Sole survivors: the very rarest cars on UK roads today

Slide of Rarity is not the sole preserve of multi-million pound classic and hypercars, as we discover with these cars where there is just one example left on the road in the UK. Alongside some very desirable collector cars, there are also some humble saloons, hatches and estates that have simply dwindled to the extent there is now only one survivor. The data comes from www.howmanyleft.com and is correct at the time of writing. Cars are listed in alphabetical order and images are for illustrative purposes so may not be the exact model/trim level listed. Slide of Alfa Romeo 33 Sportwagon 16v The difficulty of keeping a now rare model from the 1980s or 1990s is exemplified by there being only a single Alfa Romeo 33 Sportwagon 16v on the UK’s roads. Underlining how much effort it takes to keep these cars on the road is there are a further 11 that are SORNs (Statutory Off Road Notification – i.e. the cars still exist but, for now, can’t be driven on the public road). When new, the Alfa 33 Sportwagon was every inch the rival to the BMW 3 Series Touring and handled well. However, the boot was far from the most generous and the load floor was anything but flat. Neglected and ignored as a used car, this has left just a sole survivor on the road at this point. Slide of Alfa Romeo Arna Many Alfa Romeo diehards will be very keen to forget the Arna, but it’s good to know there is at least one example still on the road in the UK as a historical footnote. There are also another couple on SORN, so there is the possibility of more emerging as road legal cars in the future. STOP PRESS: the only one out there is now on SORN. Cooked up between Alfa and Nissan, the Arna used the Italian firm’s buzzy flat-four engine in a Nissan Cherry bodyshell. It gave Alfa a small, affordable car and offered Nissan the chance to establish itself in Europe. Unfortunately, the Arna missed Alfa’s driving flair and Nissan’s reliability, so it was doomed to obscurity from the start. Slide of Aston Martin Two Litre Sports Retrospectively known as the DB1, the Aston Martin Two Litre Sports was the first post-war Aston sports car. Only 14 were ever built of the two-seat roadster, which used a 90bhp four-cylinder 2.0-litre engine to give brisk performance for the time, although it was no match for the cheaper Jaguar XK120 that arrived at the same time in 1948. There are several surviving Two Litre Sports, but only one is on the road in the UK at the time of writing. Notable features of this car are the spare wheel mounted in the front wing and the front grille was the first time Aston used its now familiar three-piece look that persists with the DB12. Slide of Bristol Bullet The Bristol Bullet was a classically styled speedster that aimed to revive the fame and fortune of the bespoke British sports car maker. Sadly, the 2016 Bullet didn’t catch on and Bristol went under as a company in 2020. Part of the reason for the Bullet failing to sell in any significant quantity was a price tag of £250,000. As well as the sole example on the UK’s roads, there is one other Bristol Bullet on SORN, so there is the possible chance of doubling the likelihood of seeing this handmade V8-powered roadster being driven. Slide of Dacia Duster Roadster The Roadster name for this Dacia Duster is slightly misleading as any notion of a sporting car is soon dispelled when you realise it’s the soft-top version of the 1980s back-to basics 4x4. Dacia tried to break into the UK with this car and the Roadster was meant as a more fun ‘lifestyle’ version, but styling that made a Land Rover look curvy didn’t help its cause. Only a handful of Dusters were sold between 1981 and 1990, so it’s good to know one is still on the road (with two more off it) as a blast from the past. However, the Duster Roadster was far from a blast to drive as its 1.4-litre engine wheezed the car from 0-60mph in 22.7 seconds. Suzuki’s SJ comprehensively outsold and outdid the Duster in every respect. Slide of Daihatsu Charade GTI The earlier Daihatsu Charade GTi of the 1980s is a pocket rocket with a cult following, but its late 1990s successor was a much less vaunted machine. Gone were the racy stripes and feisty turbocharged three-cylinder engine, and in their place came a bland exterior style and 1.3-litre four-cylinder engine with 97bhp. Daihatsu claimed 0-60mph in 9.4 seconds, which was borderline bearable in a hot hatch of the time. What wasn’t acceptable was the stodgy handling, so this GTI failed to find many buyers when new and it’s something of a surprise to find there’s one still on the road now. Slide of Daimler DK400 One of the last factory-made limousines you could buy in the 1950s, the Daimler DK400 offered all of the stately looks and comfort you could hope for if you weren’t sold on a Rolls-Royce with standard bodywork. Most DK400s came with limo bodywork by Carbodies, though there w