Man pulls back cover to reveal a fake 90s sports car and realizes he now owns a contender for the worst vehicle ever made
- Check out this British-made fake sports car
- The Banham X21 was designed to look like the Audi TT
- This one was sold for just $320, but for good reason
Published on Mar 14, 2025 at 3:08 AM (UTC+4)
by Claire Reid
Last updated on Mar 14, 2025 at 4:07 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
A British car lover bought a Banham X21 – fake 1990s sports car – and thinks it could be a solid contender for the worst car ever made.
A bold claim, but does he have a point?
The Banham X21 looks an awful lot like a 1990s Audi TT, and we can sort of see where the company was going with the design. Sort of.
Its new owner – from the Hudson Auto Films YouTube channel – spent just $323 on the car from eBay, but soon realized he probably overpaid.
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The Banham X21 looks a lot like the Audi TT
For those who want a flash car but don’t quite have the bank balance to match up, there are plenty of replicas and fakes on the market like this $4,000 Land Rover Defender lookalike from China, or this Lamborghini Diablo knock-off that actually doesn’t look too bad.
Meanwhile, in the UK, the guy from the Hudson Auto Films YouTube channel managed to get his hands on a Banham X21 – a kit car that bears a strong resemblance to the iconic Audi TT.
The car in question comes from the now defunct Banham Conversions, which created kit cars from the 1970s through to 2004.
Banham Conversion started life as a coachbuilding company and created convertible versions of high-end motors including Rolls-Royce and Aston Martin models, before moving on to create conversion kits.
In 1999, Banham launched its X99 – a car heavily inspired by the Audi TT sports car.
However, when Audi got wind of the design, its lawyers stepped in and told Banham it would need to change up the vehicle’s look.
And so, the following year, the Banham X21 was released – it still looked a lot like the Audi TT, but a change in the headlamps was enough to keep the lawyers at bay.
Its new owner wasn’t exactly delighted with the sports car
The man behind the Hudson Auto Films YouTube channel recently bought the Banham X21 and it’s fair to say he wasn’t exactly blown away by the vehicle.
The car lover said it was a ‘good contender’ for ‘the worst creation in the car world’.
Don’t hold back, pal, tell us how you really feel.
The main issue he had with the vehicle was the fact that underneath that fiberglass shell, the car was actually a chopped up Rover Metro – a car that ‘wasn’t really known for very many positive things’, according to him.
The car had also clearly been sitting for a while and was coated in a thick layer of dirt and grime, while the trunk was filled with old junk, wrecked car parts, and – bizarrely – a plastic tub full of stinky water. Delightful.
The interior had fared slightly better than the trunk, but much like the trunk it was filthy and strewn with old junk.
There was even some evidence that rats had made the car their home at some point.
So, was the car a hit or a miss?
“Objectively it’s rubbish, but it is kind of brilliant,” the Banham X21’s new owner said.
He went on to note that while the car might not make him any money, it would be a fun project – and isn’t that the main thing?
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Claire Reid is a journalist who hails from the UK but is now living in New Zealand. She began her career after graduating with a degree in Journalism from Liverpool John Moore’s University and has more than a decade of experience, writing for both local newspapers and national news sites. Claire covers a wide variety of topics, with a special focus on cars, technology, planes, cryptocurrency, and luxury.
