Lancia HIT concept by Pininfarina 1988

Many times I come across or recall cars that I cant find much information on and usually tend not to post those as I would like this blog to be as much for information as for just looking at nice pictures. Since there are many cars that I havent posted due to this I am going to start doing so so as to have them even if it is for aesthetics sake.

So, this is the Lancia HIT designed by Pininfarina in 1988. It is based on a Lancia Delta. The HIT was shown to the public at the 1988 Turin Motorshow. The name 'HIT' was formed from 'High Italian Technology, an indication that this car was a technology demonstrator. the technology that it demonstrated was not so much the drive train which used the mechanicals of the Delta HF Integrale, but the chassis which was created using carbon fiber. The composite materials gave an overall weight of just 980 kg. when a stock Delta HF weighed in at 1215 kg.

Considering what an awesome car the Delta HF was, this would have been amazing with 235 Kg. less!

BMW Z13 concept 1993

Maybe its just me but it seems that the concept cars that were made during the late 80s and early 90s were much more adventurous than the ones now. Sure there are some beautiful styli9ng exercises done now and sometimes a lot of what goes to shows ends up being mass produced but in those cases it either becomes something impossibly impractical, or in the later case something too "normal".

In the early 90s BMW made a series of concept cars dubbed Zxx. The Z stood for Zukunft or future in German. Ill start with the Z13 and show some other ones later on.

If I were in the market for a small city car right now I would take this bar none! No Fiat 500 or Mini Cooper for me...this little thing just looks hot! The wide arches manage to make it look like a proper sports car not a city run about. Plus it was a three seater, had a half glass roof AND was rear engined! I mean...how many quirky things did they want to cram into one car!?

There were two cars built, both the blue and red ones used K series motorcycle engines but the blue one used a CVT transmission and the red one a standard 5 speed. The original designer of the Z13, Robert Powell, actually drove the red one around as a regular daily driver as it was a fully functioning car.

Sadly when BMW bought Rover, and along with it Mini, they deemed that this project was no longer useful since they had the rights to the Mini brand. The Mini of course went on to be a huge success...but I would much rather have preferred this!

Matra Laser 1971

The Matra Laser is a one-off car designed and built by Michelotti in 1971. The Matra Laser was shown at the 1971 Geneva Show and after making some minor design changes, it was displayed at the Montreal Auto Salon in 1972. The car was built on the French made mid-engine sports car Matra M530 chassis. Its overall height is extremely low at 1080mm. To aid body strength and to channel the cooling system, it has a very wide side sill and features gull-wing doors. The car was displayed at the 2nd Tokyo Concours D'Elegance.


There's something about this concept I really like, there's lot of details I don't, but in general it looks like it could be an affordable baby Lamborghini.

Lamborghini Portofino 1987

Back in 1986, Kevin Verduyn developed the Navajo, a concept car for Chrysler, but the project never got beyond the clay model. By refining some details, the Navajo was transformed into the Portofino, a show car to symbolize the Chrysler takeover of Lamborghini, the badges on the car show the raging bull inside the famous Chrysler logo.
The Portofino was built on a Jalpa chassis, which had to be lengthened by 66 cm to allow the space for four seats. The Jalpa engine and transmission were also used, but the main attraction were the four horizontally hinged doors, the two front ones opened just like on the Countach, while the two rear doors were hinged in the rear, and also opened upward, thus eliminating a door sill.
The exterior styling was aerodynamic, a bit heavy for a real Italian sports car, but the Portofino could seat four passengers, and at speeds true to a real Italian car.
The Portofino was built by Coggiola in Turin and was unveiled to the public on the late 1987 Frankfurt Auto Show. The Portofino prototype traveled all over the world and was put on display on various Auto Shows before it disappeared. The interior of this car was very well finished, with hand-sewn leather seats and a completely adjustable cockpit, this meant the seats, the instrument pod, the steering wheel and even the switchgear.
The idea behind the Portofino can be compared with the Marzal, but it is very unlikely that either company will ever produce the Portofino, the Portofino was however used to create the Eagle Optima, a show car for the Nineties, used by Chrysler. The Portofino was actually completely functional, and could travel at a 240 Km/h. top speed.
The Portofino was wrecked in the late Eighties while it was being transported, however the actual car was rebuilt by Metalcrafters in Costa Mesa, California. During this rebuild, the Portofino has been fitted with real glass instead of the plexiglass used on the prototype, also the windscreen was now laminated glass.

