The Unique 1960s Car So Futuristic Many Thought It Was Alien-Made

Cosmic Craftwork - Many futuristic machines begin as daydreams, but every so often one materializes in the real world with such an otherworldly presence that people can’t help but wonder if it came from someplace beyond our own. That kind of speculation grew naturally around a peculiar custom car from the 1960s—one so striking that many joked it must have been alien-made. Long before digital design tools shaped today’s concept cars, this machine arrived looking as though it had already lived a life in the future.

The 1965 Winfield Reactor is built in 1965 for the 15th Hartford Autorama expo and was originally named 'Autorama Special'. (Picture from: RikHoving@Fotki)

Unveiled in 1965 for the 15th Hartford Autorama expo, the vehicle was originally called the Autorama Special. Designer Ben Delphia crafted its lightweight aluminum body, forming curves and contours that rejected the boxy norms of its era. The construction was handled by Gene Winfield, a California automotive mastermind whose hands-on approach and experimental spirit made him a force within the custom-car world.

The 1965 Winfield Reactor's unique aluminum-made body was designed by Ben Delphia and the construction was handled directly by the Californian automotive genius, Gene Winfield. (Picture from: Patrick McDowell@Pinterest)

Winfield’s reputation would later stretch far beyond hot rods. Hollywood repeatedly sought his imagination, commissioning him to build memorable vehicles for both film and television. The Spinner flying car in Blade Runner and the exaggerated 6000 SUX in RoboCop are among the most recognizable examples, showing how naturally his mind gravitated toward futuristic aesthetics. 

The 1965 Winfield Reactor is sat on display with futuristic styled interios. (Picture from: BubbleMania)

The technical foundation of the car added to its mystique. Under the handcrafted aluminum shell sat a steel tubular frame built around a modified Citroën DS chassis. Its powertrain came from a turbocharged, air-cooled Chevrolet Corvair flat-six—an engine whose unusually low profile allowed the nose to be styled long and low, giving the car its signature glide-like appearance. 

The 1965 Winfield Reactor is powered by an air-cooled flat-6 turbocharged engine of the Chevrolet Corvair. (Picture from: Conceptcarz)

Access to the cabin was one of its most dramatic features. The doors opened upward in a scissor-like motion, a design three years ahead of the often-credited Alfa Romeo Bertone Carabo concept. Even the windshield and roof lifted as a single flip-up assembly. Many exterior components, including the hood and concealed headlights, could be operated remotely, adding a layer of showmanship rarely seen at the time.

The 1965 Winfield Reactor is sat on display at the Pebble Beach 2017 Dream cars. (Picture from: Darrell Williams@Pinterest)

Hollywood quickly embraced the car’s unconventional look. In 1968, it appeared in the Star Trek episode “Bread and Circuses,” introduced as the luxurious “Jupiter 8” from the planet 892-IV, or Magna Roma. Its sleek lines fit so naturally within the sci-fi setting that audiences could almost believe it truly belonged to another world.😀

The 1965 Winfield Reactor may be able to make the claim that it is actually the first car attached with scissor doors 3 years early before the Alfa Romeo Bertone Carabo. (Picture from: Richard Spiegelman@Flickr)

The car’s screen time didn’t end there. It later appeared as a fantastical “dream car” on Bewitched, and in a particularly playful turn, it was outfitted with oversized furry ears and a tail to become the Catmobile for an episode of the 1966 Batman TV series. These quirky cameo roles helped cement its status as a pop-culture oddity.

After passing through multiple owners, Winfield eventually bought the car back in 1995 and renamed it the Winfield Reactor. Its combination of early scissor doors, experimental construction, and Hollywood history gave it a unique position within automotive lore—one that blends innovation with a healthy dose of mid-century imagination.

Today, the Reactor lives on at the Starbird’s National Rod & Custom Car Museum in Oklahoma, where visitors can see for themselves how boldly it pushed the boundaries of its time. More than a show car, it stands as a reminder of an era when designers freely mixed creativity and engineering, often producing machines so ahead of their time that people wondered whether they were built by human hands at all. *** [EKA [28082021] | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | JALOPNIK | BUBBLEMANIA | CONCEPTCARZ | STARTREK | HISTORYGARAGE ]

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