World records come in all shapes and sizes, but there are some that are so shocking that it’s enough to induce whiplash. Automotive records have always existed as automakers try to one-up each other with claims of being the fastest or highest-horsepower car, but there are some really bizarre ones out there that make us scratch our heads.
The Longest Custom Banana Car

This eccentric and bizarre creation comes from the city of Kalamazoo, Mich., where Steve Braithwaite introduced the Guinness World-Record-holding longest custom banana car to the world in 2011. With construction having started in 2009, Braithwaite built this banana using a 1993 Ford F-150 pickup truck as its platform. In addition, the banana is built on the truck chassis using rebar (reinforced steel bars), chicken wire, and polyurethane foam that was sculpted, covered in fibreglass, and painted into its unique fruity appearance.
Measuring approximately 23 feet in length and 10 feet in height, the Big Banana Car, as it’s officially called, is powered by a vintage 302-cubic-inch 5.0-litre V8 engine from a Mustang. Power figures are unknown, but the car is capable of reaching a top speed of 136 km/h and records a fuel economy figure of 18 miles per gallon or about 13 L/100 km. The car, which the owner says is the world's only four-wheel-drive banana, cost around $25,000 USD ($34,100 CAD) to build and can seat three passengers horizontally behind the driver.
Most Cars Pulled with the Teeth
For those with sensitive teeth, prepare to wince. Dmytro Hrunskyi, a 34-year-old from Ukraine, broke two Guinness World Records for pulling cars with his teeth. Not only did he pull a total of six cars with his teeth, but he also achieved the fastest 30-metre car pull at 15.63 seconds.
For context, the first record belonged to Troy Conley-Magnusson from Australia, who pulled five cars with his teeth in 2021, while the second record was held by Saleh Yazan from Syria, who performed a 30-metre car pull in 18.13 seconds in 2022.
As if this feat wasn’t impressive enough on its own, the record was achieved by Hrunskyi while having one man inside each car acting as a driver. Guinness said that the cars were in neutral gear and the engines were off, but they required drivers to gently steer them to ensure that they stayed in a straight line. In all, the total weight of all six cars and drivers was 7,604 kg. My main questions are how does one discover that pulling cars with teeth is a pastime? How does one train for this feat? Was there an onsite emergency dentist in case the stunt went awry?
First Circumnavigation by Amphibious Car

An amphibious car meets at the intersection of cool and experimental. But the only one in the world that ever managed to cement itself in the Guinness record books was an amphibious jeep called Half-Safe.
Frederick Benjamin Carlin, an Australian who emigrated to the United States with his American wife, Elinore, decided to purchase a Ford GPA (an amphibious version of the Ford GPW Jeep) and modify it to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
Setting sail from Halifax in 1948, the couple embarked on a journey that spanned 10 years, arriving back in Montreal on May 8, 1958, after having completed the first and only circumnavigation of 62,765 km over land and 15,450 km by sea and river. A raft of mechanical updates and fixes were required during this rather insane adventure, but when Carlin first bought the car, he set about fitting a rudder and a bow (that also doubled as an auxiliary fuel tank) that extended its overall length to 18 feet.
Inside the cabin, a double bunk was installed, and the dashboard was embellished with aircraft navigation instruments, as well as a two-way radio. Fully laden and carrying 220 gallons of fuel rather than the original 12, the transformed Seep now weighed close to three tons.