Any time you think you’ve seen it all in our wonderful world of cars, that’s when the universe conspires to surprise you. Some years back our friend Patrick George reflected on this joy of discovery through the prism of the — Nissan’s bubble economy-era, coach-built spin on the exclusive to the Japanese market. Well, years later I’m feeling much the same way about another product of the company’s Autech division; one I’m struggling to scrounge up damn near any information about.

This is the Autech Mid-11. It’s a K11 Nissan Micra with a wide bodykit, six-speed manual and the two-liter, 187-horsepower four-cylinder out of the second-gen (a.k.a. Nissan Primera) in place of the rear bench. Fun fact: that was the same mill that wound up in the , a descendant of the .

The Nissan Micra was no stranger to motorsport, its potential recognized for entry-level rallying and ice racing. The V6-powered, all-wheel-drive version that competed in the French Trophée Andros series was a childhood favorite of mine in on the original Xbox. That chassis also had its engine relocated behind the driver, which sort of leaves the Autech Mid-11 feeling like a homologation special of that little marvel. If nothing else, it’s certainly a worthy descendant of the .

Really though, the Mid-11's most obvious counterpart would be the — a mid-engined, hatch that Nissan’s future alliance partner actually did have the gumption to produce in series. The world’s better for it. The Mid-11, on the other hand, was little more than a training exercise for Autech’s engineers, according to .

I’d like to say more about this curiosity, but I’m not kidding when I tell you there’s a worrying dearth of intel about it online. You’ll have to of the thing from events that I don’t have permission to post here. Just when you think you’ve seen all the cars that could ever find a place in your heart, a new one emerges.