Forgotten supercars

[Matra et Alpine]

Came across this at Supercar Central felt it worthy of sharing



By Richard Dredge, contributor
October 10 2008
Everyone wants to be a supercar maker, but few ever get the chance to make it big. Pagani and Koenigsegg have proved that you can come from nowhere and give the big boys a run for their money; but they're the exception that proves the rule.
There are far more that never make it though, destined for obscurity thanks to a lack of heritage, poor marketing or just plain bad engineering. Here are just a few of our favourites that fell by the wayside - some you'll have forgotten about but we suspect you've never even heard of most of them.

• GALLERY: forgotten supercars

Cizeta V16


If supercars are about extremes, this must be the ultimate, thanks to a crazy 5995cc 16-cylinder engine - transversely mounted! No wonder the Cizeta was so wide; it had eight cylinders across its girth. With 560bhp at a dizzying 8,000rpm, the noise was awe-inspiring at full chat, thanks to 64 valves doing their stuff. It was claimed the V16T could top 204mph, but nobody ever officially tested the car, so who knows? Despite the prototype emerging in 1989, it was 1992 before the first cars were ready; in the meantime, financier Giorgio Moroder walked away, but the car lingered on until 1995.

• More Cizeta images from Live Search

Jimenez Novia


The Jiminez packed nothing more exciting than a bike engine - well, four bike engines actually. The Novia's 550bhp was generated by four banks of four cylinders arranged in a W pattern around a common crankshaft, all topped off with Yamaha FZR1000 superbike heads. Try to picture that if you can - because we sure as hell can't. That gave a capacity of four litres and with five-valve cylinder heads it could supposedly manage 217mph. With some tweakery there was 609bhp on offer, but the car never saw production and the planned W16-engined off-roader didn't even make it to concept stage. That would have been a laugh.

• More pictures of the Novia from Live Search

Laraki Fulgura


The next time you're asked to name a Moroccan car, here's your answer. The tragedy for Laraki is that its car is forgotten, yet the project is barely cold in its grave. First seen at the 2002 Geneva motor show, Laraki showed a completely redesigned supercar each year until it finally gave up in 2005. Designed to take on thoroughbreds like the Lamborghini Murcielago, the original Fulgura was a copy of the Ferrari 360; Maranello must have been seething. The Laraki packed a 680bhp Mercedes-sourced 6-litre V12 with four turbochargers, enough to give a claimed 219mph top speed - but at €500,000, there were no takers.

• See more pictures of the Laraki

MCA Centenaire


It looked like a kit car, its design was so ungainly, yet the Centenaire was priced at $500,000 when it was unveiled in 1992. Powered by a mid-mounted Lamborghini V12, the MCA was designed by Italian styling outfit Castagna, but at the press launch in Monaco, nobody was allowed to drive the thing. It's claimed that six were built, with the company even attempting to qualify at the 1993 Le Mans, with disastrous results. With sales never getting off the ground the project was sold to microcar manufacturer Aixam-Mega, which relaunched it as the Monte Carlo - but sales proved just as elusive.

• Can you think of any more? Let us know on our message board

Nissan Mid-4


If you need proof that a car's badge can hold it back, here it is. If the Mid-4 had carried Porsche badges, the factory would have been running flat out, but sadly it wasn't to be. Nissan produced a trio of mid-engined four-wheel drive supercar proposals, the first appearing in 1985; production was promised for 1986. In 1987 a fresh prototype was shown, still powered by the 300ZX's twin-turbo 3-litre V6, but that was stillborn too. The final Mid-4 was shown in 1990; Nissan proposed taking the car upmarket with more power and a 4.5-litre V8. But the global economy went into meltdown and the project stalled.

• More pictures of the Nissan Mid-4

[Matra et Alpine]

Qvale Mangusta


Remember the MG SV and SVR carbon-fibre supercars? Well, that project started out as the De Tomaso Bigua, before becoming the Qvale Mangusta and then the MG X80. So that's four name tags and investment on the part of three companies, yet total production barely got into three figures. Although the branding changed along with the styling, all cars shared the same 4.6-litre quad-cam Ford-sourced V8, chucking out 320bhp, to give a top speed of around 150mph. It didn't take long for Qvale to see that the sums didn't add up though, quickly offloading the project to MG-Rover - and the rest is history.

