It's not unusual for cars to come in a wide variety of trim levels and specs within a model range. It's even less unusual for some of those trims to have some silly marketing badge that's supposed to separate that car from the rest as a "special edition." Most of the time, this is little more than some badge-engineering trickery to get you to spend more money on your car for an exclusive paint job or a little plaque on the centre console, without changing much else about the car.
However, there are some special edition cars that take this to a whole new dimension, particularly when manufacturers reach out to other individuals or companies to partner up and make an exclusive special edition vehicle. This has resulted in some seriously strange, bizarre, and often pretty hideous special edition vehicles.
This list will cover some of the wildest, most outlandish (and some of the ugliest) special edition cars ever made.
17 Smart ForJeremy
The name of this be-winged microcar is actually not as strange as it seems. Smart called its little car the ForTwo (not that we needed any reminding that this car was only fit two people), and this special edition was created by fashion designer Jeremy Scott.
The wings are a signature part of Scott's designs, so naturally he wanted to find a way to integrate them into his Smart car, though wings on a car went out of fashion right around the time Cadillac stopped fitting them to Coupe De Villes back in the '60s.
16 Hyundai Kona Iron Man Edition
Special edition cars made to promote movies are hardly a new idea. Cars and film have a symbiotic relationship, and this latest one was commissioned by Marvel Studios to promote Avengers: Endgame and as a subtle tribute to the character of Tony Stark.
However, keen-eyed Marvel fans know that Stark's iconic ride was an Audi R8, so to pay tribute to his character with a weird-looking compact crossover seems disingenuous and a bit disrespectful to the character that kick-started the MCU as we know it.
15 BMW i8 Memphis Group
BMW has a history of special edition art cars, many of which actually turned out much nicer than this strange partnership with Memphis Group, an Italian design firm that shaped some of the wildest fashion designs in the 1980s. It works, to a point.
The funky lines and patterns certainly draw the eye all across the i8's body, but the car underneath the paint already looks so outlandish and futuristic, that trying to stretch these patterns over its body does a disservice to the car's factory looks.
14 Subaru Forester Ultimate Customized Kit Special
I won't write out exactly what this car's curiously long name spells as an acronym since we want to keep this page relatively family-friendly. But Subaru made a point to bold out the first letter of every word so that people could draw their own conclusions as to what it says.
The name alone makes this a wild and strange special edition, but the F***S package doesn't actually add much to the Forester other than some paint, neon underglow and lowered suspension.
13 Skoda Felicia Fun
Your eyes are not fooling you: this car was painted two different shades of mustard yellow, presumably Honey and Dijon. It was one of Skoda's last gasps of strangeness before it was completely consumed by the Volkswagen group. It featured a slide-out rear window that could accommodate a second row of seats like a Subaru Brat (another rude name. Someone at Subaru needs some Tabasco mouthwash).
12 Fiat Kung Fu Panda
Like the Iron Man Hyundai Kona, this Fiat Panda was a special edition to promote the Kung Fu Panda movies, and its execution is actually quite endearing. The Panda is a cute, inoffensive car to begin with, so painting it in the black and white colors of its animal namesake and adding some panda faces on the headrests somehow suits the character and the style of the Fiat Panda. The name was just too easy.
11 Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport L’Or Blanc
Wealth and taste don't always go hand-in-hand, and nowhere is that more apparent than in this confusingly-painted special edition Bugatti Veyron. That isn't a lighting trick, the car is actually painted this way to reflect the German porcelain maker that Bugatti partnered with to make this one-off hypercar. It featured porcelain accents in the interior as well as on the oil and fuel filler caps. The car sold at auction for $2.4 million.
10 Mini Cooper Kenneth Cole Edition
Like the Smart ForJeremy (and plenty of other special editions), this car was the result of a collaboration between Mini and fashion house Kenneth Cole. It had a strangely bedazzled exterior, though it looks more like the texture of a non-stick pad or one of those bumpy chew toys for dogs. It was never made for production, although it was featured at the 2010 Life Ball benefit to support AIDS and HIV research, so at least it served an important purpose.
