Engineered Eccentricity - Every now and then, the automotive world delivers a machine that doesn’t just stand out—it stops you in your tracks. Some cars are fast, some are beautiful, and others are quirky. But once in a while, something appears that feels as though it came from another dimension entirely. That’s exactly the case with the Sabberton Omen, a one-off creation from Britain that looks more like a futuristic spacecraft than something you’d expect to find cruising through the Norfolk countryside.
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| The Sabberton Omen was the brainchild of Alan Sabberton, a boatbuilder and engineer from Wroxham, Norfolk, who turned his marine craftsmanship from Sabena Marine into the creation of a completely scratch-built automobile. (Picture from: RareCarsOnly) |
The Omen wasn’t born from a car factory, nor did it come from an established design studio. Instead, it was the vision of
Alan Sabberton,
a boat builder and engineer who owned Sabena Marine in Wroxham,
Norfolk.
Known for repairing and maintaining boats,
Alan decided to take his craftsmanship onto dry land, building an automobile completely from scratch.
It wasn’t a quick hobby project either—this machine took five years of dedication, patience, and an incredible amount of ingenuity.
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| Alan Sabberton with a scale model of his hydroplane, ready for testing. (Picture from: EDP24.co.uk) |
At nearly 18 feet long and 8 feet wide,
the Omen commands presence like no other car on the road.
Despite its enormous footprint,
only two seats are tucked inside, making it one of the most extravagant ways to travel as a duo.
The proportions alone are extreme, but the design language pushes it into even stranger territory.
Inspired in part by Group C racing cars of the 1980s and 1990s,
the Omen has echoes of
Mercedes endurance racers, but with its own sci-fi twist that makes it look closer to a spaceship than a sports car.
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| The Sabberton Omen, a one-off creation from Britain that looks more like a
futuristic spacecraft than something you’d expect to find cruising
through the Norfolk countryside. (Picture from: Forum.Retro-Rides) |
Alan’s marine background is immediately evident in the way the car was built.
A tubular spaceframe chassis (75mm by 50mm steel tubes) forms the skeleton,
while a one-piece fiberglass body was sculpted over it.
Before the openings for doors,
wheels,
or bonnet were even cut,
the car existed as a seamless shell,
much like a boat hull. This approach created
the Omen’s most unusual feature: its fully enclosed wheels.
Since the car had no visible arches,
the front wheels were forced to pivot within the wide bodywork,
which in turn gave the car its immense width and a huge front trunk. It’s a design quirk that makes
the Omen instantly recognizable.
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| The Sabberton Omen was built on a tubular spaceframe chassis (75mm by 50mm steel tubes) forms the skeleton, while a one-piece fiberglass body was sculpted over it. (Picture from: Thingies in Facebook) |
The suspension came from a Jaguar XJ6, while the heart of the car was borrowed from across the Atlantic. Nestled under the fiberglass shell sits a 4.7-liter Chevrolet V8 engine, fed by carburetors and providing the deep rumble you’d expect from a classic American small-block. The official power figures were never published, but the sound and presence alone were more than enough to make the car unforgettable.
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| The Sabberton Omen powered by a 4.7-liter Chevrolet V8 engine, fed by carburetors and providing the deep rumble you’d expect from a classic American small-block. (Picture from: CorvetteKingdom) |
Details throughout
the Omen reveal
Alan’s inventive mindset.
The windshield came from a Citroën AX,
the side windows were adapted from a Jaguar saloon,
and the rear window was a bespoke polycarbonate panel made using boatbuilding materials. Inside,
the instrument cluster was lifted from a humble Ford Orion,
while the rest of the cabin mixed wood and leather to reflect Alan’s marine heritage. Surprisingly, despite the wildness of its design, the doors were conventionally hinged—a small touch of normality in an otherwise alien creation.
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| The Sabberton Omen featured a Citroën AX windshield, Jaguar saloon side windows, and a custom polycarbonate rear window crafted with boatbuilding materials. (Picture from: JonCouplan in X) |
What makes
the Omen so fascinating is not just how it looks or what powers it, but the fact that it exists at all.
A single man,
with no backing from an automaker,
built something that could rival the finish of production cars. And while it was sighted on the road as recently as 2020, today its whereabouts remain a mystery, adding to the legend of this singular machine.
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| The Sabberton Omen, a one-off creation from Britain that looks more like a
futuristic spacecraft than something you’d expect to find cruising
through the Norfolk countryside. (Picture from: Forum.Retro-Rides) |
There is only one
Sabberton Omen in the world. Just one. It’s not a prototype waiting for mass production, nor a concept locked away in a museum. It’s the personal vision of a boatbuilder who decided to see what would happen if he turned his skills toward the road. The result is part car, part boat, part spaceship—yet undeniably a work of passion. And in a time when so many cars look the same,
the Omen is a reminder that imagination, when paired with craftsmanship, can still create something truly unforgettable.
*** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | SABENA MARINE | CORVETTEKINGDOM | RARECARSONLY | FORUM.RETRO-RIDES | EDP24.CO.UK | THINGIES IN FACEBOOK | JONCOUPLAND IN X ]Note: This blog can be accessed via your smart phone.
