For decades, car makers have turned to the “wedge shape” whenever they wanted to make a car that looked sporty, cool, or futuristic. There were an abundance of wedge-shaped cars in the 1980s: the DeLorean DMC-12, the DeTomaso Pantera, the Pontiac Fiero, the C4 Corvette, the Lotus Esprit, and of course, everything in Ferrari and Lamborghini’s lineup.
Another automaker to jump on the “wedge shape” bandwagon was Volkswagen, who went all in with the Mk2 Scirocco that was unveiled in 1981.
What if I told you that there was a supercar from the 1980s that cost less than the Lamborghini Countach and the Ferrari Testarossa and could outrun them both on a race track? And what if I told you that this car could also yield 30 miles per gallon? You would probably think I was crazy.
Well, such a car does exist and in theory, it sounds fantastic. However, there is just one drawback to the Mosler Consulier GTP…the way it looks.
In an earlier post about the Lotus Cortina I explained the idea of homologation – whereby manufacturers must build and sell a minimum number of cars to the public in order to qualify as a “production car.” Here we have another example of a factory-built race car that was sold to the public, and this one is even more extreme.
It’s called the Renault 5 Turbo II and like many of the cars I have covered recently, this is another rare specimen from Cars and Coffee. So what’s the deal with this car, and how did it come to be?
There is a car show held once a month in Scottsdale where people gather to drink coffee and show off their high-end exotic cars. I skipped right past the rows of Ferraris and Porsches to go check out this 1984 Toyota Celica GT (yes, seriously).
I took one look at the car and could tell right away that something special was going on here. For one thing, it’s a lifted car! Aside from an AMC Eagle or a Subaru rally car, you don’t often see cars with this much ground clearance! I snapped some photos and looked around for the owner who was nowhere to be found.
Several years ago, there was a small automotive shop by my house in Phoenix called Exklusiv Motorsports that specialized in modifying Volkswagens. They had a pair of these big red trucks outside, so one day I took a picture of them. It wasn’t until recently that I learned how rare these things are!
These double-cab Volkswagens were sold in Northern Europe as very basic work trucks, but the TriStars were top-of-the-line models with full interiors, cruise control, power windows, heated seats, and armrests. Even rarer still, both of these trucks are the Synchro models (4WD)!
The early 1990s were an interesting time for compact trucks. For some reason, auto manufacturers got the idea that pickup trucks were just too boring and that they needed to be more fun and exciting and sporty!
In 1991, General Motors released the one-year-only GMC Syclone. This compact pickup featured a powerful turbocharged 4.3L V6 engine that produced 280 horsepower and ran circles around everything else on the road. With its blacked-out appearance and lowered stance, the Syclone was essentially a factory hot rod that became instantly collectible.
