The Car To Be Seen In: 1968 Quasar Unipower

Paul Niedermeyer
by Paul Niedermeyer

This is not the car for those who suffer from either scopophobia (fear of being seen) or amaxophobia (fear of riding in a car), or God forbid you suffer from both. But if you do and get offered a ride in a 1968 Quasar Unipower, at least a grab bar is handily available for the afflicted passenger.

The late sixties encouraged free thinking, so why not a car built around three sliding patio doors? French-Vietnamese designer Quasar Khanh took up that thought, and used BMC 1100 running gear, with the engine now in back, to create the ultimate city car. It’s actually not a cube, being the only car ever produced known to actually be wider (66″) then long (64″). Height? A towering 74″. And just to enhance the fear of being seen from every angle, the seats in the original version (above) were made of inflatable clear plastic.

And not surprisingly, the French bought the lion’s share (13) of the fifteen Quasars actually produced. There are some funny pictures, but whoever owns the quasar-unipower.com web site is very touchy about their collection, and make them near impossible to “use”. It’s in French, but the pictures of nude (non-scopophobic) women in a Quasar don’t require any translation.

Attention all you Curbside Classic fans: lets get these parked cars identified pronto!

Paul Niedermeyer
Paul Niedermeyer

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  • Garak Garak on Apr 01, 2010

    One day later and I would've thought that to be an april fools article. I don't want to know how much drugs were used when designing that car. I don't think that's much worse safetywise than other cars of the period. Without seat belts you're pretty much screwed in any crash, and the French didn't start using them until 5-10 years later.

  • FrankyJ FrankyJ on Apr 01, 2010

    That really does look like the Pope's car. I would hate to see that thing get hit by a pebble the car would be totaled. I wonder if they are going to start selling those at Used Cars Elizabethtown Ky dealership.

  • AZFelix I shall fully endorse the use of autonomous cars on public roads once they have successfully completed my proposed Turing test for self driving vehicles. This test requires the successful completion of an at fault incident and accident free 24/7 driving session in Buffalo and upstate New York from October 1st until March 31st, and throughout the city of Jakarta, Indonesia for one consecutive year. Only Level 1 and Level 5 vehicles are permissible.
  • Lou_BC I'd go Rav4. No Mazda dealer in my town and from what I've seen, Mazda's tend to rust.
  • Steve Jacobs I've got a bright Red Kia EV6. Easy to find in a parking lot.
  • MKizzy Gently used EV6's under $30K aren't hard to find and have the range and style to almost intrigue me into taking the EV plunge. However, I'll wait for a mid-sized non-luxury EV sedan or wagon which is not a tablet housing a car (Model 3) or sacrifices too much usable space for the sake of style (Ioniq 6) before I go electric. I'm not holding my breath.
  • Arthur Dailey Am currently comparing both vehicles. Some issues not addressed in the article 1) the wait times for most RAV4's are currently considerably longer, 2) RAV4's are among the most stolen vehicles in my area (the GTA), 3) Mazda has a superior warranty. Manufacturing locations are perhaps a toss up. For the majority of these vehicles sold in the Canadian market from what I can ascertain, CX-5's are manufactured in Japan, and RAV4's in Alliston Ontario. One area where I will disagree with Matt is in the upholstery. I far prefer cloth to leather. With grandchildren and a dog, there is far more chance that the leather will be cut or scratched. And leather, particularly in black is too hot in the summer and very cold when you first sit on it during a Canadian winter. Cloth is the winner in that competition, but still an inferior choice to rich 1970's style velour upholstery.
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