It is no secret that car enthusiasts often buy strange things just because they are related to their favorite cars. I, for one, went through my phases of buying old ignition keys, hubcaps and emblems in my younger years, and I know many of my gearhead friends went through equally weird buying phases. This item, however, seems excessive even to me.

Up for sale on eBay today is a BMW i8->ke4622, and the bid is currently at only $19,100, but the reserve is not yet met as of 8/26/2014. Sounds like this may be the bargain of the century, right? Well, you may want to chill out a bit and put your itchy bidding finger away. This is merely a display-only shell of the i8->ke4622 that a dealership bought from Bimmer->ke178 to show off on its showroom floor. Yeah, talk about a buzz kill, right?

According to the seller, this shell is made from fiberglass and measures about 15.5 feet long by 6.5 feet wide by 5.5 feet tall, which is almost the exact size of the actual i8 -- only the height is off by about a foot from the real deal, but that could be a typo in the ad. There is no engine, no transmission, no interior, the doors do not open and it rolls on casters.

I could think of about 1,000 other things I could spend $19,000 on, but some people may find this display car as the perfect addition to their auto collection. If you happen to be one of those people, you had better hurry, as the bidding ends on August 29th, 2014 at 11:32 PDT.

And if you are about to bid on this, you may want to contact me first, as I have a bridge to sell that you may be interested in...

Click past the jump to read more about the BMW i8

Why It Matters

Gearheads are known to be a little nuts, but this is even too crazy for me. I could understand if maybe this was actually made of metal and carbon fiber, just less the interior and drivetrain bits, but it's just fiberglass. Sure, it is damn close to the real thing, but still it's just fiberglass.

What makes it even worse is that the bid is already at $19,100 and the reserve isn't even met. I am curious to see how much it actually sells for. I am going to keep an eye on this one and let you guys know how much it ends up selling for.

BMW i8

Unlike the replica above, the real i8 comes with a 1.5-liter, turbocharged, three-cylinder engine an electric motor to provide propulsion -- beats having a few buddies push a fiberglass shell around. Together these two make 362 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of twist that travels through a six-speed auto transmission mated to the engine and a two-stage transmission mated to the electric motor.

These powerplants push the i8 to 60 mph in a scant 4.4 seconds and onto a top speed of 155 mph. This is all while turning in a combined range of 372 miles in ECO PRO mode and 22 miles of electric-only range.