There are several reasons why automakers build vehicles in limited numbers. Some are just keeping to long-established company traditions. Others build them for special clients who order one-off models for their own pleasure, while others are meant to be show cars that turn out to be street legal. Whatever the rationale behind such moves, automakers reap big from such projects. One-off production cars fetch huge sums in the market and become highly sought-after collectibles several years down the line.All car lovers dream of taking a ride in rare cars with special attributes. Bugatti, Ferrari, and Pagani are good examples of companies that make exceedingly rare cars built in low numbers. Others are cataloged in classic sales and have fetched handsome prices in auctions.Some cars become extinct over time and leave just a few examples around.In the 1960s and 1970s, automakers built some of the most ingenious sports cars of all time. Some were built in very small numbers and have become legends that collectors want to buy and keep. Most of them are now worth a fortune. Here are a few examples of sports cars built in very small numbers, automatically raising the asking price.
10 1969 Chevrolet Corvette ZL1
Considering several decades have passed since the Chevrolet Corvette ZL1 was introduced in 1969, it’s clearly understandable why so much contradicting information flies around. Some claim to own or have owned a piece at some point but can’t quite prove it.
The 1969 Corvette Stingray with the ZL1 package was the most powerful Corvette of the season. With a new beefier engine and lots of special features to go along, it was an absolutely expensive machine. Chevy diehards say that about 80 of them carried manual transmissions while 14 were automatics. Most of them went to racers. It’s also claimed that only two ZL1s were sold to the public and only one is fully traceable with documentation.
9 Shelby Cobra 427 Super Snake (Two Built)
We need to clear the air over something here. The number of Shelby Cobra 427s built is considerably high. However, the number of Shelby Cobra 427 Super Snakes ever built is just two. One was built for Carroll Shelby by himself and the other one for his friend Bill Cosby. Awed by just how powerful it was, Cosby returned his car, never to drive it again. While Shelby’s Cobra lived a long, fruitful, and expensive life, Bill Cosby’s is said to have been accidentally driven into the Pacific Ocean by its eventual owner.
Shelby said he wanted the Super Snake to be the most potent and meanest car ever. He made a good attempt and entered the car into indelible history. In its last sale by auction house Barret-Jackson, it fetched a handsome $5.5 million. Shelby was in attendance
8 Schuppan 962CR (Six Built)
Some ambitious men make a reasonable attempt at living their dreams. In the process, they thrive in their fields and leave memorable records. Such is the story of racecar driver Vern Schuppan who thought it wise to try his hand in actual automaking. He built the Schuppan 962CR between 1992-1994. After winning the 1983 24 Hours of Le Mans pushing a Porsche 956, Schuppan decided he would better convert 962Rs for road use. He took this idea to the next phase and started developing a road-going 962 from the ground up. That’s how the Schuppan Porsche 962CR was born.
The mid-engined car, whose power went to the rear wheels, weighed about 2,300 pounds. It was powered by a 3.3 L flat-six turbocharged engine generating 600hp. This engine was paired to a five-speed manual gearbox. The plan was to build 50 of them, but only six saw full production as finances dwindled.
7 Pagani Zonda Revolucion (Five Built)
Pagani told us the Revolucion was supposed to mark the end of the Zonda, but they continued to build them long after this 2013 pronouncement.
The Revolucion was based on the track special and agreeably revolutionary Zonda R introduced in 2009. They decided to make just five of these exceptional supercars, ultimately throwing the Pagani Zonda Revolucion into the realm of the most covetable collectibles.
6 2011 Hennessey Venom GT Spyder (Six Built)
The record-breaking Hennessey Venom GT saw the light of day in 2010. Lucky owners of the machine that punches four-figure horsepower rightfully feel at the top of the world. They are rare cars and among the world’s most elite supercars.
The company pronounced the end of production in 2017, with only examples ever being built. It’s a machine that the well-oiled society wouldn’t mind paying an arm and a leg to have. The Venom GT entered into the Guinness World Record as the fastest road-legal car in 201, hitting 0–186 mph in about 13.63 seconds.
5 Icona Vulcano Titanium (One Built)
Icona Vulcano Titanium was a project that had started ambitiously but ended with just one car being produced. The story begins in Turin, Italy, where a little-known coachbuilder pens an ambitious supercar for the called the Icona Vulcano.
The 2016 Icona Vulcano Titanium sold for $2.78 million. The project was first showcased at the 2013 Shanghai auto show carried a supercharged 6.2l V8 engine plucked from the C6 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1.
4 W Motors Lykan HyperSport (Seven Built)
Lykan explains that “Lycan is the most advanced species of Wolves in mythical legend.” What an imaginative way of merging myths and tradition into one of the world’s most progressive hypercars. The company goes ahead to say that the car is “ able to transform at any given time into a beast.” A wolf indeed.
Only seven units of the Lebanese hypercar were built, becoming the first sports car to be indigenously thought out in the Middle East. Several components, including the bodywork, chassis, and engine, were produced in Germany and assembled in Italy. The car priced at $3.4 million was built between 2014 and 2017, powered by a twin-turbocharged flat-six smashing no less than 780 horses.
3 Mercedes Benz CLK GTR (25 built)
We’ve all known Mercedes Benz for lots of eccentric cars but not so much for building supercars. However, the Mercedes Benz CLK GTR brought around in 1997 sought to rewrite this part of the company’s history.
This Benz was built out of necessity rather than merely for the sake of it. The idea was to conform with FIA GT championship rules and help elevate the company to equal competition with the Porsche and Ferraris. This began the journey of a racer car, reportedly built in just 128 days. The rules demand that a minimum of 25 road-legal cars had to be made, and that’s exactly how the game of numbers was settled.
2 Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale (18)
Back when the world of supercars was still a mystery to most car lovers, Alfa Romeo made 19 units of the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale. This happened between 1967 and 1969, going into history as among the first supercars ever built. Stradale is Italian for road-going and quite a common moniker in street-legal iterations of racing cars.
The 33 Stradale borrowed lots of features from the Tipo 33 Sports prototype racer, effectively signaling underlying goodness in its mechanical talents. In building the race-going version, Alfa Romeo handed selected owners gifts of a track-oriented car now turned into a stunning, gorgeous, and arresting street machine.
1 Lamborghini Veneno (13 built)
It's not surprising that Lamborghini built just 13 Lamborghini Venenos. What isn’t very impressive is that the bullish company let one man own two of the five pieces. But it is what it is, and we all love Lambos in all versions.
The Veneno is, for all practical and hyped reasons, one of the world’s most rare cars. It’s quite understandable that one man decided to order a coupe and a roadster all for himself. After all, they were reserved for royal Lambo customers. Only five of them were coupe versions, raising their antiquity even further.