The 70s: Caliban Type K.
The 70s were times of crisis for Caliban. The Caliban Type SC would temporally see the axe in 1972, due to low sales of the model; Lord Mach II would take Caliban almost to bankruptcy and finally pass away in 1981. But before focusing on the Thunder exclusively in 1976 as aftermath of the oil crisis of 1973, Lord Mach II started contacting companies in search of help. It would be Keika who answered them, due to Keika CEO’s old ties with the kit car company.
After several months of negotiations, Keika decided to give Caliban access to the platform their Katana was built on. With this, the engineers at Caliban started working on their new “Type K”, an spiritual successor to the SC, at least then, that’d correct the flaws of the latter. It was also Caliban’s first mid engined experiment, that would later shape the current Type SC and the Predator, starting Caliban’s mid engined era.
The Type K was a big design experiment for Caliban. New shapes, futuristic looking vents, a new body to work on and new regulations to work with. These factors shaped the Type K into a futuristic looking sports car, with its front bonnet grille probably being its most iconic part.
The Type K was a bit less hardcore than the previous Type SC, and a bit heavier; however, it was faster thanks to a revised 3.2L v8 putting out more than 200hp and cornered better, for the first time a street going Caliban cornering above 1G consistently. The Type K was capable of reaching 62mph in 6.1 seconds and topped out at 130 mph, respectable figures for the era and budget.
The Type K would be axed in 1976, but the Type K and Caliban’s collaboration with Keika sparked something up inside Caliban’s know-how, design language and brand tradition. This would later boom in the 80s when Lady Mach III took her father’s place as the CEO, changing the company radically and bringing it to what it’s today.