Urba Centurion: Building Your Own 128-MPG 1970s Diesel Sports Car

It's a wedge-shaped sports car from the late 1970s that once had a role in a popular science-fiction movie.

But despite its futuristic styling, it never achieved much popularity.

No, it's not the DeLorean DMC-12. It's the Urba Centurion, a diesel-powered kit car that it's still possible for you to build today.

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The car uses a Triumph Spitfire chassis and an 18-horsepower, three-cylinder Kubota diesel engine.

It was originally designed to achieve 128 mpg and--thanks to that futuristic styling--had a cameo in the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger film Total Recall.

While many companies have marketed kit cars that marry a custom body with an existing chassis, building a Centurion is a little more involved.

The only thing provided to a prospective builder is a set of relatively detailed plans.

From there, Urba fabricators must source all of the required parts--Spitfire chassis may be harder to come by these days--and then create the fiberglass body from scratch.

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If that sounds appealing to you, the plans are still available for $95, through a company called Robert Q. Riley Enterprises.

And those plans made it possibly for one dedicated enthusiast to complete a Centurion roughly 30 years after first seeing one.