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Our List of Top 5 "Dream Cars"

There is always a fine line between beauty and ugly and cars are not an exception. During its latest exhibit, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta brought together 17 of the most beautiful--yet ugly and peculiar automotive concepts ever imagined by the human race, from a 1934 Bugatti prototype all the way to an early version of the Porsche 918 Hybrid supercar.

What happens when carmakers try to perfectly balance things such as aesthetics and functionality while integrating their own personal vision of the ultimate vehicle? Almost all of these "dream cars" fit that description well. Many people think they're works of art while others scratch their heads about the five cars we have on our list at Jim Marsh Body Shop:

1.) 1936 Stout Scarab

Designer William Stout, who worked as an aeronautics engineer before using his skills to design cars, was a major pioneer in morphing luxury and leisure into his vehicles. The Scarab was best described as a diner car on wheels, powered by a Ford V-8 positioned in the rear of its stretched all-aluminum body. The Scarab unfortunately never became popular, because it was expensive ($5,000, which is equal to $90,000 today), and in the end, only 10 were made, which makes it one of the rarest cars on the planet. So, if we ever saw a Stout Scarab here in Las Vegas, NV we would surely be a little shocked, to be honest.  

2.) 1947 Norman Timbs Special

No other car even remotely looks like the 1947 Norman Timbs Special, with its front-mounted cockpit and curvy body with its signature raindrop tail. Timbs, an Indy 500 racing engineer, designed the vehicle with a Buick Straight 8 engine placed at the rear of the car. The 1947 Norman Timbs Special is a show stopper and extremely popular at car shows worldwide.

3.) 1953 General Motors Firebird 1 XP-21

Is it more car or more jet? The 1953 General Motors Firebird I XP-21 looks like an actual jet fighter, with four wheels, an impressive tail fin and a cool-looking bubble cockpit. This Firebird's turbine engine spun at up to 26,000 rpm to generate an amazing 370 horsepower, which was unprecedented at the time.

4.) 1970 Ferrari (Pininfarina) 512 S Modulo

Design firm Pininfarina has produced more well-known vehicles, but this Ferrari 512 S Modulo car, which it created for the 1970 Geneva Motor Show created a major buzz worldwide. Designer Paolo Martin put a rather peculiar body on the chassis of the Ferrari 512S race car to turn heads and confuse car experts.

5.) 2001 BMW GINA Light Visionary Model

The 2001 BMW GINA Light Visionary Model concept vehicle came from highly-regarded BMW design director Chris Bangle, who is renowned for breaking the mold with this car. It is revolutionary in many ways, including the fact that Bangle covered the car’s exterior in polyurethane-coated spandex that would shift according to the car's aerodynamic needs at the time.

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Sources: Drive, AOL and Forbes