9 AMC Gremlin Levi’s Jeans
If you're a conscientious objector to the fashion rule against double denim, but your Canadian tuxedo isn't enough for you to show your love and devotion to classic blue jeans, then the AMC Gremlin Levi's Jeans edition is your collector car of choice.
It was essentially a regular Gremlin painted light blue on the outside, but with actual denim-upholstered seats and door panels on the inside. The Levi's trim could even be specced on the V8-powered Gremlin X, but those are starting to become very rare and hard to find.
8 Jeep Renegade Levi’s Jeans Edition
If you're everything described above but want to take your love for denim off the beaten path, as most denim clothes are designed to do, then you're in luck. Levi's also offered a denim trim package for the Jeep Wrangler Renegade. This Levi's edition one took the Gremlin's upholstery gimmick even further though: its entire soft top and doors were made of the stuff, which accidentally made it even tougher than the fabric used on other Jeeps.
7 AMC Hornet Gucci Sportabout Edition
Denim jeans were not AMC's highest fashion ambitions. No, AMC partnered with Gucci to create a special edition of the Hornet Sportabout (AMC marketing-speak for wagon). The Gucci edition featured custom badges with the Gucci "GG" logo as well as customized leather upholstery and interior colours.
6 Mazda MX-5 Le Mans Edition
Mechanically, this car is anything but weird or ugly. In fact, it was a factory turbo Miata, with Tokico suspension, OZ wheels and a custom body kit. Overall then, it's a great Miata. But its paint job, which was designed to commemorate the Le Mans-winning 787B race car, is what puts this car on the list. The green and orange paint scheme works phenomenally well on the 787B race car, but like most race liveries, it doesn't translate well to a road car.
5 Chrysler Imperial Frank Sinatra Edition
If Chrysler ever wanted to enforce its grandpa car image, using the name of everyone's grandpa's favorite crooner for its special edition luxury coupe was a very effective way of doing so. The car was painted blue to match Sinatra's famously blue eyes, and it came with several custom "FS" badges and - this is not a joke - a centre console full of Frank Sinatra cassettes.
4 Citroen Saxo Bic Edition
This car was the result of a partnership between Citroen and maker of the finest bulk office pens and cigarette lighters: Bic. Not Mont Blanc or even Papermate, but Bic. It's the French equivalent of Dodge making a Neon Highlighter Edition or Chevy doing a Cavalier Dixon Ticonderoga - school supplies and cars don't make the most natural or glamorous of pairings.
3 Lincoln Town Car Jack Nicklaus Signature Series
If you think of sports personalities and the cars that would best suit them, you probably wouldn't land on a Panther-body Lincoln Town Car as being suitable for any modern athlete. Still, Lincoln figured its flagship land barge was the ideal platform on which to create a special edition in collaboration with pro golfer Jack Nicklaus. It didn't have many special features beyond a unique white vinyl roof, white wheels and a cream leather interior.
2 Nissan "Gold Leaf"
This car was Nissan's way of rewarding its sponsored athletes in the 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games. Any Nissan-sponsored athlete would be given one of these cars if he or she won one gold medal or more. It said "Rio 2016 Gold Medallist" on the side and prominently featured sponsor logos on the hood.
1 Accidentally Cool: Volkswagen Golf Harlequin
The Harlequin editions of the MK3 Golf and Polo in Europe have become some of the most desirable classic VWs, and the unique color scheme, done by essentially swapping every body panel for a different color, has grown a cult following in the VW community, with some owners wrapping modern Dubs to mimic the classic Harlequin colors. It was little more than a joke from VW at first, but it accidentally became one of the quirkiest and most interesting models they've ever made, and it proves that even the Germans have a sense of humor.