Care to Ride a Brinjal, Shoe, a Helmet, or Hamburger?

Ever wanted to ride a brinjal, a parrot's cage, a shoe, a camera, or, better still, a helmet? Or at least watch them in action. You don't need to look far.

The designer of such wacky cars is setting up a museum -- the first and only of its kind in the world - in Hyderabad, showcasing the working models of such unusual motorized vehicles.

The world's first hand-crafted miniature vehicles museum will be inaugurated on April 5, Telugu New Year Day, K. Sudhakar, designer of the vehicles, told IANS.

Sudhakar, proprietor of Sudha Cars, said a minimum entry fee will be charged to raise funds for its maintenance and upkeep.

The designer who also owns the Golden Printing Press Pvt. Ltd. Here told IANS that he chose Hyderabad as the location for the museum because he "belongs to this city and it's one of the most happening places right now."

Sudhakar said he will request Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to give him the right location in the city for setting up the museum. "The Chief Minister is trying to boost private tourism in the state and hopefully he will help me in this venture," he told IANS.

Sudhakar -- whose whacky designs were inspired by a business trip to New York in 1991, where he saw a skating car promoting roller skates -- has been designing vintage car replicas, fancy bicycles and motor bikes for the past 22 years.

He designed his first car - a replica of the Dune Buggy - when he was in high school in 1977. It took him about nine months to create the replica, with a 1000-cc engine and hand-made metal body. The two-seater can run up to 100 kilometer per hour.

Sudhakar, who learnt the tricks of the trade from his guru, late Baba Khan, a local mechanic who used to modify cars, has designed 47 cars, 42 bicycles and 22 motorbikes till date.

These include replicas of vintage cars such as the 1925 Rolls Royce, the 1913 Packarad and 1905 Prosper Lambert, and cars shaped like a helmet, a shoe, a Nikon F3 camera, a parrot's cage, and even a 3-wheeler 3-seater motor bike.

Besides unusual cars, bicycles and motor bikes, Sudhakar holds the Guinness Record for the world's smallest double-decker. A 1939 Lay Land model with a 1000-cc engine, the double-decker is capable of a speed of 65 kilometers per hour. The 10-seater bus, designed in 1995, took two-and-a-half years to finish.

Sudhakar also holds the record for creating the smallest train, powered by a 175-cc engine, which is about 20 inches in height, 19 feet in length and runs 30 kilometers per hour. The "Chanu Express," which is capable of carrying 20 children, was created in a record time of 20 days in 1997.

Sudhakar, who has no formal education in mechanical or automobile engineering, and feels could have done better with one, told IANS that he hopes to reach a target of 100 unusual vehicles in about 5-6 years.

The commerce graduate from Nizam College said that despite demands, he will not assemble designs for private individuals, as designing such vehicles is only his passion.

The only help he is seeking is, from the Naidu government, the plot to set up the museum. "Since 22 years I have been doing it on my own. It's not about funds. Most of the cars just cost me Rs. 15,000 to 20,000 per piece, but they are very time consuming. And I expect not less than 2,000-3,000 visitors a day to the museum."

The 35-year-old bachelor, who spares four to five hours per day pursuing his hobby, is presently working on a hamburger car, a cup-and-saucer car and a pineapple car.

"My special creation will be a seven-feet-tall motorized walking elephant. And I am planning to gift a "Janmabhoomi car" (named after the ambitious development program launched by Naidu) to the Chief Minister next," Sudhakar said.