1990 Buick Century 2dr. 1 of 1,944 made that year. I own 3 of them. Also own a 1993 Buick Century 2dr. 1993 was the last year a 2dr was offered on the A-body platform and only 693 were made.
Also have a 1990 Pontiac 6000 Safari Wagon with 61,000 miles on it and a 1986 Buick Somerset with 95,000 miles on it. Both not too rare when built but don't really see any around anymore. Yes, I have a cheap, old, GM, junk buying problem...
1984 Fiero Indy Pace Car
1980 Trans Am Indy Pace Car
The rarest vehicle I've owned was probably my 1990 full-size Bronco. It had the 5.0 with a 5-speed. Had the dual front shocks too, which I guess were optional. Otherwise it was option-less. No carpets, vinyl seats, etc. I've seen maybe one other that had that drivetrain combo. All the other stick-shift ones have been the 300 six.
trucke said:Still have an FX16. However, my 2013 Focus Sedan with the MTX75 transmission (5 speed manual) is probably more of a unicorn.
One of my friends has a base '13 sedan with a SIX.
It also has the grille shutters, but none of the other eco-options.
I've owned a 1991 Galant VR4 376/2000 and a 1989 Starion SHP. My 1987 Conquest could probably qualify as a unicorn too.
Subaru RX Turbo 4-door.
Isuzu Impulse Turbo. Mine was black, and it was a 1985, which was a partial production year. It was also an automatic, of which only about 100 were imported.
Not sure how unicorn it is (although it was the last year of production), but the first car I bought on my own.
1994 Suzuki Swift GT.
And, I guess my '03 MINI was a bit of a unicorn because of how I spec'd it. BRG, no sunroof, vinyl sport seats, sport suspension plus, cruise and Xenon's.
I still miss the Swift. :(
-Rob
Plymouth Scamp (Valiant)
Outback 6 speed manual.
My '86 Saab 900 2-door notchback. They sold them in the U.S. for two years only, just a couple thousand of them. They are lighter and stiffer than the more common hatchbacks. It's got a lot of mods and I love it, but honestly, it mostly sits under a cover because it badly needs paint (the pic is old) and some other work and I don't have a garage.
My first car was one of the most non-unicorns ever. I owned one of 21,529,464 VW Beetles.
Roughly 28,000 of the 473,035 Mercedes W116 cars are 300SDs, the world's first turbo diesel car.
My 1962 Mercury Comet 2dr Sedan was 1 of ~7500
1974 Volkswagen Type 181 (Thing) my first car and only one I regret not getting to keep forever. (not mine but close to pictured.)
1990 Geo Prizm hatchback Lsi w/ 5 speed. No total hens teeth but less common than the auto-tragic Prizm or the Corolla.
One of 3800.
The amusing thing is, everybody I know who has had one, has had several.
Picture an Audi 4000 quattro, with a slightly wider wagon body, and built on a front wheel drive floorpan instead of a quattro four wheel struts setup. The rear suspension was trailing arms remarkably similar to a Super Beetle or 944, but with coilover shocks instead of torsion bars. The toe steer makes these handle better than an Audi, IMO, as the toe out under lateral loads reduces the understeer effects of having a 500lb engine kissing the front bumper.
The same rear beam/arms setup was used on the Golf Syncro, and for the same reason: it slotted in where a twist beam normally resided, but the Quantum used essentially the ur-q/4000 rear differential.
As such, any drivetrain that fits in an ur-q/4000/80/90/Coupe Quattro will fit, because it's the same chassis...
