Forgotten supercars: 2019 edition

For every supercar brand that has succeeded there have been plenty that have fallen by the wayside…

When you're spending a lot of money on a top-end car you expect it to have some pedigree; branding counts for a lot when buying most cars, but where supercars are concerned it's nothing less than crucial.

In the past few decades very few new brands have emerged in the supercar arena and survived for any length of time – but dozens have come and gone having failed to make their mark. These are just some of those that didn't make it:

Monteverdi Hai (1970)

When it comes to exclusive supercars, few are rarer than the Monteverdi Hai. Just two were built, the cars designed by the late Peter Monteverdi, despite no formal training. Power came from a 7.0-litre Chrysler Hemi V8, tuned to give 450bhp and 180mph. With air-con, leather trim and power everything this was one luxurious supercar, but build quality wasn’t up to scratch, hence the discontinuation after just a duo made.

Argyll GT (1976)

When Bob Henderson set out to create a Scottish 200mph supercar in 1976, he didn’t bank on the oil crisis putting paid to his plans quite so quickly. It would be 1977 before the project got going and 1984 by the time the first customer cars were ready for delivery. But by then the planned twin-turbo V8 had been downgraded to a turbocharged 2664cc V6 and potential customers had lost interest in the project.

Panther Six (1977)

In the late 1970s there was a poster of this mad hypercar on every junior petrolhead's wall. With its six-wheel layout and twin-turbo 8.2-litre Cadillac V8 hung out the back, it was one crazy monster of a car. Just two were built, each one supposedly capable of 200mph, although nobody ever got to verify this.

One Six has been restored and is up and running in Europe; the other (the motorshow car) disappeared from view years ago and is reckoned to be hiding in the Middle East somewhere.

Dome Zero (1978)

When the wraps were taken off the Dome Zero at the 1978 Geneva motor show there were some sharp intakes of breath. How could a Japanese outfit produce something so far out? Crazier than a Countach, the Zero was amazing but its maker couldn’t afford to put it through Japanese homologation tests.

It wouldn’t have been that quick anyway; the 2.8-litre straight-six offered just 145bhp – but what a looker.

Aston Martin Bulldog (1979

When Aston Martin developed the mid-engined Bulldog there was talk of building up to 25 of the Williams Towns-designed machines. With electrically operated gullwing doors, a 700bhp twin-turbo V8 and an impossibly dramatic design, the necessary buyers could probably have been found. After all, with a verified near-200mph top speed this would have been the world’s fastest production road car.

But with all the development work done Aston Martin changed hands and the new owners didn’t feel this was the way forward for a quintessentially English car maker. So the sole Bulldog built was sold instead, but it still survives and occasionally appears at car events in the UK.

Wolfrace Sonic (1981)

We're cheating a bit here because the Wolfrace Sonic was never meant to be more than a one-off, but it still fits in here as it was built as a high-profile publicity machine and it's now all but forgotten. Commissioned by the original owner of Wolfrace Wheels, Barry Treacy, it was designed by Nick Butler who came up with a six-wheeled two-seater beast powered by two Rover V8s.

The Sonic cost £100,000 to build and generated huge publicity for Wolfrace before it disappeared from view, only to resurface in a derelict state in 2015 on eBay, where it sold for £18,100.

Kodiak F1 (1983)

In 1983, Serbian Mladen Mitrovic unveiled a supercar at the Frankfurt motor show, which would supposedly be the equal of anything to come out of, well, anywhere. With its 320bhp 5.4-litre Chevrolet V8, the F1 was inspired by Mercedes’ gull-winged C-111; it was claimed to be capable of sitting at 170mph all day, with absolute reliability. Later cars were supposed to get a 5.6-litre Mercedes V8 – except there weren’t any later cars.

Isdera Imperator (1984)

Mercedes spent six years creating its CW311 concept, which was unveiled in 1978 – but it had no plans to put the car into production. Which was a shame because there were plenty of people clamouring to buy one, so CW311 designer Eberhard Schulz put the car into production himself, using the Isdera brand. He called his supercar the Imperator which came with a choice of 5.0, 5.6 or 6.0-litre V8 engines offering up to 390bhp and 176mph.

Production lasted until 1993 when Isdera went bust, but in that time 30 Imperators were made. They occasionally come up for sale for in the region of £400,000.

Cizeta V16 (1989)

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 8000rpm, 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; the last was made in 2003.

