The iconic stone chariot was built by Krishnadevaraya. The king was fascinated by the stone chariot at the Konark Sun temple during his conquest at Odisha, and had one built at Hampi.
The stone chariot or stone car is the Garuda shrine in front of Vijaya Vittala temple.
The chariot is built on a rectangular platform. The stone chariot is built with four solid wheels which are free to move on their axles. This gives the whole structure an illusive element of mobility and stability at the same time. The base platform is carved with scenes from Ramayana and Mahabharatha in its finest details.
The chariot has elephant sculptures at front. When you observe carefully, the legs and tails are that of horses. This indicate the chariot had sculptures of horses which were damaged and sculptures of elephants were added later.
The chariot has a small ladder between the two elephants as a way to enter the inner sanctum of the shrine. The sanctum originally had an idol of Garuda (not present now). A series of concentric floral motifs decorate the wheels.
The stone chariot appears monolithic, however, the carvings and other decorative features that adorn it conceal the joints.
Some old pics without the barricade protecting the stone chariot:
