4 Weird Olympic Special Edition Cars (And How Automakers Could Repeat The Magic Today)

Few would argue that the Olympic Games are special events. Do you know who likes special events? Marketing departments, which is why car companies, especially if they're sponsoring the Games, will come out with Olympic editions of popular models. Some of these models were rather unique in their own ways, but could also offer some inspiration to automakers today when every car looks the same.

There are lots of odd choices for Olympic special editions, as well as some quirky entries. Take the Riga Bus Factory vehicles made for the 1980 Moscow Olympics, for example. The manufacturer took its minibus and adapted it to various uses, coming out with a different model for each. It had a specific model for transporting the torches, a mobile medical lab model, a mass-transport tram, and more. 

One surprise entry was the Chevy C10 for the 1976 Montreal Olympics, with its rather basic look. The Olympic edition looked like it wouldn't look out of place on a typical construction site. Contrast that with the rather bold design choices of the 2001 Buick Regal Olympic Edition that was completely covered in Gold. And we were particularly impressed with Renault's uniformly designed fleet of Olympic Edition models. We'd like to see car makers today do this kind of stuff and go beyond putting some Olympic badging on a car and calling it a day.

Perhaps the funkiest Olympic vehicles we could find were the ones produced by Riga Bus Factory for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. These RAF models were assigned numbers instead of names and were mostly minibuses or modified versions of its minibuses. They were boxy, extremely practical, had lots of glass, and seemed to follow the typical Russian design practice of prioritizing function over form.

Every Olympic RAF model was built for specific needs. For example, the RAF-2907 was built for transporting the torches from Greece to Moscow and other Soviet host cities. It had to be fitted with large-capacity radiators to keep it from overheating while cruising over long distances at the same speed as the human torch bearers. It also had special torch holders that would keep the torches lit continuously. There was also the RAF-2910 built to transport judges. It was fully electric (remember, this was 1980), but instead of wasting time waiting for batteries to recharge, they used a special forklift to swap out batteries when needed. There were several other specialized RAF models, including a luxury version for transporting Olympic committee members, a mobile medical laboratory, and a "road train," similar to the parking lot trams in Disney World.

We think Volkswagen could easily do something like this by resurrecting the VW Bus. Sure, the ID Buzz is reminiscent of the Bus, but an updated version of the old model could provide the same kind of versatility of the RAF vehicles.

Chevy rolled out a special edition of its C10 for the 1976 Montreal Olympics. This pickup might seem like an odd choice to get an Olympic Edition, but the 1975 model was a top-seller among trucks, and frankly, we're glad to see old standards in the pickup world get this kind of love. In fact, some think it was one of the best-looking trucks ever sold. 

That's not to say GM did a great job of pimping this truck out. The exterior of the C10's Olympic Edition was decked out with chrome on the mirrors, bumpers, and other places, along with special badging and a hood emblem. But it just doesn't look that fancy in the photos we've seen, as its basic red and white paint job was pretty much the same as other C10s. The Chevy C10's sister model at the time, the GMC Sierra Grande was given Olympic editions for the Canadian market as well.

It's about time pickup trucks got some more Olympic recognition, given how wildly popular they've gotten in some places of the globe. What better candidate than the Ford F-150? Up until last year, it had been America's best-selling vehicle for over four decades. While we would slather it in chrome like the Chevy C10 Olympic Edition, we would give it a better paint job. We'd make it a darker main color, so that the chrome would stand out better.

Renault didn't just create an Olympic edition of one model — it created a whole fleet of white Albertville 92 models. Models that got Olympic editions were the Renault 19, 21, 25, Clio, A610, and Jeep Cherokee. Jeep Cherokee? Yes, at the time Renault was the Cherokee's French distributor due to its past ties with AMC. (You can read about Jeep's AMC history here.)

All of the models were painted white, including their wheels, and given some Olympic badging. Normally, we think white is the most boring of all colors that can be applied to an automobile, but Renault models would look pretty sharp in just about any color, and the Albertville 92 models do look sharp. There's something aesthetically satisfying about the consistency of design in these models, especially when they are viewed all together.

We'd like to see the next automaker who gets to sponsor the Olympics to do the same thing with their models. Imagine a brand with a varied lineup like Chevy painting the Silverado, Colorado, Equinox, Tahoe, Suburban, Blazer, Bolt, and Corvette lineup all in a snazzy, uniform style. We'd make it a different color than white, though, maybe a bold two-tone look. While we're dreaming, it would be nice if, just for this purpose, Dodge and Ram were still one brand. It would be cool to see the Ram trucks, the Charger, the Hornet, and the Durango painted to look like they were all one fleet.

Gold seems like an appropriate choice when choosing an Olympics-themed palette. Buick put it to good use for its 1996 Buick Olympic Gold Regal, using it tastefully on the wheels and the trim to complement the car's long graceful lines. It's one attractive sedan. Sure, a Buick Regal is probably the kind of car your grandmother would drive, but sometimes grandmas like nice things, and the 96 Buick Regal is one of those things.

But then Buick decided to follow up for the next Olympics with the 2001 Buick Regal Olympic Edition. Didn't the summer Olympics take place in 2000? Yes, but Buick started manufacturing its 2001 around the time of the 2000 Olympics. So, it chose its 2001 model to have the Olympic Edition (if only we knew in advance when the Olympics were going to happen). Anyway, the 2001 version took the phrase "go for the gold" way too literally and covered the entire car in gold as one of its options. We have to say, we're not incredibly impressed with how it turned out.

Still, we like the gold treatment, as it was done on the 96 Regal, and would like to see it done on a slick sedan like the Cadillac CT5. Make that aggressive grille all gold, along with the front bumper intake, as well as the trim around the windows. Slap some Olympic badging on that bad boy, and you've got one awesome sedan.