There have been many iconic cars in popular culture, but today The Auto Reporter is countinue down the top 4(20) pot-inspired cars in auto history.

While some are real cars for the road, others took the road straight out of pop culture.

So sit back with your couchlock legal weed (or beer or nothing…) and enjoy these 4(20) inspired cars.

* * * * *

4 – Cheech and Chong’s pot van
The Sweet&Low Upolstry van. Be careful, if it goes up in smoke, even the cops will have a good time. Credit: http://bit.ly/1GLmvhU
The Sweet&Low Upolstry van. Be careful, if it goes up in smoke, even the cops will have a good time. Credit: http://bit.ly/1GLmvhU

Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong are an indelible pair who have delighted movie-goers for decades with their stoner comedy. However, it was in “Up in Smoke” that their most iconic car came about.

The pot van. Not a van for pot, but a van made out of pot.

While Cheech and Chong are the unwitting smugglers of said pot van, it sure does go up in a blaze of glory.

3 – Henry Ford’s Hemp Car
henry-ford-3
Henry Ford’s imagination was about 80 years ahead of his time for this one, the hemp car. Credit: http://bit.ly/1alwD4u

Only a few years after the passage of the 1936 Marijuana Tax Stamp, pot was made illegal across the country, though many states had illegalized it already. However, that didn’t matter to Henry Ford.

Yes, Henry Ford, owner of that long lasting company, created a Hemp Car back in the 1940’s, during the beginning of marijuana prohibition. Not only would the vehicle run on hemp gasoline, but it would also be made of some hemp-plastics, one of the first cars designed with bioplastics.

However, since we don’t see hemp-powered cars, something must have killed off Ford’s Eco-friendly commuter.

Cheap gasoline. Given our current standings with climate change and the end of oil, it makes me wish Ford had succeeded.

2 – Dazed and confused GTO
This car held my imagination for years. Please, car-gods, give me a GTO Judge. Credit: http://bit.ly/1FhhgHR
This car held my imagination for years. Please, car-gods, give me a GTO Judge. Credit: http://bit.ly/1FhhgHR

When I was younger, I remember my mother pushing me out of the room as my family watched Dazed and Confused with my older sister. “Go play…outside,” she’d say.

As my mom attempted to harry me out of the room, there it was – my unicorn, my eleanor, the GTO.

Who cares about the attempts to lure teenage girls with hearthrobby guys, there was the 1970 Pontiac GTO, ‘the Judge’.

When I saw that Orbit Orange, I wanted one. No oogling over McConaughey (I wonder if he drove a Lincoln home); in fact, screw the people, give me that beautiful GTO. Please?

1 – Canada’s Kestrel, a eco-friendly sports car
Small, electric, and eco-friendly. What more could a Seattleite want? Sadly, it too went 'up in smoke' though no one was happy about it. Credit: http://bit.ly/1N9KEnL
Small, electric, and eco-friendly. What more could a Seattleite want? Sadly, it too went ‘up in smoke’ though no one was happy about it. Credit: http://bit.ly/1N9KEnL

While the other cars are either pipe dreams or relics of the past, or both, Kestrel has been making smoke in Canada and has come up with something that may actually work.

The Kestrel is an electric (eCar) prototype the company announced back in 2010. It only has a top speed of around 55 miles per hour (queue the Sammy Hagar) and would go only around 25 to 100 miles before need another recharge, however, it’s a good idea.

A good idea that was never more than smoke in the wind.

However, with weed and hemp now legal in Washington State, maybe some of the powers that be around here may pick up on the idea and share the wacky weed to make a Hemp eCar get off the drawing board and onto the roads.

* * * * *

Have any other 4(20) cars you’d like to post about, hit up the comments and tell us about your favorite bit of pot culture. And, remember, it’s ok to partake at home, but don’t get behind the wheel or they really will be after you.

Deanna Isaacs the owner, editor-in-chief and lead journalist at The Auto Reporter. She graduated from the University of Washington's Communication department in 2014 with a BA in Journalism. She enjoys sports cars, working on her classic two-seaters and long drives where she can annoy the husband. You can reach Deanna Isaacs using the Contact Us form: https://www.theautoreporter.com/contact/.

3 COMMENTS

Comments are closed.