Incredible Bumper Cars

It’s easy for a gear-head to be discouraged about the state of the world, especially in times of Carpocalypse and Cash for Clunkers.

But occasionally a bright light of awesome renews the spirit. Road-legal bumper cars do just that. Yes, you read that right; these little beasties are street legal.

They run on either Kawasaki or Honda motorcycle engines and co-opt vintage bumper car bodies into the most awesome form of mini-car we’ve seen in too long. There are seven of these little monsters floating around California , and they’re all the creation of one man, Tom Wright , a builder in the outskirts of San Diego who figured the leftovers of the Long Beach Pike amusement park needed a more dignified end than the trash heap.

They were originally powered by Harley motors but they rattled like hell and Tom replaces them with Honda or Kawasaki 750’s and a couple have been measured as capable of 160 MPH , which is terrifyingly fast in machines with such a short wheelbase.