Jiotto Caspita (1989)

When Jiotto unveiled the Caspita in 1989, it claimed this was a car which would see a return to people driving to a race track, competing, then driving home again, all in the same car. At first there was a detuned formula one V12 powerplant, but in 1990 a Judd V10 unit was fitted instead, either unit supposedly capable of giving over 200mph. But no customer cars were ever delivered.

Vector W8 (1989)

As long ago as 1976 the Vector Aeromotive W2 was unveiled; its designer Gerry Wiegert was obsessed with aeronautical technology. By the time the W2 had been developed for production it had become the W8 and when that car was finally revealed in road-ready form in 1989 it was priced at $450,000. At the heart of the W8 was a turbocharged 600bhp GM 6.0-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 an even more outrageous $765,000.

Jaguar XJR-15 (1990)

Around the same time that Jaguar was embarking on the ill-fated XJ220 project, it was also creating another supercar; the XJR-15. The XJ220 had been promised with a V12 but it featured a twin-turbo V6 instead – the XJR-15 got its full complement of a dozen cylinders, and 450bhp to give 191mph.

Just 50 were built, for a one-model race series called the Jaguar Sport Intercontinental Challenge, although road cars were made too, some of which survive. In 2004 the XJR-15 was set to be revived by JaguarSport, with an AJ-V8 engine, but this time the project didn’t even get off the ground.

Maserati Chubasco (1990)

When the wraps were taken off the Chubasco at a press conference in December 1990, it was claimed that this would be the new face of Maserati. After the staid Biturbo, the mid-engined Chubasco would be something exciting from one of the most evocative names in motoring. Power came from a longitudinally mounted Shamal-sourced twin-turbo 3.2-litre V8, good for 430bhp.

Maserati bullishly talked about F1 levels of grip and performance, and it reckoned no more than 450 cars would be built in all, at the rate of 150 per year. Ultimately, none were made as the project was canned just six months later, with just a non-running mock-up built.

Tatra MTX-4 RS (1990)

First shown in December 1990, just before the world’s economy went into meltdown, the Tatra MTX-4 RS was intended to be the first ever Czechoslovakian supercar. Previously better known for its rear-engined limousines, Tatra set off on a new path after the fall of the Iron Curtain, with claims of no more than 100 of these cars being built each year.

Design was by Bertone, while power came from the same 4.0-litre air-cooled V8 that had powered previous Tatra saloons. There were 215bhp or 205bhp guises offered, the latter thanks to electronic fuel injection, giving the car a claimed 165mph top speed. Then the recession hit…

Bitter Tasco (1991)

Erich Bitter's company is best known for its rebodied Opels, such as the SC, but occasionally he also came up with the odd off-the-wall project such as the Tasco. Built in conjunction with MGA Developments, the Tasco was presented at the 1991 Frankfurt motor show. Designed to take a V8 or V12 – although the Viper’s V10 was favourite – the Tasco never even progressed beyond the full-sized mock-up stage.

Schuppan 962CR (1991)

Another supercar that was the victim of bad timing, the Schuppan 962 broke cover early in 1991. Ex-racer Vern Schuppan planned to put together a street-legal version of Porsche’s iconic 962 – a project which the German maker had originally planned to undertake itself. Power came from a 3.3-litre twin-turbo flat-six pushing out 600bhp to give a 217mph top speed.

It was hoped that 50 cars would be built, but with an asking price of £770,000 it was never going to be easy finding homes for them all. Just five were made, with time called on the project by the end of 1994.

MCA Centenaire (1992)

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 it.

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.

Spiess TC522 (1992)

If you’re a German company best known for making industrial transformers, 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 buyers to part with their money? With the TC522 weighing in at £362,000, it’s no surprise the project died before it ever got going.

Yamaha OX99-11 (1992)

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.

Dauer 962 (1993)

Jochen Dauer worked closely with Porsche on its racing programme, so he was pretty well acquainted with the 962 which had enjoyed more than its fair share of success in the Le Mans 24 Hours. Dauer took a genuine 962 chassis and reclothed it with carbon fibre and kevlar bodywork with improved aerodynamics compared with the original.

Fitted with a 730bhp twin-turbo 3.0-litre flat-six, Dauer's 962 was monstrously fast and with a price tag of around £700,000 when new, just 13 were made.

Isdera Commendatore 112i (1993)

Four years after development started, in 1993 the first Commendaore 112i was unveiled at the Frankfurt motor show, but the project bankrupted Isdera (for the second time) and the company disappeared once more. Then in 1999 the car resurfaced again – only to disappear just as quickly.

