23 of the Coolest Obscure Cars on the Road

These are some of the coolest cars you've never heard of.

Venturi was a small-time French car manufacturer from the Nineties that built a car called the 400 Trophy for a gentleman-driver spec series. Interestingly, the company also built 13 road-going examples called the 400 GT.

The MF5 was an ultra-exclusive supercar built by Wiesmann, powered by the 5.0-liter V-10 engine found in the E60-generation BMW M5. Just 43 were ever built.

Before the Subaru WRX was a thing in the U.S., there was this car, the Mazda 323 GTX. With all-wheel drive, a locking center differential, and a turbocharged engine, it was one of the first affordable rally-bread homologation specials you could buy in America.

Georgia-based Panoz has a storied racing history, but it also built a few road cars. One of the lower-production cars was the Roadster, which was basically a V-8-powered go-kart.

The SVX is a weird, futuristic grand touring car built by Subaru in the mid-1990s. It has a cult following, but has yet to be fully appreciated by the enthusiast community as a whole.

Lister built just a handful of road-going Storms. Based on the company's Le Mans racer, it has a 7.0-liter Jaguar V-12, and sounds great.

Built by Ford, the Merkur XR4Ti was a version of the European Sierra coupe homologated for the US in the 1980s. Though it never took off in popularity, its front-engine, rear-drive layout make it a joy to drive.

The normal Taurus was an extremely popular car in the 1990s and early 2000s, but the high-performance SHO model often goes overlooked. With a Yamaha-tuned V-6 mated to a manual transmission, it shouldn't. Here's one up for grabs on eBay right now.

The VehiCROSS might look like a joke, but it's abilities are anything but. Big, meaty tires, four-wheel-drive, and a short wheelbase means it can get almost anywhere. This one is extremely clean, and it's for sale right now.

Say what you want about the Bricklin SV-1—you can't argue against gullwing doors. Wedge-shaped looks and pop-up headlights rounded out its '70s style, with a body built using acrylic resin and fiberglass. Fewer than 3000 examples were built, so seeing one on the road today is a rare treat. Here's one up for grabs on eBay right now.

The Tucker is one of the rarest cars on this list—just 51 examples were built before the company was pushed out by the rest of the auto industry. Its most distinctive feature is the center-mounted third headlight.

The idea behind the Excalibur was a simple one: Design a car with a modern chassis, engine, and suspension geometry, but with looks taken from the Mercedes-Benz SSK of the 1920s. The result was a polarizing vehicle that not everyone was a fan of. But seeing as how over 3500 were built, there are a few people out there that enjoy them.

The Jalpa isn't the most popular Lamborghini out there—with around 400 sold globally, that's to be expected. But it was still great. With a mid-engine V-8 layout and some funky looks, it deserves a spot on this list. Here's one you can own right now for just under $100,000.

The Mega Cruiser was basically a Japanese ripoff of the Hummer H1, with similar body lines and off-road capabilities. The street-legal civilian version was only sold in Japan, and in very small numbers.

Aston Martin is best known for making elegant grand touring cars, but switched it up in the 1970s with the boxy four-door Lagonda sedan. Aston sold around 650 examples, making them a hard find, no matter the condition. Here's a red Series II car for sale on eBay now.

The AZ-1 is probably the coolest kei car in existence. It complies to all of Japan's small car regulations, using a tiny three-cylinder engine but packaged in a mid-engine layout. It even has gull-wing doors. How could you not love it?

Morgan has been made popular in the car world thanks to its wacky open-air three-wheeler, but before that, it had the Aero 8. Powered by a BMW V-8, it relied heavily on retro design, and actually drove well. Since Morgan has always been a niche car brand, finding one for sale is a challenge.

Spyker seems incapable of building a bad-looking car, and the Spyder version of its C8 is the best of the bunch. The frameless glass combined with the flat rear decklid make for one lovely package.

Though it's been getting some extra attention leading up to the launch of the Urus, Lamborghini's first SUV remains an obscured rarity to most. The LM002 used the V-12 from the Countach, and sent power to all four wheels via a manual transmission.

The Z1 wasn't sold in America when it was new, and that's a shame. A unique pointy-nose look and ultra-cool drop-down doors made it one of the coolest cars to come out of Germany in the late '80s. Because they were built in such small numbers, low-mileage examples like this one demand a big premium.

Originally launched as a De Tomaso (hence the nameplate Mangusta), the Qvale was built between 2000 and 2002, powered by a Ford V-8 and built in low-triple digit numbers. Spotting one is hard enough, much less finding one for sale.

Vector built less than 20 examples of the hand-built W8, and the car has since gained a cult following thanks to its angular styling and extreme rarity. We drove one back when it was new, and it was one truly interesting piece of '90s machinery.

The 916 is an ultra-rare hardtop-only version of the mid-engine 914 equipped with a 2.7-liter 911S-sourced flat-six. Only 11 were built, meaning seeing one anywhere outside a museum or collection is extremely unlikely.