What's the rarest car you've owned?

So I have a question. Where are you guys pulling production numbers from for most of these cars? Especially the option code specific production numbers. I've never been able to figure out where these numbers are coming from.

The ones I posted were total production of that model. I don't get into the whole "its one of three with yellow paint, manual transmission, power windows, and tweed floor mats" thing.

But I found my numbers by googling (for example) "1996 Impala SS production." If I wanted to narrow it down, my Impala is probably only one of several thousand without the sunblock windshield, with dual power seats, in black color. My 73 Impala Station Wagon was one of about 90,000 Impala wagons for that year, but it was actually probably pretty rare being equipped only with a 454 and A/C as its only options.

The only time I play that game is if it is a rare, high-dollar car to begin with.

Mostly Wikipedia. Porsche, Ferrari, BMW and Mercedes have that info available. There are books that show them pretty well also.

My AMG was built by AMG West in 1991 and was one of 51 built. That was total AMG production of W126 chassis cars in 1991. There are no euro AMG W126 since Mercedes was switching over so the 1991 W126 is a fairly rare car to start with. The guy who ordered mine ordered three exactly the same from them through Napletons in Bourbonnais Illinois. Some cars like my 98 (97 build) Dakota RT had a plaque in the glovebox saying it was one of xxxx built specifically for me. The color options are usually tracked as people realize cars are unusual so even "normal" cars start being tracked. We had a mustang in 2003 or so that when we sold it some guy went nuts over it being a V8 manual in sunset yellow or something so the info is out there for most cars if you are willing to dig deep enough.

I've owned three of the 5155 Renault GTAs built.

My 2007 Mazda5 with manual transmission seems pretty rare, but no idea how many are around.

But I think my old '86 Toyota 4x4 pickup with turbocharged 22R-TE and 5-speed is probably the rarest. I've only ever seen one other turbo 'yota and it was 2WD.

1989 M3, Rust free CJ7, 1984 Buick GN in 1984 less that 2000 built and only year with the seat fabric vs leather insert reversed of what all other years offered. Don't know how rare but a BMW 525i with the only options as a 3:90 LSD rear and a close ratio 5 speed, not a rare car but maybe the options.

The California emissions spec 1986 Mustang LX notchback with the 4cycl / 4 speed was probably on the rare side.

curtis73 wrote: The ones I posted were total production of that model. I don't get into the whole "its one of three with yellow paint, manual transmission, power windows, and tweed floor mats" thing.

There's a thing called the Marti Report that's available for Fords from 1967 - 2007; they have the computerized production records from Ford and can break out numbers by pretty much every option or configuration. It's funny to go to a car show and see a Mustang that was 1 of 1, because it came with a green interior and deluxe ashtrays.

My opinion on determining rarity (at least with US cars) is to go by 1) make/model/year, 2)drivetrain options, and then maybe 3) body color. Anything beyond that is just splitting hairs.

I don't even go drivetrain options. My wagon could have been had with any one of 6 engines and three transmissions but I don't really count that. I would count it if it were some option that was really rare; manual in a G body, convertible in an LS6 Chevelle, Six pack in a Dart.

But I don't separate out production numbers of my 73 Impala because only 30% of them had 454s instead of 350s. But, if only 2% of them had 454s, that would be something to talk about.

But that's just me. I agree... 1 of 1 with special ashtrays is comical.

The drivetrain thing comes into play when you have something like a Plymouth Barracuda, for example - you could get one with a slant six, or a 426 Hemi, and it's pretty obvious which one would be rarer and more desirable. Having said that, there's a guy around here who owns a 1970 Barracuda he bought new. It's a base model with no options (except for maybe the radio), it has a slant six and three speed manual transmission, and something like only 20,000 miles on the odometer - it's completely original. I see him and his car at virtually every car show I go to, and he's just as proud of that car as the guy parked next to him with a Hemi 'Cuda. It's cool just because it's an oddball...cars like that just don't normally survive all these years, especially in mint condition.

