Sometimes car companies release cars that are just misguided and wrong for the time. Other times they do the opposite and don’t release a car that would have been perfect. Today we celebrate five of the cars that never made it into production, but should have!
Holden Torana GTR-X
It sure doesn’t look like any Holden before or after it, but the Torana GTR-X was an all-Aussie effort that could have been the greatest car to ever come out of the big, brown, dry land to our west.
The idea was sound - Holden wanted to create a low-cost sports car using existing parts and inexpensive tooling. Based on standard Torana running gear, the GTR-X was supposed to enter production in 1970 and packed that car’s 3.0-litre straight six engine.
The engine produced around 120kW of power and 285Nm of torque and the GTR-X weighed a reported 1,043kg, meaning it probably would have had similar performance as today’s Toyota 86 - not blistering, but by God it would have been fun. And juts look at it!
Ford Mustang Mach 2
Appearing at the 1967 Chicago motor show, the Mustang Mach 2 was a radical departure from what was a very successful car at the time.
While it was based on a shortened version of the Mustang’s platform and used the same 289cu. in. V8, the Mach 2 was a mid-engined sports car intended as a replacement for the Shelby Cobra!
It never made production (of course) and a few years lated Ford teamed up with DeTomaso to supply engines for the awesome Pantera. Still, the idea of a mid-engined Mustang variant is pretty incredible and a massive shame it never happened.
General Motors thought it was pretty good as well, as they have been taunting us with mid-engined Corvette concepts ever since Ford did this...
Nissan IDx
Nissan’s answer to the RWD tuner craze that was (and largely still is) sweeping through Japan and America in 2013, the IDx and IDx Nismo were intended (much like the Holden Torana GTR-X) to be low-cost sporty cars built on an existing platform.
Despite being wildly popular and loved as a concept, Nissan got cold feet and quietly dropped the idea shortly after revealing the concept. Even American TV celebrity and big-time car nut Jay Leno begged Nissan to put it into production after driving the Nismo version.
But it was - and probably never is - to be and Nissan look to continue exciting the world with more Qashqais and Pulsars...
Jeep Mighty FC
Unlike everything else on this list, your erstwhile writer of these Thursday Five lists has actually driven the Jeep Mighty FC and can tell you first hand that the world is missing out join something truly brilliant!
The Mighty FC was created as one of the “Moab concepts” that Jeep builds every year for the massive celebration of everything Jeep that takes place in the Moab desert in the US every year.
Based on the Wrangler (yes, really!), the Mighty FC (for Forward Control) was powered by the Wrangler’s 3.6-litre Pentastar petrol V6, had tartan upholstery inside and sat on MASSIVE 40-inch tyres.
It could go almost anywhere, was remarkably easy to drive and sounded - and looked - utterly awesome. If we could have one, we would in a second...
Audi Sport Quattro Hybrid
A 522kW/800Nm hybrid V8 with AWD and a 0 to 100 time of 3.7 seconds in a body that strongly pays tribute to what is possibly the greatest rally car of all times? Yes please!
Unfortunately Audi has chosen to play with our hearts with the Sport Quattro Hybrid that was just that very thing.
Revealed at the Frankfurt motor show in 2013, the awesomeness that is the Sport Quattro Hybrid will almost certainly never see production. Instead Audi has released a number of the technologies that the concept debuted.
While that is nice and all, we really would like to see something this startlingly sexy on the roads, Audi. Please?