The Astro-Gnome was a rather bizarre American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

 manufactured in 1956 by the Richard Arbib Co. of New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. Described as looking "like something out of a Flash Gordon

Flash Gordon

Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash...

 film", the car had fluted aluminum side panels that had been anodized in different blending colors. It had a bubble canopy

Bubble canopy

A bubble canopy is a canopy made like a soap bubble, which attempts to provide 360° vision to the pilot.-History:Bubble canopies have been in use since World War II. The British had already developed the "Malcolm hood", which was a bulged canopy, but the British Miles M.20 was one of the first...

that gave unobstructed vision all around; this covered the passengers, but could be raised to allow walk-in entry and exit. Only one prototype was constructed. The chassis is that of a modified Nash Metropolitan and the body work was the creation of Andrew Mazzara of New York. The vehicle was presented at the 1956 New York International Auto Show.