Oldsmobile Aerotech 1987

Was reading Deans Garage and saw the story of the Aerotech...one of the coolest looking designs ever. Leraned a few things too...I had no idea they used an Indy car chassis, in the fourth picture you can clearly see this. Heres the story written by Gary Smith, who was directly involved in the design of it.

The Oldsmobile Aerotechs were a series of experimental high-speed vehicles created between 1987 and 1992 incorporating the latest in performance technology with the intention of breaking multiple automobile speed records. The first such car was driven by four-time Indy 500 winner A.J. Foyt to a world closed-course speed record of 257.123 mph (413.788 km/h) on 27 August 1987 at the 7.712-mile (12.411 km) test track near Fort Stockton Texas. Prior to this, on 26 August 1987, the car had posted a top speed over a mile of 267.88 mph (431.10 km/h). The car consisted of a March Indycar single seat chassis enclosed in an extremely efficient aerodynamic body shell. It was powered by a highly turbo-charged version of the 2-litre Oldsmobile Quad 4 engine. The Aerotech body was designed by GM Design staff and was one of the sleekest vehicles ever developed for use on a high speed track. The design of the Aerotech included the capability of adjusting underbody sections to control the distribution of downforce, front to rear. Oldsmobile produced three versions of the original Aerotech to prove the capabilities of the company’s Quad 4 engine. Two were short-tailed (ST) versions and one was long-tailed (LT).
Subsequently, between 7–15 December 1992, another version of the Aerotech, this time powered by a 4.0 liter Oldsmobile Aurora V8 engine and fitted with lights, broke 47 speed endurance records including the 10,000 and 25,000 kilometer world speed records. Other national and international speed records ranging from 10 kilometers to 24 hours were accomplished by a team of drivers working 24 hours a day for 8 days. These records were also set at the Fort Stockton test track.

AMC AMX 3 1970

One of the coolest limited production cars in my opinion started off as a concept and went on to be made in only 6 copies. It even featured a rising rear spoiler which wouldn't be seen until many years later. The AMX/3 debuted at the 1970 Chicago Auto Show. Engine-less and fashioned in fiberglass, the original AMC/3 prototype was a show car only.

American Motors placed an order for 30 operational cars. The AMX/3 body mold was sent to Italian manufacturer Giotto Bizzarini, whose factory in Turin hand made drivable mid-engined, steel bodied cars. Built on a 105.3-inch (2,675 mm) wheelbase, the Bizzarrini prototypes used the AMC 390 cu in (6.4 L) V8 and an Italian OTO Melara four-speed transaxle. Road testing was done by BMW where it is rumored that the test drivers declared the AMX/3's chassis one of the stiffest and most neutral handling they had ever tested.

 The steel Italian cars differed from the original AMC design in having fewer but functional rear decklid louvers, louvered hoods, and, in some cases, hood scoops to direct fresh air into the heating-A/C system.

Five completed cars were produced before the $2,000,000 program was cancelled. Escalating costs and pending bumper regulations put a stop to the mid-engined AMX/3 The remaining extra parts were used to assemble a sixth car.

Alfa Romeo Tipo 33.2 by Pinninfarina 1969

In 1969 Alfa Romeo gave Pininfarina, Bertone and Italdesign separate Tipo 33 chassis to create new bodywork. This particular example, chassis 115 designed by Leonardo Fioravanti,  resembles the Ferrari P5 show car Pininfarina designed a year earlier. Both share gullwing doors and similar air ducting.

The car was powered by a mid-mounted 2 litre V8 engine producing 245 PS (180 kW; 242 hp) at 8800 rpm, and is based on the road going 33 Stradale. Top speed of the car is around 250 km/h (160 mph).
There were two more 33 based concepts: Giugiaro's Iguana and Bertone's Carabo.