Special edition cars: the good AND the bad

Cars of many colours

The special edition car is the oldest trick in the marketing book. Some will become covetable classics, others deserve to be forgotten (but we’ve remembered them anyway).

Join us for a journey through special edition cars. You can sort the good from the bad. And the ugly.

Volkswagen Polo Harlequin

The Volkswagen Polo Harlequin: evidence of what happens if you leave the marketing department in charge. If you couldn’t decide between Ginster Yellow, Chagall Blue, Pistachio Green or Flash Red for your new Polo, Volkswagen gave you the option to select all four. Amazingly, some people thought this was a good idea.

Mitsubishi Evo VI Tommi Makinen Edition

Having won four WRC titles in succession, it was somehow fitting that Mitsubishi named an Evo VI after Tommi Mäkinen. And what a special edition it was. The ‘TME’ is highly sought-after today.

Ferrari 488 Pista Piloti

The track-focused Ferrari 488 Pista is one of our favourite supercars ever. But slapping on some stickers makes it look a bit ‘Halfords’. The Pista Piloti was only offered for sale to Ferrari racing drivers. Probably for the best.

Ford Puma Thunder

The Ford Puma Thunder was the little coupe’s swan song, with each car featuring unique wheels, a leather interior and a choice of two paint colours. What we really wanted was a cheaper follow-up to the Racing Puma.

Toyota SpongeBob Highlander Tanked Edition

It’s hard to imagine a more unlikely five-word sentence than this. The Toyota SpongeBob Highlander Tanked Edition. Fortunately, it was a one-off.

Land Rover Defender Tomb Raider

Land Rover purists look away now, because this is the Defender Tomb Raider special edition, built to celebrate the firm’s appearance in the Lara Croft movie.

MGF Longbridge

The Longbridge was the very first MGF special edition and featured a host of cosmetic upgrades and Brooklands Green paint. The seats were finished in unique ‘Donkey Jacket’ trim and the car would often fail to work on Friday afternoons. Allegedly.

Vauxhall VX220 Lightning Yellow

You could order the Vauxhall VX220 Lightning Yellow special edition in any colour you wanted, as long as it was yellow. The clue was in the name.

Mazda MX-5 25th Anniversary

The MX-5 is no stranger to special editions and to celebrate its 25th birthday, Mazda launched the (deep breath) MX-5 Roadster Coupe 25th Anniversary Limited Edition. It was unveiled at Goodwood Festival of Speed and – in time-honoured special edition fashion – each car wore a numbered plaque.

Maserati Quattroporte Ermenegildo Zegna

You’d have thought a four-door saloon car as achingly beautiful as the Maserati Quattroporte wouldn’t need a limited edition in order to shift units. You’d be wrong, as this Ermenegildo Zegna special proves.

Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Edition 507

The Edition 507 represented the last hurrah for the previous generation C-Class. The ‘507’ stood for the number of horses developed by its monstrous 6.2-litre V8 engine. We miss it.

Ford F-150 SVT Raptor

Speaking of 6.2-litre V8 engines, this is the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor, a special edition based on one of the best-selling vehicles on the planet. And such is the brute force of this pick-up, the planet is likely to come off second best.

Subaru Impreza WRX STI Launch Edition

Subaru has launched plenty of special edition Imprezas over the years. We’re rather partial to this 2015 Launch Edition of the WRX STI. WR Blue Pearl paint and gold-painted 18-inch BBS alloy wheels are all you need. Oh, and a huge rear wing.

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT Final Edition

Mercedes-Benz waved goodbye to the SLS AMG GT by unleashing this Final Edition in 2014. And thanks to the gullwing doors, it could quite literally wave back.

GMC Sierra Elevation

Pick-up trucks are big business in the States, so there’s no shortage of special editions to choose from. This is the GMC Sierra Elevation, which was named after an apartment block in Clevedon.

Chrysler PT Cruiser Route 66

Get your kicks on Route 66, or so the famous song lyrics said. But having seen the Chrysler PT Cruiser Route 66 for the first time, you’re more likely to be sick.

Porsche 911 50 Years Edition

It’s all about the details. Porsche limited the number of 911 50 Year special editions to 1,963, as 1963 was the year production of the 911 started. The 20-inch alloy wheels inspired by the classic Fuchs design were spot-on.

Porsche 911 Facebook Edition

The Porsche 911 ‘Facebook’ car is proof that popular opinion can get it right. To celebrate five million likes on its Facebook page, Porsche asked visitors to design their own 911 using a range of options. This was the result.

Nissan Qashqai Premier Launch Edition

A mere 2,007 Nissan Qashqai Premier Launch Edition cars were offered in Europe, with the number marking the year the original Qashqai was launched. They were offered to existing customers only. Lucky them.

Volkswagen Transporter 60th Anniversary

Volkswagen celebrated 60 years of the Transporter in the UK with a package of cosmetic upgrades, including logos and decals. The first 250 customers were also offered a coffee table book. But no coffee table.

Nissan Micra Elle

The Nissan Micra Elle, named after the fashion magazine and not the Australian supermodel. Nissan also gave the world the Micra Wave. Unforgivable.

Rover 200 BRM

Speaking of Brooklands Green, this was also the paint colour applied to the Rover 200 BRM. Only 800 of these special edition cars were made and yes, each one was delivered with an orange nose. Admit it, you really want one. The car, that is, not an orange nose.

Citroen XM Onyx

Here we see a member of Spandau Ballet chatting through the options list on his new Citroen XM Onyx. Apparently he wanted it to be painted gold. GOLD!

