Every Father’s Day, Rodeo Drive, the famous shopping street in Beverly Hills, closes down to showcase hundreds of cars at the Concours d’Elegance, which is just a fancy French word that means competition of elegance (or as I like to call it: a day to make economy car drivers feel worthless.)

Despite seeing all four Fast & Furious movies, I’ll admit that I’m not much of a car guy.  However, even though I can’t properly identify cars (or even drive a stick), I still appreciate a well-designed car.

This year, the Rodeo Drive Concours d’Elegance showcased everything from classic cars from the ’20′s and ’30′s, to muscle cars, sports cars, European luxury cars, hot rods, customs, concept cars, and a number of incredibly rare automobiles that typically remain locked away in secret garages and rarely see the light of day.

The great thing about this particular car show is that it’s free.  Other concours d’elegance shows around the world charge at least $25 a ticket.  Looking at these museum-worthy cars, I can see why.

Here are some highlights…

1899 Rochet Quadricycle

I can’t find much information about this vehicle on the internet because every time I do a search, it comes up with information about a doctor named Rochet who was doing weird medical experiments with penises in 1899.  For example:

“Rochet performed tubulization of a meatus-based flap from the scrotum.”

…and…

“In 1899 Rochet swung a pedicle from scrotal skin based on blood supply just proximal to the meatus and tunnelled through the glans.”

That.  Sounds.  Horrific.

All I know is that the Rochet-Schneider quadricycle was made in France, has one cyclinder and can tear up the streets with its whopping EIGHT horsepower (which is actually comparable to my Toyota Yaris).

I doubt they produced many of these vehicles and I imagine hardly any still exist today, so it was cool to see an ancestor of the automobile in such great condition.

1948 Norman Timbs Special

Definitely one of the most confusing cars I’ve ever seen: the front looks like it should be the rear, and I imagine it being more successful as a boat than a car.

It took over two years and $10,000 for automotive engineer Norman Timbs to build this 18-foot long streamlined beauty.  His dream car was featured on the cover of Motor Trend in 1949 and pretty much vanished after that.

The car was eventually discovered rotting away in a desert in 2002 until a collector purchased it for over $17,000 and restored it back to its original, one-of-a-kind glory.

The General Lee

The sign on the car said it was the actual General Lee from the TV show “Dukes of Hazzard”… but didn’t they destroy that car in like every single episode?

Dream Ryder

The Dream Ryder looks like a version of the Batmobile designed by Robin.  Only Robin could create a car with an interior this flamboyant…

The snake-like fiberglass body was built over a 1984 Camaro convertible and took over 13 years to construct, but nobody really knows why it was made other than to question the sexual orientation of its designer.

No wonder there was a gay guy hovering around the car with his dog dressed in this bejeweled outfit…

If you want to see more cars from the show, check out our set of 50 pictures on Flickr.