1994 BMW 325is MTech. Precursor to the M3. Less than 200 produced.

@carczar_84: In the case of my '79 Fairmont, my mother, who worked at a Ford dealership, asked the district manager what he could find out. I received a sheet that said, basically, that there were about 540,000 Fairmonts produced in the '79 model year, 10% of those were 2-door sedans, 1% of sedans had 302s, and 10% of the 302 sedans had 4-speeds.

My 1995 Plymouth Neon ACR sedan, white. It was one of about 200 of all colors made; there were probably about a hundred white ones.

I can make my 2010 RX8 R3 sound really uncommon by saying that Mazda only sold 111 RX8's in the country that year, so way fewer than 100 total R3's, but I'm Canadian, so that might be considered "cheating".

Apparently, I have a Bugatti, so take that suckas!

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/seems-legit/106352/page1/

stuart in mn wrote:

curtis73 wrote: The ones I posted were total production of that model. I don't get into the whole "its one of three with yellow paint, manual transmission, power windows, and tweed floor mats" thing.

There's a thing called the Marti Report that's available for Fords from 1967 - 2007; they have the computerized production records from Ford and can break out numbers by pretty much every option or configuration. It's funny to go to a car show and see a Mustang that was 1 of 1, because it came with a green interior and deluxe ashtrays. My opinion on determining rarity (at least with US cars) is to go by 1) make/model/year, 2)drivetrain options, and then maybe 3) body color. Anything beyond that is just splitting hairs.

You can positively identify 87% of individual Americans with only date of birth, gender and zip code. I suspect 1 of 1 cars are really common.

I've been drawn to oddballs for so long I don't even consider things like a color code to make a car rare anymore but on that note,

My Marauder is one of @400 silver 2003s I owned a Lancia Scorpion, only slightly rare Dad and I owned a 33 Olds 4 door 6 cylinder, very few left (at the time we could only find 3 in the US) I recently found another that Im pondering as a project

Oh and the Wartburg, I guess any car that I haven't heard of until I own it is kinda rare.

Playing the sequential option percentage game is pretty common in the Corvette world - it's even recommended in the annual Corvette Black Book. So let's see - my '94 C4 is a coupe (17, 984 built), with 6-speed manual (25.77 %), two tops (painted and bronze clear, 22.13 %), Polo green (15.15 %), with FX3 Selective Ride Control (19.50 %) Assuming an even distribution of these options my car is 1 of 30. Do I believe it? No - but it's probably one of a couple of hundred. Do I care? No, but I like it, and that's all that counts. It won't ever be Barrett-Jackson material, but that's fine, I can go drive it, and hopefully it will hold its value if I'm careful with it.

My brother reminded me of a couple I forgot,

78 LRT (1 of 21xx)

79 LRT (1 of 51xx)

77 warlock (green, actual number unknown; 4-600 of each color in 76/77 are thrown around)

Mk3 harlequin (1 of 250ish)

In reply to chandlerGTi:

There was a green Warlock for sale on CT CL a month or so ago. I may even have posted a link to the ad here.

Wow, let's see: Austin A40 Somerset

Austin A55 Cambridge

Simca 1204

Jag XK150S 3.4 OTS

Triumph TR8 (injected)

Triumph GT6 Mk3

Fiat 850 Coupe

Vauxhall Firenza (Canadian market Viva, not really a Firenza)

Jag XJ12L

Not sure how rare, but I almost never see them on the road anymore. I had a '92 SHO 5spd, green/black leather, sunroof. And a '95 SHO 5spd (white/grey cloth, slicktop)

Playing the options game gives odd results and often no value increase.

Ask my friend with the C2 Corvette - one of a handful of big block cars ordered new in the first year they standardized 4 wheel disc brakes, with drums all round (presumably a 'delete' option left on the books for anyone that didn't trust new fangled brakes). rare, yes. Valuable, no. Unsafe? You bet!

Looked it up - 316 of the 23,562 Corvettes built that year came with drums and were charged $64.50 less because of that. No record of how many big block cars took that option.