These Are The Cars That Nobody Knows About Except Our Readers (2024)

Ask the Jalopnik audience about obscure cars and the Jalopnik audience will provide. I asked for you to name a car that nobody else knows about, and I’m proud to say that most of your answers taught me about cars I never knew existed! I recommend clicking here to read all the comments, because you nerds have quite the encyclopedic knowledge of this whole car thing.

One of my favorite things about the world of automobiles and the wack jobs (me) who obsess over them is the sheer diversity of shapes, sizes, styles and purposes. We all know that there are trucks and vans and wagons and race cars, but as many different kinds of cars exist, there are even more people who know borderline unsettling amounts about them.

Thanks to everyone who answered my silly little question of the day, I actually really enjoyed reading all of your answers. Now you get to enjoy learning about some of the highlights — these are the cars that nobody knows about, except our fabulous readers, of course.

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2 / 17

Even here in Sweden i would say the 1963 SAAB 92h is quite obscure. I remember reading about it in a classic car magazine as a kid and falling in love with the thing. it is basically a Saab 92 with a caravan body ontop. production numbers are 1. then there is a 1965 SAAB 95h that is the same thing once again but now with a SAAB 95 with a caravan ontop. sure neither are saab factory builds but i give them some leeway by being built by a saab dealer

Submitted by: Ecklesiastik

This is such an off-the-wall answer, and I couldn’t be happier to now know about this big adorable motorhome. I want to give it a hug.

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3 / 17

Back in the late 80s/early 90s some guy in my town had a notchback Trans Am like this one. If I recall correctly only about 700 were made. I always thought it was an improvement over the big glass hatch.

Submitted by: ReluctantFloridaMan

It’s giving over-inflated Fiero to me, but I have to admit that I was unaware of this thing’s existence. Bravo.

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4 / 17

Mustang SVO. Everyone knows Mustang, few people know SVO.

Submitted by: Artificial Stupidity

Hi Artificial Stupidity, I am so glad you said the SVO. I grew up squeezed into the back seat of my dad’s maroon 1986 Mustang SVO that he bought new and decommissioned in 2012. I even squeezed back there until I was about 6-foot-4 since my big brother claimed I was more flexible than him even though he was shorter. Thanks again for mentioning this maligned Mustang legend.

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5 / 17

The Laforza. Imagine a coach-built Range Rover knock-off without the good looks and worse built quality. At least it had the 5.0 from the Mustang.

Submitted by: PostOMatic2000

I have an inexplicable affinity for this ugly thing, I hate to admit.

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6 / 17

As if the Olds Cutlass Calais 442 W41 wasn’t obscure enough... We get the Olds Achieva SCX W41.

190hp Quad-4 with a 7200 RPM redline and FX3 suspension package, this was the silly fun SCCA factory car of the era.

~1600 were made, which feels like a lot compared to the 5 made of some other cars, but the q-ship understatedness of the Achieva SCX looking like the mass-produced Achieva that saw almost 500k units built per year, these were definitely hen’s teeth.

Submitted by: PotbellyJoe and 42 others

I’m such a fan of the obscure American cars of this era. I was really hoping to learn about weirdos like this when I asked the question. Thank you for the answer!

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7 / 17

Ford Fairmont Durango - was one persons answer to the discontinuation of the Ranchero. National Coach in California took Fairmont coupes, hacked out the back and inserted a fiberglass “bed” and tailgate. They didnt sell well at all as the conversion made them almost 3 grand more than an El Camino and approximately 212 were made in 81-82. I learned about them when my parents bought a new Fairmont wagon and the dealer had one of them in the showroom that I sat in while they completed the paperwork. I have a basket case that I swear I will get to one day.

Submitted by: dustynnguyendood

More obscure American cars! I want more!

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8 / 17

The Jetway 707

Based on the Olds Toronado, the Jetway spans 28 feet and flaunts nine doors, six wheels, and 455 cubic inches of front-wheel-drive Oldsmobile V-8 power. 52 were produced between 1968 and 1970.

One of them resided in a parking lot in my South Jersey town until the early ‘80s

Submitted by: Earthbound Misfit I

I cannot fathom the sheer volume of drugs it took to make it through the original design and build process of this behemoth.

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9 / 17

The Hino Samurai. Few people know that the Japanese truck maker even made passenger cars for a brief while, much less built a race car. And what a race car. It was designed by Pete Brock, and was so fast that Toyota leaned on race officials to change the rulebook to kill its racing career in its infancy.

Despite being radically divergent by having a mid-mounted fourbanger, I still consider this car the final evolution of the Shelby Daytona Coupe. There’s a clear evolution from the Daytona, to the Super Coupe, to the Samurai.

Brock even managed to give the car a hoop spoiler that can be adjusted by the driver, a feature he first envisioned for the Daytona but never got the chance to develop.

Brock designed a lot of great looking (and fast) cars that have been forgotten. I could’ve easily picked the Triumph TR250K or the DeTomaso P70, but the Daytona is my all-time favourite car (and fairly well-known), so I picked its little brother.

Submitted by: Garland - Last Top Comment on Splinter

I had never heard of this until I saw your photos, Garland. So wacky that Hino of all companies produced it!

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10 / 17

Let me introduce you to a man named Lance Reventlow. He was born into a very wealthy family, as he was heir to the Woolworth fortune.

Instead of being your typical socialite, spending all his time partying and playboying (Which he did), he also was obsessed with cars and racing.

