The Most Underappreciated Exotic Cars Ever Made - Las Vegas Edition

2. Maserati Bora

The Maserati Bora of the 1970s is another exotic who never quite made it to be a superstar, despite having been designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, the house go-to designer for Maserati. In fact, the Bora was Maserati’s first mid-engined road car, which came with a V8 engine under the bonnet, light weight (at the time, pretty record-breaking) and the ability to go very, very quickly – on a fast circuit rather than on the road, of course. The Bora’s lines were ground-breaking and ahead of their time, combining sleek looks with practicality – it simply didn’t enjoy the exposure as many other contemporary Italian exotics.

3. Vector W8

In the late 1980s and early ’90s, American sports car brand Vector made the W8 – a sleek spaceship of a car powered by a twin-turbocharged V8 and employing aerospace technology. The W8 was one of the hottest cars which it never was – and never quite made it. Due to production difficulties and the company’s financial woes, sales were catastrophic. Today, the Vector will bring you a small fortune – and guarantee you a parking spot filled with nothing but engineering gusto.

4. Bristol Fighter

Designed by the British marque Bristol Cars in the early 2000s, the Fighter was a ‘gran turismo’ designed to house a mid-mounted V10 engine sourced from the Dodge Viper muscle car. The shape was unique for a four-seater . The Fighter came equipped with gull-wing doors and a teardrop body with a central nose cone. The Fighter bridged the gap between comfort and a driver-centric experience, boasting all the speed and deceleration of a proper driver’s car. But it didn’t enter the public eye, mostly because the Bristol company had a low production.

5. Isdera Imperator 108i

A rare and exotic car built in Germany and originally derived from a Mercedes-Benz concept car with a Mercedes V8 engine and wedge-shaped model outline, the Isdera (for IMPerator DESign RA high-speed vehicle) Imperator 108i had a production run of fewer than a dozen. A unique vehicle hand-built by a small company, it was never ‘mainstream’, never truly famous.

6. De Tomaso Pantera

The De Tomaso Pantera is an Italian Ferrari design with American muscle. It was built from the early ’70s until the early ’90s and is notable for its low-slung style and Ford V8 power. The Pantera was a raw and aggressive looking car with lots of potential, but it has often been overlooked by people looking for sports cars. Main reason being the Pantera often facing reliability issues, among other build-quality concerns.

7. Noble M600

The Noble M600 is a British supercar which sadly flies under the radar. Powered by a twin-turbo V8 in a lightweight carbon fiber tub, it’s capable of eyeball-melting acceleration and handling being a joy on the limit. The M600 is about the art of driving in the analogue way, with minimum electronic intervention and a focus on driver participation. It enjoys a dedicated cult fanbase, but despite its ability, it’s Noble’s very small production run which kept it from popular exposure, and so from more customers.

8. Ascari KZ1

An example is the KZ1 supercar, launched in the mid-2000s and developed by the British firm Ascari. Based around a BMW-sourced V8 engine and carbon fiber monocoque, the KZ1 was an ultra-high-performance machine with plush appointments to take on the best supercars. Unfortunately for Ascari, the potential for success never materialized, as the company’s financial woes and production delays restricted how much of the public ever saw the car.

9. Cizeta-Moroder V16T

The Italian supercar the Cizeta-Moroder V16T has a quirky history, the brainchild of former Lamborghini engineers who pooled their resources to build a supercar with a bespoke V16 engine and a music producer, Giorgio Moroder, who invested in the project. The styling was uniquely distinctive, reflecting the early Lamborghini tradition. But it was a costly endeavor to build it, and only a limited market was interested. The product of these joint efforts was perhaps one of the world’s most underappreciated automotive treasures, given the scarcity of units produced – true supercars for the few.

10. Lotus Esprit V8

The 1990s-era twin-turbocharged, V8-engined Lotus Esprit V8 is another car likely to go unnoticed in the exotic department. The Esprit V8 shares the angular good looks and lightness making its predecessors desirable. Behind the bangs and bucks was a fast and capable exotic, but ultimately a car struggling to challenge well-established brands in the exotic car segment.

Appreciating the Unseen

Known by only a few enthusiasts, none of these cars is a household name like a Ferrari or a Lamborghini, and none sells for millions of dollars at auction. But each offers something unusual – dramatic engineering, elegant design, raw power, even good performance on the track – and, gathered together, they suggest both a neglected chapter of automobile history and an ongoing subculture of speed, beauty and exclusivity. They may be the cars you’ve never heard of, but in some respects it makes them worth noticing.