr. Bean but 'Reliant Regal', which was an English car. In India, it went by the name 'Sipani Badal' which was produced by Sipani Automobiles Ltd., based out of Bangalore, which obtained a license to manufacture cars from the British car company, Reliant Motors. Hence, it looked so similar to the Reliant Regal, which was one of the essences of the popular Mr. Bean show.

Sipani Automobiles Ltd. was an Indian Automobile manufacturer formed in 1973, in Bangalore. They primarily manufactured subcompact cars with fibre-glass bodies, and Sipani Badal was the first car to be launched by the company in 1976. It was a 3-wheeled, 3-door design. 2 doors on the passenger side and one on the driver side. It was a spacious car that could accommodate 3-4 people with an ease. It was employed with a 2-stroke, 200cc petrol engine that offered 12 bhp of power.

There was another car by Sipani automobiles called 'Dolphin' but, as Maruti 800 was trending at that time, buyers chose Maruti over it, due to its more power and endurance. As a result, there was a gradual decrement in the sale of the Sipani cars, resulting in their discontinuity.

Some more rare cars in India:

Thank you so much for going through this article. Please leave your comments below for more such information.