1975 Plymouth Scamp
1975 AMC hornet x with the 304 v8
Maybe the 1979 chevy camero with the straight 6 and floor shifted 3spd manual counts(half joking)
My first car owned for any length of time was a hotrodded Datsun 510. It wasn't really a unicorn then but I understand they sure are now. Then there was the stage rally prepped Mazda 323 GTX, all of the hassles of an exotic with none of the looks and some bit of the performance. A codependent beeyotch, that one was. I've had 3 of the 1100 or so awd Mazda protege's. One of em was stock, one had the entire drivetrain ripped out and replaced with the factory GpA 323 GTR running gear, more than 300 hp at the wheels and a total laugh riot, how I miss that car. The 3rd one is still here, open class rallykar named Humpty. One of these days all the king's men will put it together again. My current daily is a one of three, maybe four, Brabus K8 E55's in the US, they can try to pry it from my cold dead hands. I never knew I could love a huge autotragic 4door but there it is. And I think Moby the Road Condo is almost a unicorn. Foretravel's most coveted years were 1991 to 1995, and Moby's an '89, but is vanishingly rare, and a proper, proper motorcoach. 30 plus years old and doing yeoman duty. Wotta nice bus.
Oh hell... I seem to have forgotten about the hulking white whale of a unicorn sitting in my driveway:
1992 E350, extended length, raised roof conversion van with a diesel engine. I literally searched for one of these for about 20 years before finding this one. It is really rather depressing it won't really work for what I want to do with a van.
Speaking of vans...
I own a Nissan Axxess with the 5 speed and the rare AWD package.
No pictures, pretty soon it's going to succumb to the tin worm.
each of these are about 1 of 2800 not counting options.
I can go look but the 16v is one of 2800ish iirc and I owned an AUTO version which was 1 of 700 I think. Ive owned 3 which seems crazy now.
1 of 1 as optioned but a msport e39 528it manual is pretty rare without paint to match
AMG west built 51 total cars in 1991, the 5.6SEL was one of four built with two optioned exactly the same going to the original owner of mine. Miss this one the most.
the AMG 300e was a rarity as well but AMG east didn't keep as good records as west.
unknown production, but dang rare.
this failed emissions so we were able to snap it up for $1200 in 2001, AMG built coupe with a AMG built engine and trans. Nearly all of the AMG cars from this era in the US are stock power besides trans shift kits.
a rarity in the US for sure, triumph 2000
no pics on my phone (probably on a Zip drive) but a 91 944 S2 cab in triple blue was 1 of 700ish and a Ferrari 400ia that was also 1 of 355 autos built over four or five years.
I once owned a 67 Impala SS with original 230 and powerglide.
The way it looked you'd think it was a big block car
In reply to chandler :
I'm having a Benz overload and I'm in love. Thank you.
The first car I bought was an '88 Mazda 626 5 door touring sedan. Never saw many 5 doors.
I have a '95 M Miata, but I don't think cosmetic differences really make it a unicorn.
My 2005 Legacy GT manual is pretty rare.
My '92 Galant VR4 is definitely a unicorn. 3000 over two years and almost every part but the external sheet metal was different from a regular Galant. It's even the rare Gray color.
My DD is a bit of a unicorn because of its extra pedal.
In reply to chandler :
Who'd you sell that 560SEL to?
1986 chevy pickup. One ton, but single rear wheel. Regular cab. Diesel. Manual trans.
Alas, I don't have any digital photos, but I did own a 1964 Series IV Sunbeam Alpine with the Borg Warner automatic transmission. It was a surprising good car, albeit slow. A bit of a bondo baby, it was complete if rough. Production numbers are bit a unclear, but Rootes is thought to have made somewhere between 100 and 1500 automatic cars between '64 and '65. My wife and I drove that car around town for a few years with no issues. I didn't have the time or resources to restore it being neck deep in a Mk1 Tiger restoration, so I traded it in to the local Toyota dealership on a new 1985 Celica GTS.
yupididit said:In reply to chandler :
Who'd you sell that 560SEL to?
Bruce
I know I've told this before but after he bought mine he found one that was PERFECT and offered mine back to me. I was unable at the time (drat my luck) so he actually eBayed it and a guy from SoCal bought it. They emailed back and forth and he picked him up in Philly at the airport and the guy paid CASH for it and drove away. California Highway Patrol later contacted him and said it was in a holding yard after being snagged in a drug deal. He did not retrieve it since he correctly felt it had been paid for and was not his any longer and was told it would be crushed. He and I talked about this and we both lamented it's demise.
It still exists; I saw it on Instagram but no one knew who owned it. The wheels are painted black and the grill is chrome now but otherwise there are some top offs that it's my old one.
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