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Five cars too awesome for stereos

DriverSide Inc.

It goes without saying that listening to music in the car is popular amongst most drivers. In fact, it's so popular that in most cars today, there are countless ways to avoid a silent drive: AM/FM radio, CD players, iPod connectors, auxiliary inputs and even satellite radio have become common across the entire spectrum of the automotive market. We personally refuse to drive more than a block without some decent music.

But today, we're focusing on the other guys - the cars that won't play any music for you, no matter how nicely you ask. These aren't cars for the layman, as the layman loves his Bruce Springsteen and wouldn't buy a car without speakers even if it did his taxes for him. These are among a highly specialized breed of automobile.

5. The Peel P50

This is it - the car so small and amenity-free that it makes a Smart Car look like a Hummer limo with a Jacuzzi in the back. The makers of this 52-inch-long car didn't even include a reverse gear, so it's no surprise they skipped the stereo completely. But what to do if you just can't live without tunes, and you happen to have a Peel P50? We'd put in a single speaker and have it play the Benny Hill Show theme song on repeat (at a top speed of a breakneck 38 mph). That way, whenever we had to get out of the car to lift it up and turn it around or yank it out of a pothole, we'd at least have appropriate music. Check out this classic Top Gear clip to see what it's like to drive.

4. The Popemobile

Okay, you can probably tell just by looking at it that the Popemobile (here a modified Mercedes M-Class) most likely has a stereo up in the front cabin, which should immediately disqualify it from this list. But this car is called the Popemobile, not the Chauffermobile, so as long as the Pope doesn't get to rock out while waving politely to all of Christendom, we consider the Pope's oddity of a vehicle stereo-free. After all, it's vitally important that the Pope isn't distracted by music when making appearances - especially considering he didn't seem to notice this. Maybe he had his headphones in?

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