Car spotting is one of my favorite past times. From eyeing up a rare supercar to the most malaise of motors, I love finding weird and interesting automobiles on the road. But this particular spotting takes the cake. Why you might ask? Because it's not so much of a car, but more of an entire living room on wheels.
Now, you might think this couch looks a wee bit familiar. Designed by famous British motoring presenter Edd China, the Casual Lofa is just one of his latest crazy creations. And this street-legal sofa is also one of the fastest pieces of furniture that can be driven on the road, reaching speeds of up to 87 miles per hour.
You might be wondering just how the car is actually piloted given its apparent lack of controls. No, it's not self-driving in the least bit. Instead, the controls are all brilliantly staged inside of props that make up the motif motoring masterpiece.
In front of the driver sits a personal pan pizza – dinner, for some. But in this scene, it's actually the steering wheel in disguise, and the can of Guinness placed casually to the driver's right side is actually a hand-operated brake.
A chocolate bar seen resting on the arm of the sofa is the cleverly camouflaged gear selector for the couch's automatic transmission. The throttle is actuated by the driver's right knee, and his speed told by the speedometer that sits inside of the clock resting on the coffee table. And perhaps the most ingeniously hidden gems are the turn signal indicators which are concealed inside of the flower pots.
The Casual Lofa is powered by a 1.3-liter BMC A-Plus series engine, the same powerplant found in vintage Minis in the 1980s and '90s, which means that performance upgrades from popular vendors such as John Cooper Works could be fitted to the car if desired.
Now that China is retired from Discovery's Wheeler Dealers, he's been working on his own YouTube channel and recently published a book entitled Grease Junkie. Most recently announced was a project that would convert ice cream trucks to use electric power, and while more useful than a motorized couch or office-on-wheels, we hope Edd never stops being Edd.