Renault Megane Renaultsport Red Bull Racing RB8

Snappy title for snappy little mover. Renault is no stranger to special edition cars, but the Megane Red Bull Racing RB8 is up there with the best of them.

Perodua Myvi Wolfrace Design

In 2012, Perodua built 10 of these Myvi Wolfrace Design special editions. Each one was fitted with 17-inch Wolfrace alloy wheels and a set of decals. We don’t know if Perodua managed to sell all 10.

Citroen C3 Pluriel Charleston

The Citroen 2CV Charleston was an elegant special edition based on one of the most successful and well-engineered cars of all time. The C3 Pluriel Charleston, on the other hand, was a shameful knock-off that captured none of the original car’s charm.

Daihatsu Terios Kiri

The Daihatsu Terios Kiri, launched as a tribute to Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, one of the world’s best loved opera singers. Half of that sentence is true.

Mini Knightsbridge

The Mini Knightsbridge was an export-only special edition, built to mark the end of Mini production. Only 150 of these left-hand-drive cars were sold, available in gold, black or British Racing Green.

Lotus Exige LF1

Just 81 Lotus Exige LF1s were built, with each sequentially numbered car celebrating a specific Lotus F1 victory. The highly-specced cars featured a bespoke black and gold paint scheme, echoing the firm’s Formula 1 heritage.

Alfa Romeo 4C Launch Edition

The Launch Edition of the 4C was available in either red or white, with each car offering distinctive badging, LED headlights and large burnished alloy wheels.

Aston Martin Vanquish Works 60th Anniversary

Rarer than a Perodua Myvi Wolfrace, only six Aston Martin Vanquish Works 60th Anniversary cars were built. In an effort to ensure things were kept tasteful, Aston invited buyers to call upon its ‘Q by Aston Martin’ personalisation department.

Volkswagen Beetle Fender

In 2012, Volkswagen teamed up with Fender, the legendary guitar maker, to produce the Beetle Fender. It featured a pumping stereo and a dashboard panel to echo the wood found on a classic Fender guitar. Groovy, baby.

Abarth 695 Edizione Maserati

Would you have paid £32,000 for a Fiat 500C? Of course you wouldn’t, but then this is no ordinary Fiat 500C. It isn’t even a Fiat. It’s the Abarth 695 Edizione Maserati and it came complete with a set of Tramontano leather cases. There was a Tributo Ferrari version, too.

Chrysler 300C John Varvatos

John Varvatos – yeah, you’ve heard of him. According to Wikipedia he’s an ‘American contemporary menswear designer’. Don’t worry, we had to look him up, too.

Chrysler Town and Country 30th Anniversary

The Chrysler Town & Country has had more special editions than you’ve had hot dinners. There’s the 10th Anniversary, the 25th Anniversary, the 30th Anniversary…

Ford Mustang 50th Anniversary

Look, another carmaker using the year of a particular model’s birth to dictate the production run. A total of 1,964 Ford Mustang 50th Anniversary cars were built, each one loaded with equipment.

Fiat Panda 4x4 Antarctica

Fiat jazzed up the Panda 4×4 by applying penguin decals to the side and calling it the Antarctica. Pingu allegedly signed the first 20 cars off the production line.

Ferrari Pininfarina Sergio

The Sergio is a car we wish Ferrari had built. Launched as the Pininfarina Sergio concept, itself a tribute to the great designer, it’s based on the Ferrari 458.

Jeep Wrangler Call of Duty Black Ops Edition

Can’t get enough of playing Call of Duty on your console? The Jeep Wrangler Call of Duty: Black Ops Edition is the ideal car for fans of the first-person shooter game. Although we’re not entirely sure why.

Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT Red Vapour

The Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT Red Vapour edition offers 468hp from its 6.4-litre V8 engine and will sprint to 62mph in a faintly ridiculous 5.0 seconds.

Volkswagen Kombi Final Edition

Built to mark 56 years of production in Brazil, the Volkswagen Kombi Last Edition was also the final model, with sales limited to 600. Each Kombi was finished in a unique two-tone white and blue, along with the obligatory numbered plaque on the dashboard.

Volvo XC90 First Edition

Clear a space outside the school gates, here’s the Volvo XC90. All 1,927 fully-loaded XC90 First Edition cars were sold out in just 47 hours. Worth tracking one down.

Nissan GT-R Track Edition

The Nissan GT-R Track Edition is a more aggressive and focused version of the car known as ‘Godzilla’. There’s a even wilder GT-R Nismo, but this is the one we’d have.

BMW 7 Series Horse Edition

BMW celebrated the Chinese Year of the Horse by unveiling the 7 Series Horse Edition. We look forward to the 4 Series Rat Edition soon.

Jeep Patriot Led Zeppelin

The Jeep Patriot Led Zeppelin. No really, that’s a thing. Go look it up…

Lexus LFA Nurburgring Package

The Nurburgring Package was a hardcore version of the really-rather-special Lexus LFA. An extra 10hp, more aerodynamic aids, a re-calibrated transmission and tuned suspension were some of the highlights.

Fiat Panda Mamy

The Fiat Panda Mamy was a special edition city car aimed at mums. Yep, that’s right, Fiat launched a car specifically for the ladies. Features included a bag hook in the boot and washable upholstery.

Mini Cooper Grand Prix

During the 1980s and 1990s there was a plethora of Mini special editions, including this: the Mini Cooper Grand Prix. Others included the Flame Red, Racing Green, Mini 25 and Cooper RSP.

Opel Speedster Scorpions

You couldn’t make it up. In Germany, the Scorpions are a big deal. Rock gods, if you like. But that doesn’t explain why Opel thought a Speedster Scorpions would be a good idea. Every owner received a Gibson guitar and a signed photo of the band.