• More pictures of the Mangusta

Spiess TC522


If you're a German company best known for making industrial grade transformers - so nothing to do with cars - what do you do for an encore? Go into the supercar business it would seem. Or not in the case of Spiess, which unveiled a 500bhp twin-turbo 5.7-litre V8 hypercar in 1992. There was a carbon-fibre bodyshell, a six-speed transmission and a true supercar-style cab-forward design, but Spiess suffered from the age-old problem that affects all young supercar builders; how do you get the punters to part with the readies? With the TC522 weighing in at £362,000, it's no surprise the project died before it ever got going.

• Cars that seemed a good idea at the time

TOM’S Limit


In 1994, Tachi Oiwa Motor Sport celebrated its 20th birthday by building the Limit. Looking like a shrunken Group C racer, the car's name was an abbreviated version of LIghtweight, MId-engined, with a random 'T' thrown in for good measure. With the dimensions of a Japanese K-Car (microcar), the Limit packed a 1.6-litre Toyota-sourced 20-valve four-cylinder engine, boosted to give 200bhp. With a kerb weight of just 750kg, thanks to a carbon-fibre bodyshell, that enabled the TOMS to get to 60mph in just five seconds. The plan was to build 50 cars a year at £26,000 each, but type approval got in the way and the project faltered.

• Can you think of any more? Let us know on our message board

Vector W8


There's a school of thought that says America's only proper supercar is the Corvette. However, not only is there the Saleen S7, but in the 1990s there was another contender; the Vector W8. As long ago as 1977 the Vector Aeromotive W2 debuted, its designer Gerry Wiegert being obsessed with aeronautical technology - which is why the car was priced at $450,000 when it finally went on sale in 1991. At the heart of the W8 was a turbocharged 600bhp 6-litre V8, supposedly giving a 200mph top speed. Despite the price tag, 14 were sold before the car was superseded by the WX-3 in 1992 - priced at $765,000.

• More pictures of the Vector W8

Yamaha OX99-11


In the world of the supercar, the term 'race car for the road' is usually marketing hype, but in the case of the Yamaha it was truly deserved. That's why it's tragic that it never made production; it's one of the few cars that could have given the McLaren F1 some grief. The OX99-11 appeared in 1992, with a 420bhp 3.5-litre V12 in the middle of the car, a detuned version of the powerplant fitted to the Brabhams and Jordans of the early 1990s. The price was an eye-watering $1m, but where else could you get anything like it? Just three were built.

• More Yamaha OX99-11 images

[Ferrer]

Qvale Mangusta

That still lives. Recently a convertible version of the MG has been presented.

[Jack_Bauer]

An honourable mention for the B Engineering Edonis - http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum...ng-edonis.html

And for the Covini C6W - http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum...ovini-c6w.html

Two monumentally bonkers cars that never really saw the light of day (although the Edonis did kind of become the EB110).

[fisetdavid26]

The TOM'S Limit was also called Angel, and was an obscure prize car in Gran Turismo 2

Looks fast and very nimble.

[Ferrer]

Two monumentally bonkers cars that never really saw the light of day (although the Edonis did kind of become the EB110).

I think it's the other way round.

[fisetdavid26]

I think it's the other way round.

Indeed, the Edonis was a 2001 project.

[092326001]

Two monumentally bonkers cars that never really saw the light of day (although the Edonis did kind of become the EB110).

The edonis was monumentally ugly, even by comparison to the EB110 on which it was based

[NSXType-R]

Cool article. What's the first car called? There was no description.

The Nissan would have been a nice car if it were to be properly made. It would have slotted nicely above the 300ZX and far below the R390 GT1 Road Car.

Imagine giving the NSX a run for its money if it had been fitted with a V8? *Shudders*

[092326001]

first car's the vector W8

[digitalcraft]

Yeah the two I wish had made it are the Nissan and the TOM's.

[blingbling]

matra, we here at UCP do not dedicate threads to mediocrity

[kingofthering]

Yeah the two I wish had made it are the Nissan and the TOM's.

Agreed. We wouldn't need the Lotus Elise or Ariel Atom if they made the TOM's thing.

[70cuda88]

Agreed. We wouldn't need the Lotus Elise or Ariel Atom if they made the TOM's thing.

ill take the elise k thx by

[ScionDriver]

Good read, very interesting. I never knew the MCA became the Mega Monte Carlo. I've always thought the Cizeta was a cool car. Just so wild.