Other advances included rubber cone independent suspension, designed by Alex Moulton (who incidentally, went on to design the Moulton bicycle -- another of my favorite designs), rack and pinion steering and a monocoque body that eliminated the need for a costly separate chassis.

CNN: A design classic

The battery is located within a carbon-fibre monocoque which forms an integral part of the body shell and acts as the gullwing model's "spine".

ENGADGET: Visualized: Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG E-Cell bares all

Despite antique appearances, the car is actually built from a carbon-fibre monocoque produced in an aerospace-grade autoclave (in this case, one that Boeing uses), with a body sculpted from a carbon- Nomex sandwich.

BBC: Trick of the light: A California road trip