Every year, a barrage of new cars are released to the enthusiast's delight. Whether its performance machines like the C8 Corvette, or innovative utility-focused vehicles like the new electric GMC Hummer, there's plenty of super cool cars from established brands debuting on the market every year. These cars tend to be the focus of the industry and consumers as well, being the ones that attract the most attention and discussion for years after their debut.
But the big, well-known brands aren't the be-all-end-all of the car industry. While an extremely difficult endeavor, plenty of low-volume car brands have come into existence that ended up being some of the most uniquely cool cars in the industry's history. While not all of them are around today either, many cool cars exist throughout history but end up almost entirely forgotten as the brand that made them is one most people have never heard of.
Deserving to be known, these 10 cool cars were made by brands you've most likely never heard of before.
10 Panoz Esperante GTR-1
A Le Mans race car that happens to be street legal, Panoz is an American sports and race car maker that many don't know about, but is one of the coolest low-volume car manufacturers in the USA that is still kicking today.
Devised as a way to establish Panoz as a respected marque, the Esperante GTR-1 was a collaboration between the then young brand and British race car builder Reynard Motorsports. Creating the insane GTR-1 in 19967as a legitimate race car for the FIA GT series, and 24 Hours of Le Mans, Panoz would see decent success, but would also make their name known with the monstrous machine.
Homologating the car to comply with regulations, a single street-legal Panoz Esperante GTR-1 was built. But, Panoz did announce in 2015 that they'd kept the tooling needed to build the GTR-1, and would make you one if you had the money - a whopping $890,000.
9 Mosler MT900S
Another low-volume American supercar manufacturer, Mosler is now defunct but had produced some truly insane performance machines starting in the '80s.
Founded by Warren Mosler as Consulier Industries, Mosler made his name known with the Consulier GTP in the mid-'80s. A shockingly light car, weighing in at around 2,200 lbs, the Consulier GTP may have been ugly but was supercar levels of fast for its time. Later renaming Consulier Industries to Mosler automotive, and the Consulier GTP to the Mosler Intruder and Raptor, the MT900 would soon take over as Mosler's insane supercar.
Unveiled in 2001 using an LS1 V8 engine for power, the MT900 was styled by Rob Turenne, who was also responsible for designing the C5 Corvette. Only seeing one prototype, the MT900 would spawn several variants, like the race-ready MT900R, and the street-legal MT900S. Approved for street use in 2005, the MT900S made 600 hp from its supercharged V8, and weighed around 2,500 lbs, making it an absolute monster. Notably, as well, the first MT900S was purchased by Star Wars creator George Lucas.
8 HTT Plethore
While America tends to be the often underestimated underdog of the supercar world, Canada has no real association with it. Despite that, the HTT Plethore is a Canadian supercar with awesome power and plenty of potentials that was sadly never realized.
Meeting a similar fate to nearly every other homegrown Canadian car company, the HTT Plethore unfortunately never got off the ground. Debuting as a prototype at the 2007 Montreal Auto Show, and securing funding in 2011 through Dragon's Den (the Canadian version of Shark Tank), the HTT Plethore was powered by a 750 hp supercharged LS series V8.
With a carbon fiber body shell, McLaren F1 style center seating, and proper supercar design, the HTT Plethore was a promising car for Canada, but ultimately failed to make it to production. While 2 units were built, and in 2017 there were claims of plans to build 99, the HTT Plethore faded into obscurity, known by very few even within Canada.
7 Tramontana R
Another country you wouldn't associate with supercars, the Tramontana R hails from Spain, and is an absolutely insane F1 inspired performance machine.
Approved for road use in 2010, the Tramontana R is even more insane than its looks make it seem. Built almost entirely from carbon fiber, the Tramontana R weighs around 2,800 lbs – a surprisingly high number for a carbon-fiber car. That relative heaviness comes from a desire to make the car actually comfortable and (somewhat) luxurious, and the interior isn't the barebones cockpit you'd expect.
But, the Tramontana R is still ridiculously fast. Powered a twin-turbo Mercedes sourced V8 pushing out 720 hp, the Tramontana R can do the 0-60 mph run in 3.5 seconds. An incredibly unique, fast, agile, and thrilling monster, the Tramontana R is one of the coolest Spanish cars ever made.
6 Ultima RS
A hypercar among low-volume performance-oriented manufacturers, the Ultima RS is an absolutely insane car, and downright wicked in its performance.
Ultima Sports' most recent offering, the RS builds on decades of lightweight racecar inspired vehicles. Known for their kit cars like the Ultima GTR, Ultima's main attraction is adherence to lightweight performance, function-first design, and bang for your buck when it comes to speed.
