Rare versions of common cars

So here is a Thread i thought about randomly, and decided to make a thread talking about some rare options or trims on rather common vehicles. For example, how about the Stick shift Grand Cherokee?

From what I could gather, the Stick shift was an option only in '93 and possibly '94. it was only available as an option in the lowest trim also available, which in itself wasn’t too popular. The poor sales of the trims alone got them cut from the lineup after '94. As for the stick shift, i’ve seen conflicting reports of it being dropped after '93 or partway through '94, regardless, it wasn’t available for a while due to it’s slow sales. I’d have no clue how many remain today, but i’d have to guess around maybe around 1,000. it’d be hard to find in the wild. However I have talked to someone once with one, keeps it in his Garage as it’s rotted out, but he has plans to restore it now after discovering it’s rarity.

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I dare say I probably have two that most people here know about, but I’ll just use pictures instead of spamming stuff I’ve written elsewhere.

The GT86 is relatively rare in it’s trim level, but I wouldn’t say it’s a particularly rare car:

The Corolla certainly isn’t a rare car, but the G6 was. Created as a supposed insurance friendly but sporty Corolla for the young’uns, it had a slightly more agressive look than the standard car, good spec, sporty interior, lightly beefed up suspension, but a slightly tweaked version of the Starlet’s 1.3 with 86hp. At the equivalent of £23000 in today’s money, you can understand why it was never the best seller, and if www.howmanyleft.com is to be believed only about 250 of them remain in all bodystyles.

I could carry on about other obscure Toyotas like our old Carina II Match Play which was a golf themed special edition and came with a free set of golf clubs, but I’ll let someone else have a go. :stuck_out_tongue: (Only about 12 of those are left and I’d very much love one. Still have the golf club set from ours)

Edit: Actually thinking about it the 2CV probably qualifies as it’s a rare factory black painted one, but it’s actual trim was nothing Spécial (har har).

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I don’t know if this would qualify as ‘rare,’ but my 2016 Chevy Camaro has the ‘rarest’ color choice.

Blue Velvet Metallic was the least ordered color, and it is only available for 2015 (the previous generation) and 2016 model year Camaros.

It’s also quite uncommon for them to have this powertrain as well: 2.0L turbo inline-4 with 6-speed manual. Most of them are 3.6L V6 with the 8-speed automatic.

EDIT: it’s also quite rare for mine to be a 2LT trim (with leather seats and other niceties), most manual transmission Camaros are base 1LT for 2016/2017, and manual is only on the 1LS trim for 2017.5+

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Pony cars with turbo fours are hilarious (in a good way). :ok_hand:

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Well it is a rare option, so it does count

also nice camaro, bit jealous, because i know when I can afford one there will be very few left in that configuration (2.0 6 speed) because I heard they were pretty good track cars… and we know what happens at tracks in the hands of the inexperienced…

Well, mine is my daily driver, so I have no plans of taking it to the track, nor do I want to drag race it. Most I’ll do to it is mild bolt-ons, a tune, and some good tires.

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Well I was browsing craigslist and came across this ultra rare beast. A 1986 Jeep Commanche with the 2.1L Renault Diesel.
https://buffalo.craigslist.org/cto/6164681990.html


According to the ad, there’s maybe only 30 left of these, and in this condition with 4WD, i’d imagine even fewer, and from what I know about it it’s a completely believable number, as people here hated it. Not sure if I would personally get it though if i had the cash, cause at the end of the day, it’s an underpowered truck, so underpowered in fact that you could only get it with a manual back in '86, as there wasn’t enough power for an automatic. though i would still hope for a Commanche one day.

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Speaking of the Jeep Grand Cherokee, there was also a diesel option available 10 years ago stateside. But they’re rare (in the US) as they were only sold here for 2 years.

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No prizes for guessing what car I’m going to write about.

While there were literally one million Peugeot 405s made, only about 1000 of them were T16 (that’s 0.1% if you are counting)

So what makes a T16 different to the more common 405s. Well the engine is based on one 2.0 in the Mi16 except it’s turbocharged with a variable area turbo (early variable geometry). Because of the turbo, the crankshaft is forged (the only petrol 405 to have a forged crank) and the compression ratio is lower. The compressed air is cooled by a water-air intercooler, so the radiator is a sort-of two in one setup with intercooler water in the top section and the normal coolant below, despite that it’s the all the same coolant loop. I believe that is for emissions reasons, as it’s a common and easy mod to separate the charge and engine coolant.

For the driveline, the AWD system came from the Mi16x4, but of course it had to be strengthened. Except the gearbox that came from the V6 and turbo diesel Peugeot/Citroëns which of course also had to be altered to fit the AWD system, by removing the front diff from inside the gearbox case, and fitting a hollow output shaft so that the right front driveshaft can pass through the gearbox. The front and center diff are both of a planetary type and are located in a transfer case connected to the gearbox. The center diff is also helped by a viscous lock that, as the name implies, locks the front and rear axle together if there is a speed difference. At the rear we find a Torsen diff and a Citroën based hydraulically suspensions with an electric pump.

As you might have guess if you read all that, there tons of other small changes to the front suspension, brakes, interior and exterior. I’m fairly sure Peugeot could not have made any money on the T16 with the low production numbers and hundreds of special parts.

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The Rover 200 BRM!

All models were finished in Brooklands Green with that distinctive orange BRM grille, inspired by the 1960s BRM race cars.
In short, it was a Rover 200 Vi underneath so this means that it had the 1.8 K-Series VVC engine with 145 very British horsepower. Differences from the Vi included the fact that it was lowered a bit with revised handling characteristics, had a bit more of a firm ride, a gearbox with shorter ratios and it had a limited slip differential. And, my personal favourite bit, the obnoxious interior.

They made 795 of these things for the UK and there’s less than 150 still on the roads. Of course, despite being a limited production car, Rover had difficulty selling these things… at £18,000 before options. Yup. That was in 1997 too, so that’s about £27,000 today. You can imagine that they eventually started cutting prices to shift the things.
Overall, they were good cars, typical Rovers really with a bit of added fun and attention, because I don’t think there’s a single person on the planet that wouldn’t turn their head to look at this thing.
You can still pick them up for quite cheap, but I don’t expect that to last too much longer. They’re going to be worth a lot one day.

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