Test Mule Masterpiece
By now, we’re sure you’ve all heard the stories of Renault’s most outrageous hatchback. The humble Clio has been a staple of the brand’s legacy for decades, and so when rumours of a mid-engined powerhouse using the hatchback's body started to circle, motoring media and enthusiasts alike went into a frenzy. The result, the Phase 1 Clio V6, was a machine straight from the wildest fever dreams, a seemingly unrepeatable moment in Renault’s history, and yet, shortly after its launch, a second phase was in the pipeline.
That’s where this sleek silver example enters the frame. Renault sent 12 early production shells and V6 engines to Tom Walkinshaw Racing, who had built all the Phase 1 cars for the French manufacturer in Sweden. These shells formed the foundation for the Phase 2 Clio V6, with TWR completing and road registering these Development Cars in 2002 for testing. While the production cars were built back in Dieppe, the development cars were eventually sold, and this example was purchased by the consigner from TWR themselves. As desirability of these incredible machines continues to rocket, the concept of owning the test car that brought it to life is truly the ultimate for a collector!
Split Personalities
RUF is no stranger to customising one of Stuttgart’s finest into the ultimate display of performance and individuality, but this one-of-12 RUF R 3400S from 2002 takes what was already bonkers and cranks it up way past 11. According to its records, the car was painted to match the original owner’s hair style, creating this exceptional transitional paint scheme that ranges from Light Purple Opal at the front to Amparo Blue Metallic at the rear, with a matching lilac soft top.
Not to be outdone, the car’s interior is also a perfect match to the crazy exterior, featuring a highly sought-after combination of leather and blue Alcantara. The result is unlike any Porsche we’ve ever seen, and only made possible thanks to the close ties between the RUF family and the car's first owner, whose no doubt incredible hair style is forever immortalised with this machine!
Aston’s slowest deprecating car
We love them for their glorious engine notes, their effortlessly suave road presence and the ability to turn heads at just about every hotel lobby, but if there’s one pitfall an Aston Martin has, it's their residual values. They aren’t alone in this, of course, but it’s rare to come away from owning a brand-new model from Gaydon with profit, making the used market a glorious place to hunt for bargains. There is, however, one car that flips that theory on its head, boasting by far the cheapest sticker price of any Aston Martin when new, yet is somehow still increasing in value as the years roll by. The Cygnet was the smallest car Aston ever built, and was their first and only city car to date, costing around £30,000 back in 2011. Nowadays, examples such as this low mileage Kangaroo Yellow Cygnet have become real collector’s items, with a mere 400 units produced worldwide. If you’re looking for the ideal companion to your Aston Martin that can be parked in even the tightest of spots, look no further!
Blue Sky Thinking
Believe it or not, we are creeping up to the 10-year anniversary of the Ferrari 488 Pista, a car that, without us realising at the time, heralded the end of combustion-only prancing horses, making room for an influx of hybrid-assisted V6 performance cars to take up the helm. The 488 Pista, in our humble opinion, is ageing wonderfully, especially when you discover specifications such as this one, boasting Azzurro California paintwork and an interior drenched in alcantara and carbon fibre. We’re seeing values of Ferrari’s upper echelon of performance cars steadily increase, with demand for the 360 CS and 458 Speciale showing no signs of slowing, and we predict the Pista isn’t far behind!
A G like you’ve never seen before
The stories of Mercedes-Benz’s collaborations with AMG during the 1980s are often those more likened to science fiction. AMG would take some of Merc’s most sedate machines and transform them into supercar-slaughtering powerhouses, not to mention their work within the world of motorsport. This outrageous vehicle was created at the end of the 1980s as an uncompromising rally vehicle for the toughest long-distance competition in the world, the Paris Dakar Rally. It was based on the Mercedes G-Wagen, but even to the untrained eye, it was extensively modified in almost all areas, ready to tackle the hardest rally of them all. In total, only two vehicles of this specification were built, of which only this sole car has survived, and was driven and later owned by racing icon Clay Regazzoni. It was entered a total of four times into the gruelling rally, with Regazzoni also using this unlikely rally beast for other international events, including the 1991 Rally of the Pharaohs and the 1993 Baja Espana. As artifacts of motorsport history go, it doesn’t get much cooler than this!
