1983-1985 Fleuma Mk1 MS4: Tainted by malaise
As seen in the Malaise Of Glory challenge, minus one design mishap that will be explained
The Fleuma was Hugi’s North-American attempt at filling the gap left by the Mk.3 Rioter, creating a small cheap sports car for those who couldn’t afford the larger Mk.4. And in a way, the whole project had great potential; by using wind tunnels and studying the Mk.4 Rioter’s design carefully, Hugi Motors had created a very sharp, very aerodynamic body, which would provide great boosts to speed and fuel consumption. Plus, it lent the design a Mk.4-esque feel, which would help sales as future owners would feel like they owned a tinier Rioter.
Sadly, the promise fell apart during the first years of production. But we’ll get to that point later. For now, design; the Fleuma Mk.1’s front end used pop-up headlights, a staple of the era. While the front design itself was not complex, it still gave the sporty vibe required to sell a sports car in the '80s.
As for the rear, the design is vastly different from what EHSC did to the Fleuma Formula BR. The taillight setup doesn’t feature the angled stripe design of the BR, instead opting for a long stoplight strip that ended on two triangular prisma-shaped taillights. The bottom units housed the rear indicators and reverse lights, whilst keeping a small portion as a stoplight. The plastic trim inbetween these lower lights was inspired by the Japanese small sports cars of the era, proudly displaying the Fleuma name right on its center.
All around the car, the plastic trim tied the car together, whilst the side vents offered additional cooling to the mid-mounted engine. Also, this particular Fleuma, a 1984 model, was actually the car used by Hugi for marketing materials. But there was one minor mishap that went oddly uncorrected; the rear bumpers were missing, and the car’s ad displays a Fleuma without the bumpers that were featured on the front end. Here is the original ad for reference;
And yes, while the MS4 features two rear vents at the bottom, it only has a single exhaust tip. This ties into the “broken promises” feel that hampered the Fleuma’s debut. But above all else, there is one culprit that shines the most…
The MS4’s mid-mounted engine. At first engineers planned to release the Fleuma with a V6 engine, tuned to several degrees to match the car’s different trims, but Hugi Aleixo himself vetoed the choice, claiming high development costs. Needless to say, this was a lie; Hugi feared the sharp technology of the Fleuma would lure most of the Rioter’s fanbase to double down and opt for the cheaper Fleuma.
Thus the MS4 was stuck with the engine you see above; a 2.2-liter inline-4, all-iron engine powered by a 2-barrel carburettor, Hugi Motors’s “Steel Severn” engine. Hardly an engine fit for a sports car, the Steel Severn was used on several Hugi family cars throughout the '80s, but it wasn’t built with the Fleuma in mind. The engine suffered from component strain at high RPMs due to its cast iron parts, which in turn caused several reliability issues and two recalls to tweak the design.
However, no matter how smoother it became, it still didn’t stop the MS4 from being a 103-horsepower coupe, a far cry from the advanced import sports cars it was competing against. It also didn’t help that the MS4 was stuck with a 4-speed manual transmission, a choice more fitting for a family car…
Thus, the Fleuma MS4 was condemmed to live as a car that never truly upholded the promises set by Hugi marketing. To top all its issues off, the all-independent suspension could not stop the car from suffering of oversteer. Said oversteer wasn’t terminal mind you, but it prevented most owners from risking their limbs trying to drive the MS4 fast.
There was one silver lining in the Mk.1 Fleuma’s life that gave it a sliver of hope and produced the results owners clamored for, but that is a story for another day…
Specs:
