The term ‘backseat driver’ is being taken to the next level. A recent automobile mod is both confusing and clever. Don’t like the way someone is driving? Just pick up this new Nissan Patrol – complete with a steering column in the middle of the back seat.

You’re probably asking the obvious question: Why? The answer isn’t even obvious to Dubai’s King of Customs, the technological ‘hack’ celebrity in the world of automobiles.

According to Yahoo! Autos, the “motivation for spending more than three months transplanting the SUV’s controls to the back seat” is not entirely understandable. But in the desert, no one can hear you scream ‘slow down’ from the front seat.

The post Slick Car Mod Lets You Take the Wheel from the Back Seat first appeared on Gajitz.

Getting your car into and out of tight parking spots is a problem that drivers have been dealing with since the very first generation of cars hit the road. Almost immediately after that, some wise soul had the idea to add a fifth wheel that lowers down to the street to swing a car’s back end out of parking spots. Although it was a brilliant concept, it never quite caught on in the mass market.

This newsreel from the 1950s shows the original device patented by one Irvin Carpenter. The video shows in detail just how useful a fifth wheel could be for people looking to drive into and out of otherwise-inaccessible spaces.

This video from Egypt shows that the concept is still alive and well today. The modern car was modified by its owner with a fifth wheel that works in almost exactly the same way as Carpenter’s original. Short of hovering cars, this seems like one of the best ideas for making urban driving just a little less stressful.

The post Then and Wow: Past + Present Spare Tire Parking Aids first appeared on Gajitz.

There are plenty of portable computer options out there already – laptops, netbooks, tablets and mobile phones spring to mind – but those weren’t good enough for Stephen Popa of Portland, Oregon. He wanted to take the full computing power of his desktop computer along with him, so he created the Scooterputer: the world’s first ride-on computer.

The crazy case mod includes a water-cooled computer with all of the gaming power you need to take your games on the road, mashed up with a 24V rechargeable scooter that can be ridden just like any other scooter.

Components of the Scooterputer’s body came from several different scooters and have been modified to all work together. LED ground effects make the ride look totally sweet and even counteract the geekiness of riding around on a scooter made of a computer.

The post World’s First Scooterputer Puts Gaming Power on Wheels first appeared on Gajitz.

The lowly toaster is one of the appliances that we tend to neglect because, well, as delicious as toast is, making it isn’t exactly exciting. This inspired mod, however, turns the toaster into an unlikely gaming machine. A four-slice toaster is mashed up with an Xbox 360 and some awesome blue LEDs, resulting in the XToaster 360.

The guy behind the strange mod goes by the screen name ncaruso11. The XToaster 360 may be bigger than the non-modded 360 and it may not actually make toast, but it’s one of the most creative ways we’ve seen to smash together a kitchen appliance and a gaming console. Actually, it’s possibly the only kitchen appliance/console mod we’ve ever seen.

Unfortunately, the disc doesn’t pop out of the bread slot on the toaster – that would surely push this project over the edge and take it from cool to unbelievable. But it still manages to play discs just as well as any other XBox 360, and it’s an undoubtedly creative use of an otherwise-humble household appliance.

The post Brave Little XBox: Toaster Modded Into a Working XBox 360 first appeared on Gajitz.

Remember the unadulterated joy of climbing into your red Radio Flyer wagon at the top of a hill, giving yourself a push, and feeling like you were flying all the way up until the moment that you realized you had no brakes and you were headed right toward a thistle patch? Possibly-crazy auto enthusiast Toby Hall has taken the danger (and subsequent pain) out of the little red wagon experience by building a big red wagon on a Volkswagen chassis.

Toby got his inspiration from an episode of the 90s sitcom Home Improvement: in one episode, Tim Taylor brings home a motorized Radio Flyer. As soon as Toby saw that scene, he knew what would be keeping him busy from that moment on. He set to work building his awesome version of a kids toy with a decidedly grown-up spin.

The finished product features a 1641cc flat-four and a Renault 5 turbo for maximum power. The bomber seats and exposed engine play up the sportiness of this bizarre vehicle. The playfulness of the body isn’t just about looks, though: it can be pulled either with a car or by hand when the handle is flipped down. And hopefully it’s got a great set of brakes.

The post Bizarre Car Mash-Up: Giant Motorized VW Red Wagon first appeared on Gajitz.