The Wildest Car Features Ever Offered: From Motorcycles to Coffee Machines
by AutoExpert | 23 September, 2024
Imagine brewing your morning coffee right in your car. Now imagine something goes wrong, and you spill it all over yourself. No worries though, you could just hop into your other car and use the built-in toilet! Sounds wild, right? Well, once upon а time, car mаnufacturers offered some truly bizаrre options, and here are five of the weirdest extrаs you could actually get when buying a car.
1. Honda City – A fold-up motorcycle
Picture this: you’re driving your tiny Honda City around town, but parking is a nightmare. No problem! Just park on the outskirts, pop open your trunk, and pull out your foldable motorcycle. Yep, you could order the first-gen Honda City with a little 49cc Motocompo bike stashed in the trunk. This quirky moped was inspired by WWII-era folding bikes that were dropped from planes for paratroopers.
And this wasn’t just a cute add-on—the Honda City was actually designed with a space specifically to store the Motocompo. By the time production ended in 1983, over 53,000 of these mini motorcycles were sold with the City. Today, these rare little bikes can fetch more than $6,000.
2. Chevrolet Impala – The cigarette chute
In the '50s, smoking wasn’t just allowed in cars—it was practically encouraged with fancy smoking accessories. Enter the 1957-1959 Chevrolet Impala, which had what might be the coolest ashtray setup of all time: the Zip Away Incigarettor. For an extrа $7.50, your Impalа could be equipped with а vacuum-operated chute that sucked cigаrette butts into a sealed container under the dash. It not only got rid of the smell but also safely stored the ashes in an easy-to-empty container. Fancy, right?
3. Volkswagen Beetle and Fiat 500 – Dashboard coffee machine
Want to start your day with a fresh cup of coffee brewed right in your car? In the 1950s, Volkswagen offered a 40-watt Hertella coffee machine as an option for your Beetle, mounted right on the dashboard. Sounds convenient until you realize it’s a disaster waiting to happen in a crash, with the potential for a face full of scalding hot coffee.
The dash-mounted coffee maker might seem bizarre today, but it came back in a safer form in 2013. Fiat teamed up with Lavazza to offer a cup holder-mounted espresso machine in the Fiat 500L. No head-butting hazard this time!
4. Pontiac Aztek – The camping kit
The Pontiac Aztek might be known аs one of the ugliest cars ever, but it hаd one optional feature that was undeniably cool: the camping kit. This package came with an air mattress, an inbuilt air compressor, and a tent that you could pitch right off the tаilgate. It was a full camping setup in your car! You’d fold down the rear seats, pop open the tailgate, and you were ready to camp—perfect for weekend adventurers or those on the go. Elon Musk even borrowed the idea for Tesla's Cybertruck.
5. Honda Odyssey – Built-in vacuum cleaner
Honda knew that families, especially ones with kids, can make a mess. That’s why the fifth-gen Honda Odyssey came with a built-in vacuum cleaner, the HondaVac. It was tucked away in the rear of the van and didn’t need to be plugged in—it ran off the car’s power. Super convenient for cleaning up crumbs and spills. Unfortunately, Honda discontinued the HondaVac in 2022, but it remains a beloved feature among families who had it.
Honourable Mention: Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith – A toilet
Yes, you read that right. One particular Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith had a toilet built into the rear seat. Only one Vignale-built model got this odd addition, but it technically counts! While it was reportedly used "mostly to keep champagne chilled," the word "mostly" suggests it might have actually been used as a toilet at some point. Fancy, sure—but we can’t imagine it smelled too great in there.
So, if you ever thought the options list on modern cars was a little boring, these examples prove that automakers have been getting creative (and sometimes downright bizarre) for a long time. Whether it’s a foldable bike, an in-car espresso machine, or a full camping setup, these extras are a reminder of just how wild car options used to be.