One-off wonders | Six of the Best

From mid-engined superminis to special commission race cars, here's our rundown of bespoke builds

By Matt Bird / Thursday, 3 September 2020 / Loading comments

Now, this is an interesting one. Because it was (quite reasonably) assumed that the amazing Cyan Racing P1800 would be another one-off from a race team which has previously indulged itself in the practice of showing off - but no, that isn't the case, and a few P1800s with touring car engines will be made - hurrah. Not cheaply, of course, but even two would be 100 per cent more than expected.

Which got us thinking: what about the other one-offs which made it? The special commissions, the unique projects, the madcap ideas that went from brain to boardroom to actually being built. Not just as concepts, either, but fully functioning cars for the road (or track, in a few cases). You'll have to excuse some creative license here, as some of these unicorns stayed with their manufacturer and some were sold to customers, but the point still holds true - the world is a better place for them having existed.

Formula Ford Ecoboost

You'd forgotten about this one, hadn't you? Back in 2012 Ford had begun introducing its 999cc Ecoboost triple to its road car range, and the same technology - albeit in four-cylinder format - was set to power the Formula Ford car of the time as well. So how better to drum up interest than combining the two? The Formula Ford Ecoboost was the result.

Making 205hp from just 1.0-litre, and weighing less than half a tonne, the Formula Ford flew: in the hands of Nick Tandy it lapped the Nordschleife in just 7:22. But it was made road legal, too, with lights and indicators and numberplates, ensuring every kind of daft vid resulted as the media got hold of it. Just listen to it...

And although the idea was a bit of fun, the Ecoboost proved a point: lightweight, downsized cars of the future could be brilliantly entertaining. As far as we're aware the Formula Ford remained with its maker, though an MOT check suggest FF12 FMC hasn't done much running since those incredible first tests. If anyone is aware of the Ecoboost, we'd love to know more about it...

Lamborghini SC18

There had to be some daft exotica in here somewhere, and where better to turn for supercar silliness than Lamborghini? The SC18 Alston really was something special: imagine being the customer for whom the Aventador, the Aventador SV and the Aventador SVJ just weren't enough. The SC18 was the first one-off Lamborghini built by the Squadra Corse race team, incorporating aero lessons from the Huracan GT3 to deliver a wild track experience. Don't forget that an SVJ was already capable of going well under seven minutes at the Nurburgring...

No less relevant for its inclusion here is that the SC18 looked like the very finest in Sant'Agata spaceships; an Aventador for the near future, all wings, slats and scary spoilers. Lamborghini makes some special production models already, reserving the really incredible stuff for very limited production. The freedom offered by a bespoke build, though, unshackled from any requirements, meant it could really show off. And as the SC18 proved, Lamborghini can still show off like few others.

Toyota Aygo Crazy

Something a little more humble after the Lamborghini, though no less intriguing. Channelling the spirit of cars like the Metro 6R4 and Renault 5 Turbo, the Aygo Crazy was a one-off concept built for the London motor show of 2008. Like both those cars, the Aygo took an extremely humdrum city car, placed far too much power in the middle of it, sent that power to the rear wheels and created a legend in the process.

For the Aygo Crazy, that power came from a turbocharged Celica 1.8, meaning 200hp, 177lb ft and a sub-six-second sprint to 62mph. With its arch extensions, spoilers and graphics, the Aygo well earned its name.

Moreover, though it stayed with Toyota, the Crazy has been used - and used well. The MOT check for T24 YGO (turbocharged, two-seat Aygo, you see) shows it has a valid ticket until next June and more than 26,000 miles recorded. Which is about 25,000 more than we expected to find, especially given what must be fairly intimidating handling. Still, if it needs taking down the test centre next year, Toyota, you only need ask...

Jaguar XJ Greatest Hits

Let's be honest: a lot of the other cars on this list could be considered shoo-ins, be they one-off exotics destined for Instagram infamy or very silly superminis. A 1984 Jaguar XJ6, on the other hand, might not be the first car that comes to mind when thinking of one-off builds. So, all the more reason to have it in.

The 'Greatest Hits' XJ was shown at the 2018 Geneva show, a collaboration between Jaguar Classic and Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain. Turned out the rockstar loved an old Jag, with the Greatest Hits car being his third. It wasn't just a respray in Mauve, either, with more than 3,500 hours put into it and in excess of 4,000 parts refinished, replaced or redesigned. So the arches, bumpers, sills and doors were all modified, helping to accommodate the new wheels and complement the lowered stance, the interior was entirely redone and the car modernised throughout. It was a restomod XJ for a rockstar, the result being as thoroughly reworked - and as desirable - as that brief suggests. Oh yes, and it kept the 4.2 XK straight-six with three E-Type SU carbs, because that was "Nicko's favourite set up." Good work, McBrain.

Ferrari P80/C

There's no way this list would be complete without a unique Ferrari of some description, given Maranello's storied history with coachbuilt this and one-off that. The difficulty was narrowing down the dozens of bespoke builds to one exponent of everything that's great about the most special of Ferraris: the P80/C is that car.

Some will no doubt disagree with that, but when even Ferrari themselves call a car "the most extreme one-off design ever" it's clearly something special. Based on the 488 GT3 racer, the P80/C was built for TK Mak - "a great connoisseur of the Ferrari world" - and inspired by the 330 P3/P4 and Dino 206 S sports prototypes. It should come as no surprise given the spectacular end result that the P80/C had the longest development time of any Ferrari one-off. The build began in 2015 and wasn't announced until March last year, resplendent in Rosso Vero and unlike any Ferrari racer or road car ever seen. Which, given everything in the nine decades of Scuderia Ferrari and 70 years of the road cars, is quite some feat.

Aston Cygnet V8

Though this is a Six of the Best rundown, it isn't ranked from lowest to highest. It's just a celebration of the genre. If we had to choose a best of the best as far as crazy ones off go, however...

The Cygnet V8 picked up where cars like the Aygo Crazy left off - indeed they're both based on Toyotas, if you think about it - shoehorning an engine where one really shouldn't go and turning an innocent city car into an automotive monster. Even two years after it was first unleashed and set free into the world, the Cygnet V8 beggars belief. We've driven it and the car still defies all conventional reality. Here is a tiny (3708mm) hatchback with a 4.7-litre, 436hp V8 wedged inside, power sent to the rear wheels and 170mph potential. In a Cygnet!

The V8 was built for a committed marque collector using Gaydon's 'by Aston Martin - Commission' service. Entirely road legal and registered in July 2018, Y8 CYG will be due its first MOT next summer - imagine the look on the testers' faces when this rolls in. Wonder how many miles it has accrued? With more than 300hp per tonne and wheelbase that could be measured with a set square, the Cygnet V8 probably doesn't need much driving to remind you of its madness. But if it's there to use...