Life is cruel, sometimes. You see a car – you might even drive it – but before you start imagining it on your driveway, you’re informed it’s sold out. Falling in love with a limited-edition model is a painful business; not only is it highly likely you’ll miss the boat, but, in the case of many examples, when one does reappear on the market, its value will have shot up and you won’t be able to afford it anyway.
APR 27th 2017
Erin Baker: The top 10 limited‑edition cars I wish I’d bought
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Meanwhile, we can all fill our fantasy garage full of our dashed hopes and unfulfilled dreams…
Here’s mine.
Caterham Sprint
Only 60 will be built, and the entire run sold out seven days after the car’s launch at last year’s Goodwood Revival. It’s a glorious, glorious iteration of the Seven, and a fitting tribute for the 7 formula's 60th-anniversary celebrations this year.
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McLaren BP23
Despite the £2m price tag, all 106 examples are gone before they appear, which will be 2019. There were three times as many serious expressions of interest as cars available, so they’re probably not willing to consider a PCP deal quite yet. One senses that, although this three-seat hybrid supercar, codenamed BP23, will no doubt have its shortcomings and foibles, as the long-awaited homage to the F1, it will tug at the heartstrings.
BMW M4 GTS
The fastest road-going BMW ever built, and a serious piece of kit. Brings the M badge to life with defibrillators. Just 30 have been earmarked for the UK; while it costs double the price of a normal M4, it's more than double the drive.
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Aston Martin DB4 GT
The first of three continuation cars on my list, and no apologies for that fact. What’s not to like about having the official pedigree of an original, but with the reliability and quality of a new build? Twenty-five are being built from the original 1959 blueprints: if only I had £1.5m for one of these track cars.
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Jaguar XKSS
So good to see the last nine “lost” examples of the 1957 XKSS being handbuilt by Jaguar Classics’ craftsmen. What I wouldn’t give. All are sold, at a price of over £1m, etc etc… it’s beginning to sound like a familiar refrain.
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Lister Knobbly Stirling Moss
Only 10 will be built, as each one is being crafted from magnesium – no easy task. The last continuation car on my list: a pristine “new original” example of the ultra lightweight Knobbly that Sir Stirling Moss drove to victory at Silverstone in 1958.
Porsche 911 R
A 911 for £1m? Prices on the used market have almost reached that heady figure for what is really a GT3 with a manual box. But I love it because it’s about road, not track, driving. On paper, this might be the least compromised 911 ever built.
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Ferrari 430 Scuderia
Had a sit inside a mate’s the other day. Despite the gold wheels, it’s a carbon-fibre, stripped out beauty, transforming the indifferent and overshadowed F430 into a hardcore beast. Rare in RHD, and that engine bay on show under the glass makes this a winner.
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Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth
Five hundred RS500s were earmarked for Cosworth, in RHD, for sale in the UK only. Even rarer in white – only 56 were made. Still looks the business today, and one of my early childhood four-wheeled heroes.
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Renault Clio Williams
The first series, built in 1993, with gold wheels please. You’ve got to have a Renault in your dream limited edition garage, and it was this or some sort of Gordini Renault 5 Turbo. A proper little French hot hatch: angry, snarling and more about the handling than the power. Oui, s’il vous plait.

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