Top Gear’s top 10 run-out specials

TopGear loved the S2000. The Edition 100 still had 237bhp at 9,000rpm from 2.0 litres, but got a plaque, white paint and graphite alloys - worth nearly £30k then? No.

This article was originally published in December's issue of Top Gear magazine

All-new Focus is due early next year, so Ford decided to go out with a bang. Hence the 350bhp - yet still worryingly front-wheel-drive - RS500. Black hole of tyre death.

Read our Focus RS500 roadtest

The CLK was a dynamic disappointment, right up until Merc removed all the luxury and sound-deadening, gave it a 506bhp V8 and made it cost £100k. And then it died.

The new twin-turbo Pagani is due early in spring of 2011, so, to celebrate, the Italian company have produced the ‘R' you see in this very issue. Anyone else faintly scared?

Read Clarkson’s review of the Zonda R

Porsche says that the 911 Speedster isn't a run-out model. But Porsche only has Speedsters when the new car is in the pipeline. And anyway, it looks lumpy.

Read more about the 911 Speedster

A special edition to celebrate the CCX-R, the ‘Edition' sported a remapped 4.8-litre V8 with twin superchargers and 1,019bhp. Hitting 62mph in 2.9 and 250+mph = good news.

A fabulous example of what happens when you let the engineers out of the bunker to go mental with a run-out: rear seats replaced by a strut brace, 110kg lighter and 621bhp.

Special badges? A matching steel flask and shot glasses in the walnut cocktail cabinet? Crikey, we'll go for a pair of the 150 ‘Final Series' Arnages please, even at £170k a pop.

We need to sell more Countaches before the Diablo arrives. What we will do is glue a bigger bodykit on with extra slashes and strakes. They'll buy it. Bingo.

The Viper ‘American Club Racer' had 600bhp, 560lb ft, shorter gear ratios and a track-spec aero pack apparently capable of 450kg of downforce at 150mph. A proper last hurrah.