While vehicles like the Rolls-Royce Phantom, Ferrari 458, or the McLaren P1 are certainly incredible examples of automotive engineering, they aren’t exactly “rare” vehicles. Sure they don’t make many of those vehicles, however enough are produced for them to be considered “mass-produced” vehicles. While they are definitely amazing machines, there are many vehicles out there that are even more exclusive. Some are exotic, boutique supercars while others are just strange one-off’s. So out of all the vehicles out there, which ones are among some of the rarest and most exclusive? We are going to take a look at five cars that are so rare, you probably didn’t even know they existed.
Photo from venomgt.com
5. The Maserati MC12
Once upon a time, the Italian company known as Maserati decided they wanted to do something different. The brand has been always known to produce luxury GT and saloon cars, but back in 2004, they decided to create a supercar. Based on the chassis of an Enzo Ferrari, the MC12 was the companies first attempt at a true supercar. It offered great looks, solid levels of performance, and a large 6.0-liter V12 engine that produced 620 hp. It was certainly a great car, but also it was extremely limited. The vehicle was priced at around $655,000 dollars when it was released, and Maserati only produced just 50 examples for the general public.
Photo from Ben/Flickr
4. The Peel P50
The Peel P50 isn’t a supercar, it’s not a luxury car, and it’s not really a good car by any means either. But it is certainly extremely rare. Produced from 1962 to 1965 by the Peel Engineering Company in the Isle of Man, the P50 was a three-wheel “microcar”. Created to be an affordable and lightweight means of transportation, the P50 is actually the smallest production vehicle ever made. The original vehicles only offered one seat, a small cabin, no reverse gear, and only a 4.2 hp 49cc engine. It wasn’t fast nor was it really worth driving, but it is still loved by many car enthusiast because of just how absurd this tiny car is. Peel only produced just 5o examples of this car, and less than 25 are still known to exist so it is certainly extremely rare.
Photo from Philip Kromer/Flickr
3. The Maybach Exelero
Maybach is known to produce some pretty incredible, high-end luxury automobiles that are among some of the most expensive cars in the world. Their Exelero was one of the companies greatest, and you most likely didn’t even know it existed because of how rare it is. The reason why? Well only one was ever made. Constructed in 2004, it was a limited, 2-door coupe that was extremely luxurious. It featured a twin-turbo V12 engine that delivered 700 hp in total, and it looks like a real-life Batmobile. But again, they only made one and it was sold to rapper Birdman for the price of $8 million dollars back in 2011. It’s about as rare as it can possibly get.
Photo from autoblog.com
2. The Bugatti Royale
Before there was the Veyron and before Bugatti was purchased by the Volkswagen Group, the French automobile manufacturer produced some incredible cars back in the day. The original brand was founded in 1909 and they would go out of business in 1963, but they left the world with some of the rarest cars ever. One car that comes to mind is the Bugatti Royale, otherwise known as the Type 41. The Royale was a massive luxury vehicle that was produced from 1927 to 1933. At 21-feet in length and weighing over 7,000 pounds, it was one of the largest and heaviest cars ever made. It was powered by a massive, 12.7-liter straight-8 engine and was meant to be the brands most luxurious car ever. However right as production began, the Great Depression hit the world. Bugatti only managed to build just six examples of this car. When it was released, it had an asking price of $43,000 dollars which is about $590,000 dollars today when you calculate for inflation. So yeah, it’s not the car to buy in a recession. The only remaining examples are in the hands of some of the wealthiest car collectors in the world, and they are truly priceless vehicles.
Photo from Jorbasa Fotografie/Flickr
1. The Hennessey Venom GT
Forget the Porsche 918, the Ferrari LaFerrari, and the Bugatti Veyron, because when it comes to speed and exclusivity, the Venom GT from Hennessey is the king. The Venom GT is a high-end supercar that is based on the Lotus Exige that is constructed by the American company known as Hennessey Performance Engineering. It was first launched in 2012, and the company has released a few different iterations of the vehicle since. The one that stands out the most would be the Venom GT “World Fastest Edition”. Back in 2014 the vehicle, with its 7.0-liter turbocharged V8, headed out to the Kennedy Space Center. The reason why? Well Hennessey wanted to see just how fast their car could go, and the Kennedy Space Center has a 3.2-mile runway that is used for space shuttle landings. On February 14th, they got the vehicle up to its top speed of 270.49 mph, blowing away all the other fast cars of the world. Unfortunately, the Guinness World Records does not consider the Venom GT to be the fastest production vehicle of all time. Up until that point in time, Hennessey only produced just 16 cars, and only 3 of the “World’s Fastest Edition” were ever made. So by definition, they did not make enough cars for it to be considered a production vehicle by Guniess’ standards. Additionally the car only completed just one run, and the qualifications by Guinness demand that it needed to complete two runs in opposite directions, in order to be recognized by them. But who cares about specifics, because this is the fastest, street-legal car ever made. And with only 3 in existence, it’s also one of the rarest vehicles of all-time.
Photo from venomgt.com
