What’s The Most Obscure Special Edition Car?

I love a good special edition car. Not just a sticker special created by the dealer to shift something that’s not freeing floor space quickly enough, but something that’s weird, wacky, and preferably dreamed up by the manufacturer to celebrate a car either being introduced or honorably phased out.

The French have been especially good at this, as the Renault Twingo got a memorable United Colors of Benetton special edition to mark the particularly good sales of the then-new Twingo. The Twingo Benetton was available in five colors with a multicolor patchwork upholstery that really made the edition stand out.

Peugeot did numerous different special editions for its ‘80s and ‘90s hatchbacks, from the tennis-themed 205 Green and Roland Garros to the 106 “Kid” with its denim seats and leather patches on the door cards (which said SEATS FIVE – DRIVE CLEAN. I didn’t know the French were so terrible at puns).

Another 205 special edition was the Indiana, which was beige inside out, with cactus-themed logos and saddlebags – it was obviously more Indiana Jones than Indiana, the state. When the 205 finally bowed in the late ‘90s, it was sold as the Sacré Numéro (the Sacred Number) and Forever editions.

Volkswagen displayed a good sense of humor with its Harlequin/Harlekin Golf and Polo, which famously had mismatched doors and body panels. It’s generally in the same ballpark as the Twingo Benetton, which used similar colors, just distributed between cars.

In Europe, Volkswagen also bet heavily on rock-band-themed editions, selling the Golf Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Bon Jovi and Golf Convertible Genesis edition, along with a Genesis-themed Polo.

But one of the more obscure editions was the Ford Mondeo’s Si Citrine edition. While the Mondeo was largely a competent, but not especially wildly designed car, and neither were its Contour and Mystique cousins in North America, the Citrine Yellow was extremely in-your-face.

In 1993, all 211 Ford dealers in the UK were allocated a special Citrine Yellow car, at least one, to mark the Mondeo’s launch. Based on the sporty Mondeo Si, it’s a lurid neon yellow edition that’s conceptually comparable to Dodge’s Nitro Yellow Green Neon in its ‘90sness, and among all the more normal Mondeos on dealer forecourts it must have really stood out, especially as the cars also got a swoopy Ford RS body kit and special wheels.

The special edition Mondeos were available in 4-door sedan and 5-door liftback form, as the regular Si was. To complement the yellow exterior, the interior was blue with special upholstery on the body-hugging sports seats.

You could order yellow Fords in the ‘90s, as the Escort was available with a more warm yellow paint colour, and Citrine made that look boring in comparison. Outside the UK, Citrine also features in the 1993 Mondeo paint and trim brochure, but it’s highly unlikely it was a popular choice.

A British Ford dealer chain by the name of Hendy received ten of these, as it had been creating its own editions earlier and knew it could shift them. To create its own RSi edition from the special-edition cars, Hendy slapped chequered flag-themed graphics on the already yellow Mondeos and added diamond cut seven-spoke wheels, adaptive shocks, Eibach sports suspension and hotter cams.

The “normal” Citrine Yellow edition cars had the 136-horsepower, two-liter Zetec engine, but these ten Hendy cars produced 150 hp thanks to the tickled engine. At least one of them survives, handily with a “WOW” license plate.

At least two Citrine Yellow RS bodykit Mondeos were registered in Finland. One surfaced recently looking about as sad as any forgotten 1993 Mondeo would, with the yellow paint already faded, rust peeking here and there, and the bodykit partially damaged. In the Facebook ad, it was also said to have rotten floors. The two Finnish cars had Morette quad headlights from new, which adds a certain something to the already bodykitted look. They also had the same blue-yellow seats as the British cars.

In the UK, as the ‘90s and ‘00s tuning culture is again appreciated, the Citrine Yellow Mondeos are experiencing another heyday. They’re popping up at enthusiast events, with faithful fan backing and dedicated Facebook groups. The pictured good-condition car was auctioned by Brightwells Auctions in late 2025, and it only had 49,000 miles on the clock at that time.

The Mondeo would always be shadowed by its rear-drive predecessor, the Sierra, and while 2.5 million first-generation Mondeos were made, so many have been scrapped that the least common variants are now seriously rare – including the 4×4 variant. Few are restored to showroom condition, but if there’s a Mondeo that deserves it, it’s the Citrine.

Top graphic image: Brightwells Auctions