(CNN) — If an aviation enthusiast were to compile a roster of the world’s weirdest looking planes, the ATL-98 Carvair would definitely merit a place of honor.
Its bulbous nose, seemingly out of proportion with the rest of its body, give this now-defunct plane a chubby, unmistakable appearance.
And yet the Carvair, which made a brief cameo in the James Bond movie “Goldfinger,” anticipated features that we would later see in iconic aircraft types, such as the Boeing 747.
This odd-looking plane was actually a heavily modified Douglas DC-4 airliner designed to fulfill a very particular mission in the 1950s: flying both cars and their drivers overseas.
To load Carvair planes, vehicles would be elevated to cabin level with a scissors-type lift and loaded through the front door.
Courtesy of Iberia Photo Archive
British car owners wanting to drive their own vehicles around mainland Europe…
