For the most part, car manufacturers are very risk-averse. Sure, the car designers may take things a bit too far at times, but they’re usually soon reined in by the bean counters and safety brigade.
It’s understandable, though, as there just isn’t as much money to be made from going wild as from playing it safe.
Luckily, everyday carmakers actually do make extraordinary cars sometimes, and that’s what we’ll celebrate here.
Dodge Viper
Dodge built some of the sickest muscle cars in the 1960s and early 1970s. However, their cars were pretty bland after the Malaise Era hit in the mid-70s. In the late 1980s, Chrysler president Bob Lutz suggested that Dodge should build a modern-day version of the Shelby Cobra.
A few years later, the Viper was born, and it didn’t look like any Chrysler product before it. Under the Viper’s long hood, there was an 8.0-liter V10 engine developed by Lamborghini. Dodge didn’t even bother with any safety features, so the Viper lived up to its name and would bite those who didn’t treat it with respect.
Buick Grand National
Buick is another American car manufacturer that built some excellent muscle cars back in the day. After the Regal won the NASCAR championships in 1981 and 1982, Buick released a special edition options package in 1982. Only 215 cars were given these special interior and exterior features.
In 1984, Buick introduced the Regal sports coupes gearheads know and love. With a turbocharged 3.8-liter V6 under the hood, the first Grand Nationals produced 200 hp and 300 lb-ft, which soon grew to 245 hp and 355 lb-ft. Then, in 1987, the ultimate Buick Regal emerged. The all-black GNX had 276 hp and 360 lb-ft of torque, resulting in a 0 to 60 mph sprint in 4.7 seconds, and it flew down the quarter-mile in 13.5 seconds.
Lexus LFA
Lexus is known for its safe, comfortable, and super-reliable SUVs and sedans. However, in the 2000s, the Japanese luxury carmaker went off the rails and created one of the most advanced supercars the world had ever seen.
The LFA was unveiled in 2009 after Lexus worked on the concept for an entire decade. It looked wild, and a handbuilt 4.8-liter V10 engine producing more than 550 horses proved that the LFA wasn’t just a pretty face. The LFA was so expensive to develop that Toyota didn’t make any money on this project, even though the car sold for nearly $400,000.
Mitsubishi 3000GT
Mitsubishi wasn’t known for building fancy sports cars in the late 1980s, but that was soon about to change. In 1990, they released the 3000GT, one of the most technologically advanced sports cars of its era.
The Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 is a front-engine, all-wheel-drive GT car. It’s powered by a twin-turbocharged 3-liter, 24-valve V6 unit. The 3000GT VR4 also features active aero, AWS, and adaptive suspension, things we wouldn’t see on mainstream cars for another decade or two.
Honda NSX
While Honda had produced some fun and sporty cars over the years, it was known for its durable and somewhat boring everyday cars. There was absolutely nothing boring about the NSX, though.
Formula One legend Ayrton Senna helped develop the mid-engined aluminum-bodied wonder. The NSX was so good it humiliated the Ferrari 348, forcing the Italians to rethink what they were doing. Even Gordon Murray, the McLaren F1 designer, said it was better than all the cars he’d used as references when developing the McLaren.
Mercedes 190E Evo II
Mercedes-Benz needed a car that could beat the E30 M3 in the DTM racing series, and the answer was the 190E Evolution II. They had to build 500 road-going cars for the 190E Evo II to be homologated for racing, and it looked like a proper race car.
The M-B 190E Evo II had a huge body kit and an even bigger wing – and it was functional, too. Under the hood, the road version had a 2.5-liter inline-four engine producing 232 horsepower.
Chevrolet SSR
Chevrolet rarely ventures outside its comfort zone. The American carmaker seemingly has a model in all the well-established automotive markets, but it rarely creates something truly groundbreaking. However, when it does, it can lead to strange and marvelous things.
The retro-styled convertible SSR pickup truck is definitely one of those weird and wonderful creations. Granted, it flopped spectacularly, but that’s because it was pretty much useless as a truck, and some say it was even worse as a sports car. There’s no denying that it looks cool, though, and we’re glad Chevrolet exited its bubble for a while – even if it’s not likely to happen again anytime soon.
Renault Sport Spider
French automaker Renault is best known for its affordable everyday cars and work vans, but in the early 1990s, they wanted to build something that would promote them as a sporty brand.
They came up with the Renault Sport Spider, a model that would serve as a sports car for the road and a race car in its own one-make series. The Renault Sport Spider was made available to the public in 1996, and the first road cars didn’t even have a windscreen… because racecar. It was powered by a naturally aspirated 2-liter engine positioned behind the driver, sending 148 horses to the rear wheels.
Volkswagen Phaeton
The Volkswagen Phaeton may not have a crazy design, but then-chairman of the Volkswagen Group, Ferdinand Piëch, did have some crazy demands the car had to meet.
Perhaps the most pointless of them all was the one that stated owners should be able to drive the Phaeton all day at 186 mph with a 122 °F exterior temperature while maintaining the interior temperature at 72 °F. Seeing as the Phaeton’s top speed was electronically limited to 155 mph, we don’t see understand this requirement, but we like it.
Plymouth Prowler
At a time when Plymouth was in a staring competition with death, and all their cars were rather bland, the Prowler emerged as the company’s savior. Except it didn’t save anything at all. It’s still an awesome machine, though.
Designed to look like a retro hot rod, the Prowler was unlike any other new car. Naysayers will moan about how it only had a V6 and auto transmission, but in reality, it was more powerful than the V8 engines they had access to. In short, we think the Prowler is severely underrated and deserves more respect.
Cadillac XLR
These days, Cadillac makes some excellent sports sedans, but for a long time, the brand was known for its luxo-barges. Their interpretation of luxury meant always going bigger and making the suspension as soft as possible. We’re not sure what got into them in the early 2000s, but Cadillac thought building a boxier and more luxurious version of the Chevy Corvette would be a good idea.
To be fair, the Cadillac XLR looks great! It was based on the then-current C6 Corvette platform, and Cadillac added features and interior comforts. Unfortunately, the XLR wasn’t a success, mainly because it was much more expensive than a Corvette, but had worse performance.
MG XPower SV
MG had built some fun cars in the past, but by the time the XPower SV came to be, the company was a mere shell of its former self. It was also going bankrupt. Management reasoned that creating a very niche performance car rather than developing new versions of its core family cars would solve all its problems. It didn’t!
The MG XPower SV sports car was developed in Italy, finished in the UK, and featured an American 4.6-liter V8 from the Ford Mustang. It looked amazing, but was a massive flop. By the time MG entered administration, they’d only sold nine XPower SVs.
Rover 75 V8
Rover was another British carmaker that was hemorrhaging money while developing a crazy concept. They commissioned Prodrive, a British motorsport and advanced engineering company, to convert the Rover 75 to rear-wheel drive and fit a 4.6-liter V8 engine from the Ford Mustang under the hood.
Absolutely no one was surprised when Rover eventually went bankrupt. We can’t think of a single instance where a niche product like this actually saved a company. At least they went out with a bang!