The coolest cars you've never heard of

[Goodspeed]

Post up old, rare, or simply unheard of cars that you think are really cool for whatever reason. There are tons outside of the US that nobody knows about, and I know there are a few members here (Rex and Jeff off the top of my head) that have vast knowledge of weird cars from decades past or even today that nobody has ever heard about.

My favorite is the Suzuki Cappuccino. Built from 1991 - 97, it was Suzuki's answer to the "kei" car segment in Japan, whereby cars are of a certian size and price to offer affordable transportation. Powered by a 657cc (660cc is the max allowed for Kei cars) inline 3, turbocharged and intercooled producing an advertised 63 hp, though probably more in the typical Japanese fashion. It was rear wheel drive, had 4 wheel discs and double wishbone suspension.

Why do I think its cool? Well, besides having a thing for weird little cars, its a mini-Miata basically. I'd love to have one. Another weird creation from the land of the rising sun.







Also, in no particular order:

The Alfa Romeo GTV. What an awesome looking car



The Vauxhall/Opel Astra VXR. Awesome little hot hatch; I like it for its surprising upgradability, a chip and exhaust and you have 280+ stonking torque steering horsepower. It'll be coming to the States as part of the Saturn-Opel transmogrification, but it'll be sprayed with the suck gun first and won't be nearly as cool



The NSX. Seriously. I wish it got the respect it deserved.

I know you've heard of it, my point is you should've heard about it much more

[Mike]

i have too played gt/forza.

[CaptainHenreh]

That 'zuk is pretty sweet, I've always wanted one.

Too bad America has such draconian import laws...I could have one if I lived in canada.

[Ryan T]

but could you fit in one? Not calling you big, just calling the car small.

[Goodspeed]

i have too played gt/forza.

I only play Forza, and none of those cars (except the NSX) is in it

That 'zuk is pretty sweet, I've always wanted one.

Too bad America has such draconian import laws...I could have one if I lived in canada.

Maybe...I read the Canadian gov. was considering changing the import law from 15 yrs old to 25 yrs old. I wonder if they did it? Post up some weird cars...

[CaptainHenreh]

Maybe...I read the Canadian gov. was considering changing the import law from 15 yrs old to 25 yrs old. I wonder if they did it? Post up some weird cars...

According to the "RIV" (registrar of Imported vehicles) it's still 15.

Which I think is totally reasonable. I mean, 25 years? Pssh.

[JustinG]

colt SR 4x

4g63 AWD POWAH!!!!!!!

[ScottyB]

^^ hotty hot hot! never heard of that one.

i was always a fan of mazda's weirdo rotary pickup from the mid 70's. just kinda random and neat:


when i had my old 01 accord i found out about these. apparently from 98-04 honda made an AWD accord SiR-T wagon with the F20B engine, in JDM-land of course. definitely weird and cool.


the Nissan Sunny GTi-R. gayest name ever, but redeems itself with an SR20DE-T and AWD.


audi RS2....half engineered by Porsche, inline 5 turbo goodness, and its a wagon.


lotus elan! i haven't seen one running in years and years. buddy of mine had one in high school. one of the best handling FWD cars of it's era.


isuzu impulse RS. lotus had a hand in this one too. turbo, awd, weird and rare. if people still drive these i pity their parts-searching.....

[CaptainHenreh]

The Elan and the Impulse had the same turbo 16V 1.6, made by Isuzu. Very cool. I used to think I wanted an Impulse, but the transfer cases explode and are getting harder and harder to find.

Here's an oldie but a goodie, the Tucker Torpedo:

[white_2kgt]

The tucker is probably my favorite old car. Have you ever seen the movie?

[Steve85]

The Elan and the Impulse had the same turbo 16V 1.6, made by Isuzu. Very cool. I used to think I wanted an Impulse, but the transfer cases explode and are getting harder and harder to find.

Here's an oldie but a goodie, the Tucker Torpedo:

With a little paint and turbo Northstar motor you get...

[CaptainHenreh]

Here's another one, the Chevy Montana:



A subcompact pickup, with an available 1.7 liter turbodiesel.

It'd be a pretty sweet DD, if you ask me.

[ScottyB]

Here's another one, the Chevy Montana:

funny thing is, probably 50% of people out there (or here in atl, anyway) with big old F250s and stuff could probably use that just as effectively

[WRXtranceformed]

That little truck kind of reminds me of a Baja.

[ScottyB]

That little truck kind of reminds me of a Baja.

whoa, you just reminded me of the baja XT! 2.5L turbo, nice utility....it's definitely rarer than a forrester XT and i hardly see any of those. i think i've only ever seen one baja XT and that was because i knew what to look for. even though they're ugly i think they're really cool cars.

[HAULN-SS]

my mom was trying to convince me to get one of those instead of my legacy..if they weren't so damn ugly, would have been a fun ride.