Project Petrolhead

I do love a weird special edition of a car. The idea that two seemingly identical cars can be separated by the presence of a small nametag stitched to the side of a seat is both baffling and, for me at least, interesting. For example, as a consummate Jaguar XK enthusiast, I just wish sometimes that the interior was a bit more… leathery. Luckily, the Jaguar XK Artisan Edition by Poltrona Frau has you covered! Featuring an interior re-trimmed with “Scraffito” leather and walnut, it was intended to maximise the luxurious-ness to levels never seen outside of Bentley or Rolls-Royce. Speaking of…

Rolls-Royce is currently owned by BMW. Do you know who else is owned by BMW? Mini! So it made total sense (to somebody) to have the two brands collaborate to build one of the most ludicrously expensive city cars of all time; the Mini Cooper S Inspired by Goodwood. Essentially, Mini handed over a Cooper S to Rolls-Royce (complete with 180bhp turbocharged engine) who proceeded to throw most of it away. In its place, there was a heady mixture of Diamond Black metallic paint, cashmere, cornsilk leather and burr walnut. Fancy! Also, a price tag of over £40,000. Not so fancy. No wonder then, that there are less of these on the roads today than there are actual Rolls-Royce Phantoms.

But it’s not just extra luxury that special editions can add, just ask Alfa Romeo. When they decided that they wanted to inject some much-needed sportiness to their dinky diesel hatchback, the 147 (a car that I have a bit of a history with), who better to turn to than… a motorcycle manufacturer? The Alfa Romeo 147 Ducati Corse is a surprisingly solid attempt at building a diesel hot hatch, featuring tweaked suspension, 170bhp from it’s 1.9 litre engine and a Q2 Torsen limited-slip differential (something that no other 147, including the 3.2 litre V6 GTA, had featured up to that point) to help put the power down. Molto Bene!

Now, I must find a way to segue from Italians to Batman. Yes, Batman. You see, Gotham’s caped crusader is inextricably linked to cars. Ever since Adam West hopped into his modified Lincoln Futura to chase down that week’s costumed baddie, every young boy in the world has wanted to drive the Batmobile. So, when it came time to celebrate the launch of 2017’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, a four-wheeled tie-in product seemed obvious. Problem was, the car they decided to use was not some jet-propelled exotica, it was a small SUV. The Jeep Renegade Dawn of Justice Edition matches the spec of the one used by Ben Affleck in the opening of the film, which means it looks exactly like… a normal Jeep Renegade. Something that can’t be said about the efforts of their Stellantis Group stablemates.

Fiat are brilliant at mad special editions. From the football inspired Panda Italia 90 (check out the fantastic wheel trims!) to approximately 1 billion versions of the 500. These include; The Ferrari Edition (provided as a courtesy car to Ferrari customers), the Riva Edition (a tie-in with the famed Italian yacht builder), the Vintage 57 Edition (a retro-inspired design, marking the year when the first 500s rolled out of the factory) and several versions thought-up by fashion designers like Diesel, Gucci and… Barbie? If you prefer your fashion-branded special editions to come with a little more horsepower, you may want to try the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Versace edition. Very stylish.