Priced at £500,000, the 112i packed a 414bhp 6.0-litre Mercedes V12 to give 210mph and 0-60mph in 4.3 seconds, plus height-adjustable suspension and wipers from Germany’s 220mph inter-city trains.

Lister Storm (1993)

Better known as a GT racer, four road-going Lister Storms were also made, of which three survive, each one powered by a 7.0-litre Jaguar V12. With 546bhp on tap along with 583lb ft of torque, the Storm was claimed to be the world's fastest production four-seater while it was on sale – Lister reckoned it was capable of 208mph, along with 0-60mph in just 4.1 seconds.

Gigliato Aerosa (1994)

Although Gigliato was a Japanese concern, its plan was to base itself in the UK and to become a serious rival to the established Italian design houses. That was back in 1994, when its rather attractive Aerosa was unveiled, powered by a Ford-sourced 3.0-litre V6. With a bit of tickling a reliable 300bhp could be coaxed from this powerplant – but it was all academic, as by 1995 the project was already history.

Venturi 400 GT (1994)

When French car maker MVS went out of business it was revived as Venturi with the remit of building sporting grand tourers invariably with a mid-mounted V6 engine. Venturi's most powerful offering was the twin-turbo 3.0-litre 400GT which packed a 407bhp punch – enough for a 182mph top speed and 0-62mph in just 4.1 seconds. Just a dozen or so road cars were made, although several dozen 400GT racers were produced.

Jimenez Novia (1995)

The Jiminez Novia featured one of the most complicated cylinder configurations imaginable as its 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. 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.

Lotec C1000 (1995)

With a whole raft of supercars set to enter the market in the early 1990s, one oil sheikh decided he just had to own something nobody else could ever have, so he commissioned Mercedes to build a one-off hypercar. The German company in turn asked supercar specialist Lotec to come up with something suitably swift; the C1000 was the result. In the middle was a twin-turbo Mercedes 5.6-litre V8 developing a claimed 1000bhp – hence the car’s name.

Top speed was allegedly 268mph, but this was never independently verified. However, with a race-spec chassis and carbon fibre bodyshell, it was more high-tech than the name suggested.

Spectre R42 (1995)

GT Developments was well known for its beautiful Ford GT40 recreations, so when it came up with the R42 – a GT40 for the 1990s – it was well received. But just one running prototype was built before GTD went belly up, with the project then sold to US company Spectre.

In the middle was a 4.6-litre quad-cam V8 and the car certainly looked the part, even if the detailing wasn’t quite there. With a few sales under its belt Spectre bullishly talked of expansion and 200 cars being built each year. Production stalled at 23 cars though, at which point Spectre went out of business.

TVR Cebera Speed 12 (1996)

Shown as Project 7/12 at the 1996 Birmingham motor show, this mad TVR was intended to become the world’s fastest road car with its 7.7-litre V12 pushing out anything up to a claimed 880bhp. Originally envisaged as a GT1 racer which could also be adapted for the road, the project was renamed the Speed 12 in 1998.

However, race regulations shifted and TVR boss Peter Wheeler reckoned the car was simply too fast for the road. With a kerb weight of 1000kg and the right gearing, 240mph was supposedly possible; Wheeler didn’t want to sell such a beast to drivers who couldn’t handle the power, so the project bit the dust.

Nissan R390 (1997)

The R390 came about because Nissan was desperate to win the Le Mans 24 Hours. When the project started, just one Japanese car had ever won the race (a Mazda); to qualify, Nissan would have to build a single road car.

The cars never won Le Mans, and just the one road-going R390 was produced. It was powered by a twin-turbo 3.5-litre V8 that churned out a useful 641bhp to give 220mph; the road car is still owned by Nissan. It was co-designed by Ian Callum, later to be design czar at Jaguar.

Volkswagen W12 (1997)

When VW unveiled its 5.6-litre W12 coupé at the 1997 Tokyo motor show, it was claimed the car would go into production if the reaction was favourable. When everyone raved about it VW responded by unveiling a W12 roadster at the 1998 Geneva motor show. Speed records were broken and the car was developed further with a 6.0-litre engine, giving 600bhp and a 217mph top speed.

At the 2002 Geneva motor show VW showed a revised W12 coupé, but within months the project was canned thanks to a glut of supercars under development within the VW Group, notably the W12-powered Bugatti Veyron.

Qvale Mangusta (1999)

Remember the MG XPower SV and SVR? They started out as the De Tomaso Bigua, before becoming the Qvale Mangusta and then the MG X80. Although the branding changed along with the styling, all cars shared the same 320bhp 4.6-litre quad-cam Ford-sourced V8 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. It then produced around 82 XPowers before the whole company died.

