The weekend approaches, and here you are on the Internet looking at cars—good for you! It’s certainly one of our favorite ways to spend time, which is why we’ve once again collected this Weekly Weird and Wonderful: our collection of the most interesting, significant, and unique vehicles to appear on BaT within the last seven days. This week we have (among other things) a Michèle Mouton rally car, a music video star, a wrecked exotic, and a car that doesn’t yet qualify as a car. If, at the end of this piece, you have not yet slaked your thirst for automotive oddities, please head on over to our Live Auctions Page to drink your fill.
Enjoy the Weekly Weird and Wonderful! Which one would you take home, and what other vehicles might have deserved a spot this week?
Ex–Michèle Mouton 1978 Fiat 131 Abarth Works Rally
Excuse us as we geek out a bit over Michèle Mouton, a trailblazer—literally and figuratively—in motorsport as well as the first and only woman to win a WRC event. The 1978 season was her first full year as a factory-supported rally driver for Fiat France, campaigning this Fiat 131 Abarth Works Rally car—one of some 47 built to “Corsa” spec. This Fiat, piloted by Mouton, finished 5th overall in the 1979 and 1980 Tours de Corse, as well as 7th overall at the 1980 Monte Carlo Rally. After the car’s WRC stint it was handed off to Vittorio Carlino, who drove it to victory in the 1983 Rally di Roccaruja.
The car is dressed in a livery similar to that of its final 1980 Tour de Corse appearance and is brought to us by BaT seller (and this week’s podcast guest) @FantasyJunction, who have included a driving video that captures every bit of the Fiat’s intensity and rawness possible on the busy roads of Emeryville, California.
2026 Fiat Topolino Dolce Vita
The current Fiat Topolino (released in 2023 overseas) shares its platform with the contemporary Citroën Ami, and manages to be even slower than its prewar namesake. That’s not really a problem, as the little 8-horsepower BEV is less a car than, according to Fiat, “your all-electric micromobility bestie.” That’s Tik-Tok speak for “fashionable golf cart.” The manufacturer has promised a kit rendering the little mouse street legal (and upgrading top speed to 25 mph) to be forthcoming, though the Dolce Vita edition’s side-impact ropes might not pass muster with NHTSA. Right now, the Topolino is only offered new on pre-sale at the Fiat Live Store website, so if you want to be the first kid at the mall to get one, this auction is your chance!
1977 Chevrolet Monza Mirage
Your eyes do not deceive you—this is a Mirage. The model was a one-year-only deal featuring a sport appearance package inspired by the DeKon Engineering IMSA silhouette racers campaigned by drivers like Al Holbert, Mike Keyser, Allan Moffat, and Al Unser. GM tapped the Michigan Auto Techniques Corporation (MAT) to manufacture the package’s front air dam, fender flares, and rear spoiler. Production figures are hard to pin down, making this clean example a sight worth celebrating for fans of IMSA as well as malaise-era oddities.
2007 Lamborghini Gallardo Coupe Project
For a proper assessment of this wrecked Gallardo, it is only right that we turn to the BaT commentariat. Here are some of our favorite entries:
@BlitzLead: The text says rollover but it looks more to me like it did a cartwheel which, in a Lamborghini Gallardo, requires a lot more commitment, effort and intentionality.
@Jhawk24: Seller, have you tried to turn the motor and did you fire the mechanic?
@Roth517: Bring a Tavarish.
@SHIRDI (The Seller): …the taillights still work.
We hope there are no peanut allergies in the audience, because there are five days left in the auction and they’re still flying!
PS—Kudos to the seller for springing for a professional photoshoot! Presentation matters, even with an exotic basketcase.
BMW K1200-Powered 1967 Sunbeam Stiletto
We love seldom-seen British oddballs like this Sunbeam Stiletto, essentially the Hillman Imp’s sportier counterpart. The Stiletto used a fastback coupe design cribbed from the Hillman Imp Californian and borrowed the running gear from the contemporary Imp Sport. A DOHC inline-four from a BMW K1200 motorcycle sits out back in this right-hand-drive example, which also features a few more modifications: adjustable coilovers, Corbeau bucket seats, and a Moto-Lita steering wheel among others. If the new owner is somehow ashamed of the car’s British roots, there’s a trunk-mounted BMW roundel to throw spectators off the scent.
