Ford Shogun
In the typical logic of an American automaker, if a car is no good, let’s just try to spruce it up. That was the thinking behind the monstrosity that was the Ford Shogun. A turbocharged engine was stuffed into the back of a Ford Festiva. The resulting car had to have a bulging rear end to accommodate increased performance. Jay Leno famously owns one of the first models that came off of the showroom floor and there is a lot to like about the car (via Hot Cars).
The Shogun has increased in notoriety in the last couple of years. The fact that the car has such a strong amount of performance in such a little package is intriguing. But the build quality at its core is still the Festiva. The car took a lot of investment on the part of Ford, and it did nothing more than generate press coverage. You also had to special order this car and the production numbers were quite low.