V8s usually call to mind muscle cars, big sedans, or trucks. But now and then, an automaker bolts a V8 into something strange—sometimes brilliant, sometimes baffling. These cars weren’t always performance icons, and some weren’t even fast. But they made it off the production line with eight cylinders under the hood, making them oddballs worth remembering. Here are some of the weirdest cars ever to ship from the factory with a V8.
1971 Chevrolet Vega Cosworth V8 Prototype
The Vega was never meant to handle a V8, but GM briefly explored it. A few factory test mules were built with small-block 262 and 283 engines stuffed into the tiny subcompact. While the idea never reached production, the prototypes showed how desperate GM was to inject performance into the struggling Vega line. The cars were wildly front-heavy, but the swap sparked years of V8 Vega drag cars.
1966 Jensen Interceptor
Built in England, powered by Chrysler. The Jensen Interceptor looked like a luxury grand tourer and came standard with a 383ci V8—later upgraded to 440s. It had leather seats, real wood trim, and a rear hatch that made it look more like a sporty shooting brake than a muscle car. It was expensive to build, and reliability was hit or miss, but that big V8 made sure it had presence.
1985 Renault Alpine V8 Prototype
This one barely made it past the prototype stage. Renault dropped a PRV 90-degree V8 into an Alpine A310 chassis in hopes of chasing Ferrari. The PRV engine—shared with Volvo and Peugeot—wasn’t exactly exotic, but the idea was wild: a lightweight, rear-engined V8 French sports car. The project was killed before production, but a few test cars survive, showing what might have been.
1977 Cadillac Seville
GM dropped its Oldsmobile-derived 350 V8 into the Seville, Cadillac’s new compact luxury car. But what made it weird wasn’t just the size—it was the fact that, in California, some Sevilles used a fuel-injected version of the Bendix EFI system, one of the earliest American EFI setups. The car had a short wheelbase, tight quarters, and tried to blend Euro style with big V8 power. It mostly confused buyers.
1991 Ford LTD Crown Victoria Wagon
Big wagons with V8s aren’t weird. But it gets strange when you consider how outdated the platform was by 1991. This body-on-frame beast still used a 5.0L V8 and four-speed AOD transmission in a world already leaning toward unibody imports. It was a land yacht you could still buy new in the ’90s, complete with faux wood siding and rear-facing third-row seats. It had more in common with a ’70s car than anything modern.
1989 Buick Reatta V8 Prototype
The Reatta never officially got a V8, but GM built a few with a 4.5L V8 from the Cadillac Allanté as a test bed. The Reatta was already odd—built by hand at the Craft Centre, it had a touchscreen and front-wheel drive. Adding a V8 made it even stranger. GM shelved the project before it hit showrooms, but the few prototypes give a glimpse at a car that tried hard to be futuristic.
2002 Volvo S80 V8
Volvo’s first V8-powered car came courtesy of Yamaha. The 4.4L DOHC engine had a 60-degree bank angle to fit transversely, which meant the left cylinder bank was offset slightly behind the right. It powered the all-wheel-drive S80 and later XC90. Despite being packed with safety features and luxury trim, it was surprisingly quick and had a burly sound. It’s still a strange combo of Swedish safety and Japanese muscle.
1975 Bricklin SV-1
The Bricklin was already a strange beast—gullwing doors, safety bumpers, Canadian financing. But it got weirder when it switched from AMC power to Ford’s 351 Windsor V8. It wasn’t a performance car, but it tried to look like one, and the V8 gave it some credibility. The car was plagued with quality issues and poor support, but it remains one of the oddest factory V8 sports cars ever produced.
1990 ZAZ Tavria V8 Swap Car
Ukraine’s ZAZ Tavria was a microhatch with economy-car roots. But in one bizarre Soviet-era experiment, engineers crammed in a 3.0L V8 from the GAZ-13 Chaika. The result was unpredictable handling and terrible balance, but it technically worked. It was never meant for production, but a few were built to test drivetrain configurations. It’s one of the most unlikely V8 factory mashups ever put on the road.
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