So much so, he decided to build his own. So, in 1958 he gave the world, the “Scarab”:

Built in Warren Olson’s sports car shop in West Los Angeles, Reventlow commenced to creating an American car to take European long-distance racing by storm. A 301-cubic-inch overbored version of Chevrolet’s small block 283 V-8 seemed right married to a Corvette four-speed gearbox. This powertrain was mounted in a light 127-pound space frame chassis wrapped with an aluminum skin to the configuration you see. The resulting racer was spectacular. Early testing showed the efficacy of the tapered-shim adjustable de Dion rear suspension, a clever innovation by Dick Troutman. Engine stroke was quickly increased to enlarge displacement to 339 cubic inches.

Alas, between creation of the Scarab concept and reality, the European sports car rules were changed to permit engines only up to 183 cubic inches (3.0 liters). An Offy engine was tried in the third Scarab − the car on display − but with the dismal results Briggs Cunningham suffered when he tried the same thing in his C6R Le Mans car. Said Scarab development engineer Chuck Daigh of the Offy: “It was 100 pounds heavier than the Chevy and had 100 horsepower less.” So the Chevy went into this car too − and in 1958 the Scarabs went racing, but only in the U.S., Daigh and Reventlow driving. No car was more successful in SCCA B-Modified during this period.

By 1962, he decided to call it quits on developing his own cars. He leased out the garage where his team worked on the Scarabs in Venice California, to another Race Car driver with visions of building his own car. One, Carroll Shelby.

Also, as a nice bonus, Reventlow’s chief mechanic came with the garage, for Shelby to employ. A fellow you may have heard of named, “Phil Remington”.

Submitted by: Knyte

Well Knyte, you taught me something today.

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11 / 17

The Ford Festiva Shogun. Jay Leno bought one. Its a 2200lb mid engine v6 RWD economy car with the 220hp SHO engine in it. In 1989 when it came out this thing was impressive. Back when a porsche 911 had 217hp and weighed 2900lbs, this thing was really impressive.

Submitted by: boneheadotto

First of all bonehead, I think you gotta give yourself more credit with that screen name! You obviously know a lot about cars. I don’t want to brag, but the first time I saw a Festiva SHOgun was actually at Jay Leno’s Garage when I was there for a previous job. Of all the cars in his collection I hate to admit that I probably spent the most time ogling this little silver bullet and fogging up the windows with my hot hot breath. I’m scared to publish my own photos so I’ll just share Jay’s video about it. Thanks for the answer!

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12 / 17

Kaiser Darrin or really any Kaiser. There was one in Fallout and my wife asked me what it was. I didn’t know the model, but said, “Uhh, I think it is a Kaiser”. I would pretty proud of myself for that one, even if it took me a few moments to come up with it.

Submitted by: Big Block I-4

I AM SO GLAD YOU SAID THE DARRIN I LOVE THIS CAR AND ITS POCKET DOORS. If you want to see one, there’s a gorgeous one at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Aside from the museum car I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in the wild.

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13 / 17

Sunbeam Tiger

A Sunbeam Alpine roadster breathed on by Carroll Shelby to put in a fire breathing american v8

Submitted by: OldKingCole

I saw one on the road the other day when I was with non-car people and had a freakout because no one around me understood how special the car is. Also, Sunbeam is potentially my favorite carmaker name ever.

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14 / 17

I’d say the M81 McLaren Mustang. Created by the Bruce McLaren before F1 fame when he was based in Detroit developing engines for Can-Am and Indy. It’s built on the SVO platform which is pretty rare already, 1 of 10 and pretty striking in Papaya Orange.

Submitted by: JSinclair39

I knew this existed, but I didn’t know any details about it aside from the color and that McLaren made a Mustang. I had no idea it was based on the SVO, which if you read my earlier note about the SVO you know my dad daily drove his 1986 SVO until 2012. Thank you for teaching me about this admittedly hideous but badass car! Look at that MUSTANG script across the light bar lol I love it.

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15 / 17

The first generation Pontiac Tempest. Made from 1961-63, it was Pontiac’s first compact and an incredibly innovative car for its time. It was the first American production car with a turbocharger, it had a rear mounted-transaxle connected to a weird-o curved drivetrain (known as “rope drive”), and had near 50-50 weight distribution. After the first gen, the Tempest grew to a midsize and went back to a conventional front engine/rear drive layout.

Submitted by: FriscoFairlane

I gotta say, I never knew these features were included on a compact Pontiac from the early 1960s. This is so cool! Thank you for sharing.

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16 / 17

Nissan R390 GT1 roadcar

It’s the most powerful sportcar / supercar Nissan ever made in 1990-2000 yet Nissan from same era that most people know are Nissan Skyline GT-R R34. For sake of comparison, VRH35L produce 550 Hp at 7.000 rpm and 630 Nm at 4.500 rpm while RB28DETT Z2 produce 500 Hp at 7.000 rpm and 550 Nm at 5.000 rpm

It’s also the rarest with approximately road-legal version less than 10 units. Again, for the sake comparison, Nissan Skyline GT-R Z-Tune R34 is around 18-19 units, and Z-Tune trim is based on 11.000 units of Nissan Skyline GT-R R34, which itself based on Nissan Skyline coupe R34, which based on Nissan Skyline sedan ER34, in other word a japanese 3-series coupe / m3 coupe.

Submitted by: hayase

Hey hayase, I have fleeting memories of seeing the front of the Nissan R390 in some ancient PC game from my distant distant youth, but I somehow never went down a rabbit hole learning about it! Now I can make up for lost time and cram, thanks for reminding me of its existence.

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