7 of the most beautiful one-off cars of all time

There have been plenty of beautiful cars over the years, from the early efforts of pioneering coachbuilders that would go on to become household names, through to the Jaguar E Type and the Alfa 8C.

A lot of the value of older, beautiful cars meanwhile, derives from their scarcity. In some cases, that’s because we didn’t realise how important they were when we built them, in others it’s because they were only released in relatively small numbers in the first place.

But what about the cars that had the smallest runs of all?

We’re talking about one-off specials. Many of these flights of automotive fantasy made real are built by design houses and coach builders, just to see what they can do. Others meanwhile are built by passionate amateurs, who move away from what they do in their everyday lives to create something truly astonishing.

We’ve rounded up some of our favourites. We don’t however expect you to agree with all our choices. Beauty is, after all, in the eye of the cliche. We do however think that there’s something immensely special about each and every one of these cars and we hope you’ll at least agree with us on that front.

1. Blastolene Special

Go on, look at that bad boy without thinking “ooh shiny”, I dare you. Currently owned by entertainer and complete petrol head Jay Leno, the Special (also known as the “Tank Car”), produces 810 bhp (600 kW) and 1 560 pound force-feet (2 120 N·m) (@2400 rpm) of torque and the engine from an M47 Patton Tank.

Oh, and the guy who built it and sold it to Leno, yeah, he’s a glassblower by profession.

2. Marcos Mantis XP

Image: richard via Flickr

This one might polarise opinion. Thing is, we reckon the Mantis XP is an exercise in automotive cubism. Based on the Marcos Mantis street car, which was almost as bonkers, the Mantis XP was built for the 1968 1000 km event at Spa, where it retired with electrical problems in heavy rain.

Originally the XP was meant race in Le Mans, but by that stage it had made its way over to the States and had been fitted with a big ol’ V8. A full restoration of the XP was completed in 2008. Still based in the States, it’s made a couple of special visits to overseas festivals like the Goodwood Festival of speed.

3. Jaguar XJ13

Image: Mike Morrin via Wikipedia

The Jaguar XJ13 gets extra points in our book, not just because it was built for racing (which means you have even less space to consider the car’s aesthetics), but because it decided to burn out rather than fade away.

A prototype built for Le Mans in the 1960s, the car never actually raced. In fact, it didn’t even get to do all that much driving. Someone at Jag thought it would be a good idea to use the XJ13 in a promotional video for the new E Type. During filming, a rear tyre (which had been plugged to cure a slow leak) deflated at speed, the car rolled heavily and was nearly destroyed. After the crash, it was put into storage.

Some years later it was restored at serious expense to Jaguar. It does note however that the current version of the car, currently on display at the Heritage Motor Centre Museum at Gaydon in the UK, “is not an exact reproduction of the original.”

4. BMW Z4 Zagato

The launch of the 2012 BMW was a massive leap forward, in terms of design at least, for the German Marque. Thing is, the standard Z4 was left looking like a pale imitation when BMW teamed up with Italian design house and coach-builder Zagato to build this one-off masterpiece.

While the car’s unmistakably still a Z4, Zagato’s signature additions make it look immensely desirable. Heck, even the name for its read paint, “Rosso Vivace” is ridiculously sexy. Oh and if hardtops aren’t your think, the two companies paired up to build a roadster version in the same year.

5. Ugar Sahin Ferrari

There are people out there who will tell you that Ferrari hasn’t built all that many good-looking cars in its 67-year history. Fast, astonishing, melt-your-face-off cars yes. But beautiful cars, not all that frequent an occurrence.

Fortunately, there are people who can perform the most astonishing kind of plastic surgery on whatever prancing donkey you give them. A case in point is this one-off from Dutch design house Ugur Sahin.

Based on the 458 Italia (admittedly not a bad place to start), it’s attracted offers from around the globe. While the designers wouldn’t put a specific price on it, we suspect that slush fund you have tucked away under your mattress won’t quite cover it.

6. Cadillac Sixteen

Image: Dave S via Flickr

Motorburn reader Kyle Jones reminded us about the Cadillac Sixteen. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s undoubtedly one of the most striking cars ever to come out of the states. While the Sixteen was technically a concept car, this was no scale model wheeled out for the odd auto show.

For one, it came equipped with an exclusive Cadillac proprietary-developed 32-valve V16 engine. It was pretty clever too — it would seamlessly shut down twelve cylinders in light driving, eight during strenuous driving, and only awaken the entire engine under full acceleration.

The Sixteen’s Wikipedia page says that the car came close to a production run (although there is a [citation needed] accompanying the sentence).

In terms of design, it took cues from the Cadillac V-16 of the 1930s, the 1967 Cadillac Eldorado cues as well as the company’s art and science theme.

7. BMW 328 Hommage

We’ve had a few requests for the BMW 328 Hommage to be added to the list. Yes this tribute to the original 328 of the 1930s is a concept car and yes it’s undoubtedly been driven a lot less than a some of the other cars on this list. It is however definitely drive-able and heart-breakingly beautiful.

If you think we’ve left off any one-off beauties that absolutely need to be on this list, please let us know in the comments section below. If we agree with you, we’ll add them to the story.