There are a few reasons you open Google Street View. Maybe you want to check if your ex's flat has better curtains than yours. Maybe you're procrastinating on your taxes by virtually wandering through the Swiss Alps. Or, if you're like us, maybe you're just hunting for beautiful machines left out in the wild. Because occasionally - very occasionally - Google's army of camera-mounted cars catches something extraordinary: not just a car, but a unicorn with wheels.
Here are ten of the rarest, most glorious automotive sightings ever captured on Google Earth and Street View. From the absurd to the sublime, this is motoring magnificence frozen in time.
1. Ferrari LaFerrari and Testarossa
Of course you'd find a LaFerrari and a Testarossa loitering outside the Ferrari Museum - it's like spotting a lion in the Serengeti. The LaFerrari, all 950 hybrid horsepower of it, is Ferrari at its maddest. Next to it, the Testarossa looks like a poster from your childhood, which, let's be honest, it probably was. One's modern tech wizardry. The other? 1980s testosterone with a flat-12 soundtrack.
2. Bugatti Veyron
Parked like it owns the place - because it probably does - the Veyron sits here calmly, as if it's not packing 1,001 horsepower and enough engineering to confuse NASA. What's more amusing is the rotation of other yellow exotica spotted in the same spot over the years: a Rolls Royce, a Ferrari, probably even a golden retriever at some point. One thing's clear: whoever parks here has money - and a deep, deep love of yellow.
The Gallardo is the baby Lambo that grew up angry. Mid-engined V10, razor-sharp styling, and here it is, awkwardly perched on the kerb like someone who's had one too many glasses of rosé. Still, even badly parked, it looks spectacular. That's just what Lamborghinis do.
4. Lamborghini Murciélago
A full-fat Lamborghini. This isn't a car, it's an event. The Murciélago is what happens when you build a car in a volcano and teach it Italian. Captured flanked by two Ferraris and a Maserati - because why not - it's a reminder that Knightsbridge sometimes resembles a car show with no entry fee and no manners.
5. Ferrari 250 SWB Competizione – Stirling Moss's Own
Behold: the Holy Grail. Stirling Moss's actual 250 SWB, a car so valuable you'd need to sell a private island to even think about insuring it. This isn't just any Ferrari - it's a racing icon that won the 1960 Tourist Trophy at Goodwood with Moss behind the wheel. Seeing this on Street View is like finding the Mona Lisa in a car boot sale. Utterly mad.
6. Ferrari GTC4Lusso, Land Rover Defender, Mercedes 280SL
This driveway is the automotive equivalent of a Bond film cast: powerful, rugged, and effortlessly stylish. The GTC4Lusso is Ferrari's idea of a daily driver, the Defender is ready for the apocalypse, and the 280SL is there for Martinis and sunset cruises. Whoever owns this house, please adopt us.
7. 1953 Nash-Healey Le Mans Coupe (1 of 506)
Now this... this is rare. Like “did I really just see that?” rare. The Nash-Healey was born of a curious Anglo-American affair - British suspension and American brawn in one stylish coupe. They only built 506, and most have disappeared into collections. Yet here it is, looking box-fresh and ready to storm Le Mans. Incredible.
8. Jaguar XK140 Drophead Coupe
Before it mysteriously disappeared from the digital realm, this XK140 DHC looked like something straight out of a 1950s movie set. It's got curves that make Italians weep, and a drop-top you'd actually use, unlike the modern ones that need a PhD to operate. A true motoring beauty queen - gone, but not forgotten.
9. Porsche 917 “Laser”
The Porsche 917 was always a little insane, but this one? This one wore a new nose so pointy it could slice through time. Built for Interscope Racing, it had aerodynamic tweaks meant to keep it planted at 200+ mph. It looks like something Darth Vader would daily drive. Spotted outside a garage, looking like it just dropped in from hyperspace. Bonkers, brilliant, and probably illegal.
10. AC Cobra
A27, Fareham, England (2011)
Captured mid-roar in 2011, this Cobra looks ready to wrestle a grizzly bear. It might be a replica, it might be real - but frankly, who cares? With its giant V8 under the bonnet and tyres that scream like banshees, it's a street-legal thunderstorm. Just seeing it makes your chest hair grow.
BONUS: Jaguar XK120 Fixed Head Coupe (Super Rare) (2012)
A3, England – exact coordinates unknown
Before the E-Type stole the limelight, there was the XK120. In Fixed Head Coupe form, it's rarer than a polite BMW driver. Smooth, sculpted, and once the fastest production car in the world, this thing turned heads in the '50s - and still does today. A piece of automotive history, frozen in pixels.
Final Thoughts:
So, if you're ever aimlessly clicking around Google Street View and stumble across something with a prancing horse or a thundering V8, take a moment. Because someone, somewhere, decided to use their dream car, not just hide it away in a heated garage behind a laser fence.
And if all of this has you itching to get behind the wheel of something equally rare, loud, and fabulous - why not try a Supercar Driving Experience? Or maybe something more vintage, like a Classic Hire for the weekend. Who knows? Drive it to the shops, park it in view of a Google car, and maybe one day you'll be the legend we write about.