Parradine 525S (2000)

The Parradine might not have looked like a supercar, but with its supercharged 32-valve 4.6-litre Ford-sourced V8 it had 525bhp and 460lb ft of torque. That was enough to catapult the 525S from 0-60mph in just 3.8 seconds on the way to a top speed of 205mph. Which sounds like supercar territory to us.

But of course there was a catch – those performance figures were merely claimed and nobody ever officially verified them, so we'll never know whether or not the Parradine 525S really was a supercar.

Saleen S7 (2000)

Engineered in the UK, the Saleen is named after its founder Steve Saleen who made his name tuning Ford Mustangs for racing; it was just a matter of time before he made his own fully fledged supercar. Whereas most hypercars feature cutting-edge technology, the S7 was relatively low-tech in that there was a glassfibre and carbon fibre bodyshell over a tubular steel spaceframe, which housed a pushrod V8.

Simple it might have been, but it was also ferociously quick.

B Engineering Edonis (2001)

You could be forgiven for thinking the Bugatti EB110 was fine out of the box, but when its maker went out of business the result was this upgraded edition, with a 671bhp 3.75-litre V12. B Engineering was set up by an array of ex-Bugatti employees who retained a set of unfinished chassis which were then bodied to a fresh design courtesy of Nicola Materazzi.

The plan was to build 21 examples of the Edonis but in 2018 (a massive 17 years after it was unveiled!) the project stalled and was sold to American company Casil Motors.

Mosler MT900 (2001)

Take every supercar design cue going, blend them together, and you end up with the Mosler MT900. This is one mean-looking machine that has the go to match the show, thanks to a Corvette Z06 V8 in the middle, driving the rear wheels via a Porsche 911 GT2 gearbox.

Developed on the racing track, the Mosler’s carbon fibre bodyshell was packed with cutting-edge technology such as titanium springs in the suspension, thin-wall subframes and magnesium wheels. That’s why it was so fast; 0-100mph came up in just 6.5 seconds.

Laraki Fulgura (2002)

The next time you’re asked to name a Moroccan car, here’s your answer. 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 6.0-litre V12 with four turbochargers, enough to give a claimed 219mph top speed – but at €500,000 there were no takers.

Invicta S1 (2003)

This car summed up everything that’s great about tiny British car makers, all those guys in sheds knocking out yet another hypercar with implausible claims about performance and production numbers. The Invicta was especially fascinating in this regard; it offered anything from relatively mild (320bhp) to truly wild (600bhp) options, with hopes of 20 cars being sold each year.

But with such capable machinery elsewhere from blue-chip supercar builders, Invicta never stood a chance, and nobody even noticed the company arrive in 2003, then quietly disappear some years later.

Ascari KZ-1 (2004)

We reported on the Ascari KZ-1 as early as 2000, but it wasn't until 2004 that the production car went on sale. Ascari claimed that no more than 50 KZ-1s would ever be built, but with a £235,000 price tag and a very low profile, it's doubtful that even that figure was ever reached.

Powering the KZ-1 was a mid-mounted BMW E39 M5 V8 engine rated at 500bhp to give a claimed top speed of 201mph with 0-100mph in just eight seconds.

Bristol Fighter (2004)

Britain’s Bristol never felt that it needed to go with the flow; it was one of those companies that did things its own way, for a very select number of appreciative buyers. Nowhere was that more evident than with the Fighter, with its gull-wing doors, narrow bodyshell and Dodge Viper V10 engine in the nose.

Even the standard car could top 210mph thanks to its 525bhp, but for those who felt that too much power is not enough, the Fighter T was unveiled in 2007. With a claimed 1012bhp, the car could theoretically manage 270mph – although none of these were ever made.

Joss JP1 (2004)

When the Joss JP1 was shown at various Australian motor shows throughout 2004 things looked promising. The car looked good and was well made, plus it was fast thanks to its 500bhp 6.8-litre V8 that pushed its 480lb ft of torque to the rear wheels via a Porsche G50 five-speed manual transmission.

But the company didn't have the cash to get the car on the road and although a crowdfunding exercise was undertaken in 2014, the JP1 still didn't get off the ground.

