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Around the tracks: Dictator cars, Elon Musk’s baby name decoded and a Land Rover ‘Star Wars’ moment

Plus a car-shaped waffle maker and a Porsche 911 dressed up as Herbie the Love Bug.


When we’re not creating it ourselves, the CarAdvice team spends a lot of time finding and consuming motoring content from all over the world.

Here’s a handful of the photos, articles, videos or social media posts that most caught our eye last week. Some of them are brand new, others have been online for a while.

Enjoy them – just not too much, okay?


1. This Instagram account that chronicles the cars of dictators

Following on from last week's deep dive into the Ferrari F40 that once belonged to Saddam Hussein's son, we have more dictator-related content to bring you in the form of the Instagram account, @dictatorcars.

Why is it that the people with the most atrocious human rights records tend to own some of the most fascinating cars? Corruption must go a fair way to explaining it.

Regardless, it's easy to lose yourself in the rabbit hole that is this Instagram page chronicling the various rides of the world's most notorious leaders – from Kim Jong-Un's Mercedes S-Class Landaulets to Idi Amin's Citroën SM.


2. Elon Musk's baby name

Although it's not strictly car-related news, the internet was abuzz this week with news Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his partner, Canadian musician Grimes, had named their newborn son X Æ A-12.

While the unusual moniker looks more like a piece of code used in an electric car interface than an actual name, Musk insists it's the real deal and is pronounced "X Ash A Twelve".

"First of all, my partner's the one that mostly came up with the name," Musk revealed on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. "I mean it's just X, the letter X, um, and the 'Æ' is pronounced, 'Ash,' and then, A-12 is my contribution."

Musk said A-12 stands for "Archangel 12, the precursor to the SR-71, coolest plane ever".

Unsurprisingly, the unique name prompted a huge reaction on social media and inspired countless memes, some of which we've included below.

And if you're feeling sorry for little X Ash A Twelve, just consider that his father is a billionaire engineer and electric car entrepreneur, while his mother is a chart-topping pop culture icon who studied neuroscience at the prestigious McGill University. He's gonna be just fine.


3. This car-shaped waffle maker

Got young kids to entertain? Need to up your breakfast game? Looking for a last-minute Mother's Day gift for your car-obsessed mum? We've got you covered.

Enter, stage left: the car-shaped waffle maker you never knew you needed, as discovered by The Awesomer. This clever contraption turns out golden nuggets in the form of cars, trucks or vans. All you need is maple syrup.

You can buy it on Amazon for $42.95 – a small price to pay for at least 20 minutes of solid entertainment.


4. This Porsche 911 dressed up as Herbie the Love Bug

French former race car driver and vehicle tuner Pascal Witmeur is known for his fantastical car creations, including a Peugeot 806 MPV minivan that raced at the 1995 24 Hours of Spa.

One of his more recent works, however, was a particularly quirky custom Porsche 911 that caught the eye of car enthusiast site Petrolicious.

The unique project in 2018 saw Witmeur turn a Manthey-Racing Porsche 911 GT Cup MR into a tribute to Herbie the Love Bug – to celebrate a half century since the original film was first released.

As you can see, the resulting car is a sight to behold and even hit the track at 24 Hours of Spa last year – with Witmeur naming the car 'Juliet' because, as he explained: “In the UK, Herbie is a boy, but in France and Italy, she’s a girl, so we called her Juliet.”

You can check out the full story of Juliet's design and creation over at Petrolicious. 


5. This excellent Star Wars Day gag from Land Rover

The Star Wars nerds on the CarAdvice team certainly got very excited about May the 4th AKA 'Star Wars Day' this year, and you might have spotted some content on our social channels suggesting as much.

But while we were busy laughing at our own jokes (they were pretty great if you ask us) Land Rover Australia came through with the goods in the form of this excellent nod to Darth Vader's infamous "I am your father" line to Luke Skywalker, reenacted in Defender form.

Game recognise game.

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Susannah Guthrie

Susannah Guthrie has been a journalist for over a decade, covering everything from world news to fashion, entertainment, health and now cars. Having previously worked across titles like The New Daily, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, People Magazine and Cosmopolitan, Susannah now relishes testing family cars with the help of her husband and two-year-old son.

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