Designed based on Le Mans racecars, the Ultima RS is made almost entirely out of carbon fiber and can be had at different power levels depending on how insane of a driver you are. Choices are limited to Chevy V8s, but you can decide between options like the 480 hp LT1, all the way to a supercharged LT5 making 1,200 hp. With that 1,200 hp engine, the Ultima RS can gun down million-dollar hypercars with a 0-60 mph time of just 2.3 seconds.
5 Iso Grifo
An incredible mash-up of exotic Italian design, and American V8 power, the Iso Grifo is an often overlooked car, but one that is just as cool and spectacular as its contemporaries.
Beginning his mechanical career-making refrigerators, Renzo Rivolta founded Iso after WWII ended, focusing on the building of scooters as well as the infamous Isetta micro-car - which would later become a BMW model. Using the funding from selling the Isetta to BMW, Rivolta set out to build a properly luxurious and sporty car.
With its body designed by Bertone's legendary designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, riding on a chassis designed by Bizzarrini, and powered by a Corvette sourced V8 engine, the Iso Grifo debuted in 1965 as an absolutely spectacular grand tourer. Capable of producing 350 hp, the Grifo was fast too and remained on sale until 1974 through several design changes and variants.
4 Lister Storm
A true race car for the road, the often forgotten Lister Storm is one of the most mind-blowing supercars of the '90s, but also one that is almost completely forgotten today.
A British company most notable for their racecars, Lister was founded in the mid-'50s, coming into their own with Jaguar derived cars, and tuned street-legal Jags that made some insane power. Debuting in 1993, the Lister Storm also used its fair share of Jaguar parts.
Most notably, the Storm is powered by a 7.0 L Jaguar V12 derived from their successful racecars like the XJR-9. Making around 550 hp, the Lister Storm could hit an insane for its time top speed of 211 mph and handled like a true racecar with its ultra-lightweight construction. Only 4 were made, but when it comes to forgotten supercars of the '90s, the Lister Storm is one of the coolest.
3 Dome Zero
A radically awesome car that unfortunately never made it to production, the Dome Zero was a unique wedge shape racecar derived supercar that was beyond far-out in its design.
Founded in 1975 to fulfill Minoru Hayashi's dream of building racecars, Dome debuted the Zero in 1978 as a prototype. Under 39 inches tall, the Dome Zero was a sleek, jaw-dropping design that saw plenty of success when it came to licensing deals with toy companies. But, as a production car, the Dome Zero failed. Being a tiny company, Dome struggled enough with building the prototypes, and after the car failed Japanese road certification, any hopes of production were dashed.
While the street-legal version never made it past the prototype stage, a racecar derived from the Zero did make it to Le Mans. Powered by a 3.0-liter inline-6 engine, the Dome RL could throw down around 450 hp but sadly saw no success.
2 Sbarro Super Eight
No, this Sbarro is not the pizza company. Founded by Franco Sbarro, Sbarro as a car maker has been responsible for some of the weirdest cars ever to exist. Included in that list is the Super Eight, a hot hatchback that's beyond ridiculous, but in a cool way.
Originating in 1982 with the Super Twelve, a similar-looking mid-engine hatchback powered V12 made from two Kawasaki motorcycle engines, Sbarro released the Super Eight in 1984. A one-off show car, the Super Eight was simultaneously more logical, and more ridiculous than the Super Twelve all at the same time.
Still mid-engine in its layout, the Super Eight ditched the motorcycle engine idea, and instead ripped a V8 engine straight out of a Ferrari 308, creating one of the most insane hot hatchbacks in the process. Extreme in its exterior design as well, the Sbarro Super Eight is properly '80s, and properly Ferrari inspired with its extreme fender flares, red paint, and side rakes. Only one was built, but it was sold on eBay back in 2018.
1 Isdera Imperator 108i
As show-pieces detached from reality, concept cars rarely make it to production with all their unique design elements intact. On the other hand, the Isdera Imperator 108i did exactly that, turning a spectacular Mercedes-Benz concept into a road-going reality.
First shown in 1978 as the Mercedes CW311 concept, the car originated as a collaboration between Porsche and Mercedes. The main designer of that concept though was Eberhart Schulz, who later left Mercedes to form his own brand, Isdera, and was dismayed by all the missed potential from not putting the CW311 into production. After talks with the company, Mercedes allowed Isdera to do exactly that, and the Isdera Imperator 108i came to life in 1984.
Using a strong space frame chassis, the Imperator 108i was handled brilliantly, and with power from a Mercedes V8 engine ranging up to the 420 hp AMG-tuned version, it was a genuine supercar for its time as well. Only 30 examples of the Imperator 108i were made in its 1984 to 1993 model run, making the Imperator 108i as rare as it is cool.