Fascinating Euro-American cars that didn’t quite hit the spot
Some truly great things have been produced when European and American engineers come together. From Rover’s long-lived, Buick-based V8 to the fearsome Shelby Cobra or the Le Mans-winning Ford GT40, they’ve all proved to be great successes.
Of course, there’s no guarantee a transatlantic collaboration will be a winner; if anything they’re the minority. So, instead of celebrating the best Euro-American cars of all time, here we’re going to focus on 10 intriguing attempts that flopped.
Don’t just assume all the cars here are junk, though. Yes, there are some real clunkers, but there are also good cars that were too expensive, wrong for their intended market, or so delayed they became obsolete.
Whatever the case, they all have interesting stories to tell.
1. Allard K3
Sydney Allard built quite a reputation with his J2 and J2X sports cars. Powered by a choice of brawny American V8s, they were fearsome competition machines that were never too far from the podium in the 1940s and ’50s.
Unfortunately, Allard’s road cars were less successful, the K3 being a case in point.
Allard K3 (cont.)
The idea seemed a good one; combine the excitement of the J2X with a little more civility to create something that could take the Chevrolet Corvette head on.
Sadly, it wasn’t particularly usable every day and rather pricey. Its poor sales contributed to the demise of the Allard marque.
2. Nash Metropolitan
Unlike the vast majority of American car manufacturers who were happy to build ever larger cars as the country entered the 1950s, Nash did quite the opposite.
Buoyed by customer feedback to the idea of an economical runaround to be used as a second car, Nash went into partnership with Austin to build the Metropolitan.
Nash Metropolitan (cont.)
Nash provided the quintessentially American styling and much of the engineering work while Austin built the cars at Longbridge, and provided its own 1.2-litre (73cu in) four-cylinder engine and three-speed gearbox.
Although undoubtedly economical compared to a big V8 or straight-six, it was too slow, impractical and handled woefully.
3. Lamborghini Cheetah
Before the Urus and LM002, there was the Lamborghini Cheetah, arguably the firm’s first SUV. We say ‘arguably’ because Lamborghini was contracted to build it by an American company called MTI, which was looking to fill a request from the US army for a new off-roader.
Lamborghini even fitted a Chrysler V8, albeit one with an insufficient 180bhp. After all, the Cheetah did weigh over two tonnes.
Lamborghini Cheetah (cont.)
The 5.9-litre (360cu in) motor was rear mounted, so even all-round independent suspension couldn’t tame the wayward handling. This interesting layout led to other problems, because it was suspiciously similar to another potential military vehicle called the FMC XR311.
A lawsuit ensued and the Cheetah project was canned, leading BMW to pull the M1 project out of the raging bull’s hooves.
4. De Lorean DMC-12
Conceived in America, styled by an Italian, engineered by the British and built by the Northern Irish with a French engine, the De Lorean really was an international collaborative effort.
Initial response was positive but orders soon dried up, leaving the company with far more cars than buyers.
De Lorean DMC-12 (cont.)
Underwhelming performance from the 2.8-litre (174cu in) V6 mounted in the car’s tail didn’t help – nor did a raft of quality issues.
Later production cars were better built, but that didn’t stop DMC going into receivership in 1982.
5. Merkur XR4Ti
It seemed like such a great idea at the time; take one European Ford Sierra XR4i, stick a different badge on its nose and beat BMW at its own game in the States.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t that simple in reality, with the XR4i’s V6 not powerful enough in federalised guise, and all manner of engineering changes needed for the Sierra to pass American regulations.
Merkur XR4Ti (cont.)
A 2.3-litre (140cu in) turbocharged four-cylinder engine from the Mustang SVO went under the bonnet, to give the Merkur XR4Ti performance better than some V8 competitors when it was launched in ’85.
Sales declined year-on-year, despite favourable reviews from the press, and by 1990 Merkur was dead.
6. Cadillac Allanté
When Cadillac decided to go after the Mercedes-Benz SL in the 1980s, the firm sensibly decided to get a bit of European assistance from Pininfarina.
The Italian design house was tasked with styling, engineering and building an open-topped two-seater that would receive Cadillac’s 4.1-litre (250cu in) V8 powering the front wheels.
Cadillac Allanté (cont.)
Someone at GM must have been on some pretty heavy medication, because the fully painted and trimmed shells were then loaded onto one of three specially converted Boeing 747s and flown to Detroit.
They then went onto a production line where the subframes, engine and suspension were bolted on. Early cars leaked and despite improvements over the years, it never lived up to sales expectations.
7. Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1
There’s no doubt the Corvette ZR-1 was a great Anglo-American collaboration.
With Lotus owned by GM at the time, the English firm set to work on a 32-valve quad-cam V8 that would power the pinnacle of the Corvette range. The 5.7-litre (350cu in) engine produced a mighty 385bhp (later 405bhp), but all that precision engineering didn’t come cheap, limiting sales.
Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 (cont.)
While the ZR-1 initially got squared-off tail-lights and different rear bodywork to lesser Corvettes, to easily differentiate it, these were soon rolled out across the range.
However, with the ZR-1 looking so similar to its stablemates, posers no longer had a reason to dig deeper into their pockets for one. After respectable initial sales, interest tailed off and the ZR-1 was discontinued in 1995.
8. AC ‘Brooklands’ Ace
Picture an AC Ace and you see a narrow-bodied English sports car that would later form the base of the mighty Cobra.
What you probably won’t envisage is the AC Ace Brooklands of the 1980s and ’90s. Despite a concept called the Ace of Spades being shown in 1986 and another in 1991, it wasn’t until 1993 that the AC ‘Brooklands’ Ace was put into production.
AC ‘Brooklands’ Ace (cont.)
Power came from Ford’s 5.0-litre (302cu in) V8 which made a respectable 260bhp, enough for 0-60mph in under six seconds. It was even relatively affordable, mainly because AC lost a tonne of money on every one, if a bit dated when it eventually made production.
Just 46 were built before AC went into receivership, while another 12 heavily revised cars were produced by AC’s new owners.
9. Vector W12
Vector gained notoriety in the 1980s with the outrageous twin-turbocharged W8 that could reputedly do 242mph.
But by the mid-’90s, a hostile takeover by major shareholders Megatech had shut out the W8’s creator, putting the company’s future into question. Its successor, the W12, would be a very different animal.
Vector W12 (cont.)
However, Megatech also owned a small Italian company that knew a little bit about making supercars: Lamborghini.
The all-American bodywork hid the Diablo’s 5.7-litre (350cu in) V12, although allegedly some ex-Lotus engineers were involved in developing the chassis. Fewer than 20 W12s were built, a figure not helped by some rather scathing criticism by the motoring press.
10. Chrysler Crossfire
When Chrysler and Daimler merged in the 1990s, great things could have happened. Instead, we got the Mercedes-Benz SLK-based Chrysler Crossfire coupe and convertible.
This two-seater was based on the first generation of Mercedes’ roadster and fitted exclusively with 3.2-litre (195cu in) V6s.
Chrysler Crossfire (cont.)
Sadly, even the supercharged SRT-6 wasn’t great to drive, while the coupe’s roofline was famously compared to the arch of a dog’s back as it did its business.
With a new and far better second-generation SLK barely any more expensive back in the day, the Crossfire faded into obscurity.