Passengers rode these wonderfully odd buses and didn’t complain—after all, it beat walking…
Switching from your own car—even a bargain-basement import—to a bus is never easy. With the vehicles you’re about to see, that switch becomes outright comedy. History took many strange turns when it came to buses, but with these machines, it didn’t just turn sideways—it went completely off the rails.
Still, people got around on these delightfully bizarre buses and lived their lives without a care. Like we said, anything was better than going on foot.
Citroën U55 Cityrama Currus.
A Parisian curiosity from the 1950s that caused a stir with its tourist-friendly layout, wall-to-wall glass, and general absurdity. Even by today’s standards, it looks hilarious. With a bit of imagination, it could pass for a rolling aquarium.
The Golden Dolphin from Turin, by coachbuilder Viberti.
In 1956, humans hadn’t gone to space yet, but bus designers were already thinking in cosmic terms. Spacecraft eventually took on very different shapes, though this bus seems destined to live forever in the pages of a kindergarten sci-fi comic.
An American protest from the mid-1950s.
A three-level bus based on the GMC Greyhound Scenicruiser. According to rumors, this thing might still be on the move somewhere. Our sympathies go out to anyone who encounters it in the wild.
The Soviet had its own “heartthrob.”
Slightly newer, from the late 1960s, and a bit more modest in size. Meet the Uralets-66A bus from near Nizhny Tagil. Tanks came out much better in those tough industrial regions.
The 1930s in the U.S. were a strange and wonderful time.
Prohibition had ended, the Charleston and swing ruled dance floors, and miracle buses cruised city streets. One example was the Pickwick Nitecoach Duplex—proof that excess wasn’t limited to nightlife.
The 1936 Kenworth.
Perhaps the most jaw-dropping of the truly unusual buses. Hats off to the designers who managed to pair massive wheels with such a low front body. It’s an engineering contradiction—and a glorious one.
And finally, a bus everyone is free to laugh at.
The 1967 Bedford SB with a Plaxton body looks genuinely awkward. But inside? A full movie theater with comfortable seats—and complete privacy. No one can see you in there, and that might be its biggest advantage.