Lotec Sirius (2004)

Although Lotec was founded in 1962, it focused on motorsport until 2004, when it introduced its first road-going production car (the C1000 mentioned earlier was always going to be a one-off). Powered by a 6.0-litre Mercedes V12 and designed by company founder Kurt Lotterschmid, the Sirius is still available, 15 years after it was introduced (see lotec-gmbh.de). We wonder how many of these cars have been made in that time though…

Gumpert Apollo (2005)

Roland Gumpert and Roland Mayer teamed up to build a gull-winged supercar powered by twin-turbo Audi-sourced 4.2-litre V8, mounted in the middle of a tubular steel structure clothed in either glassfibre or carbon fibre bodywork. Buyers could choose between 641bhp or 690bhp power outputs with even the low-powered edition supposedly capable of 224mph.

It's reckoned more than 40 Apollos were made before Gumpert went out of business in 2013.

Barabus TKR (2006)

Not to be confused with German tuning company Brabus, this was a Manchester-built confection that was a surprise unveiling at the 2006 British Motor Show. With a body and chassis made of carbon fibre and a 1005bhp twin-turbo 7-litre V8 in the middle, the TKR was claimed to be good for 270mph, with 0-60mph supposedly coming up in just 1.7 seconds.

Sales were meant to start in November 2006 but the project disappeared – only to be revived as the Keating TKR two years later. That car was later tested at around 260mph, so maybe the original claims weren’t as fanciful as you might think.

SSC Ultimate Aero (2007)

While Bugatti’s Veyron grabbed all the headlines about being the world’s fastest car, America’s SSC Ultimate Aero was officially timed at 256mph with the promise of a potential 273mph, thanks to a twin-turbo V8 that started out as a 5.7-litre Corvette unit. Despite this, the Ultimate Aero cost less than half as much as a Veyron. Bugatti didn't take the threat lying down though; it retaliated with the 1183bhp Veyron Super Sport which could crack 268mph.

Weber Faster One (2008)

Swiss car maker Weber called it the Faster One but a more apt name would be the Ungainly One. The Weber certainly had presence. It also had a twin-supercharged 7.0-litre V8 engine in the middle, churning out a claimed 900bhp. As a result the car was supposedly capable of 250mph – not that anyone ever verified this.

The Faster One featured an ultra-light carbonfibre bodyshell and carbon-ceramic brakes while optional equipment included a multi-media system with internet access and TV, a data logger for track use, while there were four fuel tanks to feed that thirsty V8.

Ronn Scorpion (2009)

When Ronn Maxwell launched his Scorpion supercar at the 2009 Top Marques supercar show in Monaco he couldn't have chosen worse timing. The global financial crisis had just hit and those who wanted such cars could no longer afford them – those who could afford them didn't want them.

The Scorpion was fitted with a 450bhp twin-turbo 3.5-litre V6 from the Acura TL, which featured hydrogen injection to improve combustion. But with no takers Maxwell was forced to close his business – although he then set up the Ronn Motor Group in 2015 with the aim of introducing an all-new Scorpion.

Spyker C12 Zagato (2009)

Until the C12 Zagato appeared, all Spykers had featured an Audi-sourced V8 engine. This car featured an Audi-built W12 instead, but with a price tag of €495,000 it seems there weren't many takers – when the C12 Zagato was unveiled Spyker said that production would be limited to 24 examples.

Indeed we're pretty sure there weren't any takers because as far as we can tell only the show car was ever made.

Dagger GT (2010)

We love it when a company bursts on to the scene with outrageous claims, and Transtar Racing was just such a company. In 2010 it revealed the first designs for its Dagger GT, an 1150kg hypercar that packed a 2000bhp punch which was reputedly enough to take it all the way to 315mph.

For those who wanted even more, Transtar Racing offered a GT-LS option which was the company's land speed package with tyres rated at 500mph, but we're still waiting for that one.

Exagon Furtive e-GT (2010)

The Exagon Furtive e-GT was unveiled as a concept at the 2010 Paris motor show; two years later a production car was unveiled. More of a grand tourer than a supercar, the Exagon was a pure-electric French confection that was claimed to be capable of 155mph thanks to its pair of water-cooled electric motors that gave a combined peak power output of 402bhp and up to 380lb ft of torque. But in 2013 it all went quiet…

Icona Vulcano (2013)

When the original Icona Vulcano was unveiled in 2013 at the Shanghai motor show it featured a 950bhp powertrain that consisted of a 790bhp V12 petrol engine and a 160bhp electric motor. By 2015 this had been swapped for a supercharged 6.2-litre V8 supplied by General Motors and rated at 661bhp – but capable of being tuned to as much as 986bhp.

The other big change for 2015 was a move to titanium bodywork – the first car to feature such a construction. But since that 2015 outing we've heard nothing.