Jay Leno’s rare Ford Festiva Shogun hides a mid-mounted Yamaha V6, making it one of the strangest Fords ever built.
Jay Leno’s vast car collection is filled with everything from early motoring icons to futuristic concepts, but one of his rarest Fords might surprise even longtime fans. The late-night host and lifelong car enthusiast owns a Ford Festiva Shogun, a hot hatch so obscure that most people have forgotten it even existed.
The Shogun began life as the Ford Festiva, a humble economy car built in Korea and sold globally in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Originally powered by a modest 1.3-liter four-cylinder making just 70 horsepower, the Festiva was never intended to be a performance car. But a limited-run experiment turned it into something extraordinary.
Developed with Yamaha, the Shogun swapped the underpowered four-cylinder for a 3.0-liter V6 producing 220 horsepower. Even more radical, the engine was mounted in the middle of the car, a layout more commonly associated with supercars like the Ferrari F430 or Lamborghini Aventador.
Only seven Shoguns were ever built, making them rarer than many of the world’s most coveted exotics. Each cost around $42,000 in 1990 — a staggering figure for what looked like a lightly modified city hatchback. Leno has said he paid about $35,000 for his, adding it to a collection that famously prioritizes interesting engineering over mere brand prestige.
Unlike other celebrity garages stocked with the latest status symbols, Leno’s holdings include everything from Lamborghinis to a Ford Model T — and even a working military tank. He also stands apart as one of the few collectors who doesn’t own a Ferrari.
The Festiva Shogun might not carry the glamour of Italian supercars, but in terms of rarity and audacity, it earns a unique place in automotive history — and in Jay Leno’s garage.