Luc Donckerwolke’s RUF-Modified 1970 Porsche 914-6
This 1970 Porsche 914-6 was given the RUF treatment at the behest of Luke Donckerwolke—a famed automotive designer and currently president and chief creative officer at Hyundai and Genesis. You may know him as the man responsible for the Lamborghini Diablo VT 6.0, Murciélago, and Gallardo, but word on the street is that Donckerwolke has a thing for Porsches of this vintage. The transformation of his special 914-6 (reportedly modified to M471 GT spec back in 1975) involved lightweight bodywork, chassis upgrades, and a very RUF-y rebuild of its flat-six, which was fitted with twin-plug heads and punched out to 2.4 liters. It looks great and sounds even better.
654-Mile 1974 Honda Rickman CR750 Sandcast
The Honda CB750 is often called the first superbike, which makes this Rickman CR750 conversion a sort of super-duperbike. Honda’s 750cc four made the factory CB a fast, reliable screamer, but the Rickman brothers deemed it unsatisfactory when leaned over. Their “CR” kit (which stood for either “café racer” or “competition replica”) was billed as an upgrade, but in reality was a whole new bike that happened to require substantial donations from a CB750. It began with a skeletal replacement—a bronze-welded, nickel-plated Reynolds 531 frame, followed by Avon fiberglass bodywork, Borrani wheels, Girling shocks, Lockheed disc brakes, and a Betor fork. Any Rickman is a special bike, and this particular one is even better for being built around an early sandcast version of Honda’s famous engine.
TPI 350-Powered 1938 Lincoln Zephyr Custom Roadster Conversion
It would be impossible to detail all of the mods and tricks that went into customizing this Zephyr, which took builder Dave Iverson a reported 5,000 hours—we hope he had some help! Hot rods were very much their own thing in the ’90s, and some haven’t aged as well as this one, stylistically speaking. The level of taste, restraint, and talent that it took to bring “Gracie” here to life is evident in every detail, and the shelf of trophies included in the sale indicates we aren’t the only ones who love it.
1989 GMC C7000 Toter Motorhome 6-Speed
This is not the kind of vehicle that typically comes to mind when we think of something “track ready,” but the epithet certainly applies in this case. Drop on a trailer with a vintage race car, and you’ll have everything you need to feel at home at any racetrack in North America with this self-contained rig. Time to start workshopping CB handles.
1967 Maserati Quattroporte Series II Fire Truck
Firefighting equipment supplier CEA Estintori founded the CEA Squadra Corse (Italian for Racing Team) in 1970 as the official firefighting team for Formula 1 events in Italy. CEA Estintori’s own website calls his outfit the “Racing Team”—specifically, the “most efficient motor race fire team.” Of course, no normal apparatus would do, so six Maserati Quattroportes were modified by Carrozzeria Grazia with two-door bodywork and a pickup bed out back complete with a swiveling foam cannons. This one certainly had us pulling a double-take when it showed up on our front page. The fire truck spent nearly 10 years with the squad and is today offered in Switzerland, following a refurbishment to the tune of more than €200k.
Honorable Mentions
Willys Jeep-Style 2005 Yamaha Raptor 50
“Why are you grinning at me, Private Pyle?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
“You are grinning at me, you ugly ape!”
“I can’t help it, sir!”
Yemeni-Market 2006 Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG Wagon and Mongolian-Market 1998 Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG
If you’ve ever looked at the massive index of Mercedes-Benz option codes, you’ll see that the company has long made adaptations to sell their cars in far-flung markets. As best we can tell, there is exactly one MB dealer in Mongolia (in Ulaanbaatar), and the same goes for Sanaa, Yemen. Never chase a nomad on horseback.
36-Years-Family-Owned 1980 BMW 628CSi Convertible Conversion 4-Speed
For whatever reason, BMW never offered the 628CSi—or any of the E24 lineup, for that matter—as a drop-top, making this Hofmeister-kink-less convertible one rare shark. This conversion was done by Calley Cars of Elburg in the Netherlands, and is currently being offered out of Wateringen.
43-Years-Owned 1967 Austin-Healey 3000 BJ8 Mk III
We know what you’re thinking: an Austin-Healey 3000? We’ve all seen those before. And indeed you have—this very car! It is the same featured in the music video for “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” by Tears for Fears.
That does it for this edition of the Weekly Weird & Wonderful! Follow this page to get updates when new installments post, and tell what caught your eye or what you think we’ve left out!