I love it! Keep 'em coming!
80s is the greatest decade of them all. Case in point (II): The Hermes Supercontinental.
Another failed Supercar from the (late) 80s however a lot more competent than that french monstrosity from earlier.
Slick, aerodynamically optimised and with a delightfully simple 6.4L SOHC V8 loosely inspired by the Mercedes Benz M100. The Supercontinental was an absurdly robust vehicle, made entirely from thick steel, meaning it weighed near enough 1.7 metric tons, but then again arguably one of the safer cars from its era. It certainly wasn’t winning any drag races. The massive V8 was equipped with a catalytic converter to comply with US emission regulations and produced its 340hp peak power at just 5100rpm. Acceleration was not its strong point, even less so when equipped with the optional 3-speed GM THM425 automatic transaxle (also found in the Cadillac Eldorado and GMC Motorhomes of the 1970s). But raw grunt and a reasonably slippery body saw the vehicle reach upwards of 180mph regardless. Everything pointed toward this being a winner, it had just went through US type approval when the company went bankrupt. All 44 surviving prototypes and pre-production cars were fully road legal and registered, and a few have racked up surprisingly high mileages given they were fully bespoke vehicles sharing almost no parts with mainstream models apart from the automatic transmission.
In retrospect this tank was a bit too boring to be truly desirable, the world wasn’t ready yet for a useable supercar. And they were all beige.
Beige is the best colour for a supercar.
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Beige… lol
Beige is the best color for any car.
As long as it’s a medium beige, then it keeps the dirt from showing as badly.
Introduced in 1985, the Genra G2A Turbo Coupe was intended to be the company’s entry into the burgeoning sport compact market. Despite only developing 160 horsepower, its 2.0L turbocharged I4 put out a sizable amount of torque considering its modest displacement, while its independent rear suspension made it feel agile and light-footed in the corners. Four-wheel disc brakes provided ample stopping power with minimal fade, while a five-speed manual gearbox and viscous LSD allowed the driver to put the engine’s wide powerband to good use in any situation.
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“Only” 160 HP… which happens to be what the '85 300ZX non-turbo had… 
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This was kind of Kishiwos savior car in the mid 80s
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Keep in mind that this car weighed less than one metric ton. That might explain why it felt surprisingly fast… For its time.
And given that it was built on such a sound basis, it should be no surprise that it received a lot of aftermarket support - and still does to this day.
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1984 Maxon Phoenix GT350
Maxon Performance Divison built the Phoenix GT350 under the philosophy of “more is more”. More power, more aggression, more v e n t s. Nearly five years were spent turning their small GS2 sports car into this monster. What did the Phoenix revive you ask? Nothing really, the marketing team just thought it sounded cool.
It takes some effort to line up the rims for pictures.
The GT350 title comes from the powerful 4.0L MV8’s power output of 332hp (eh, close enough). The engineers quickly realized this was way to much power for the GS2 chassis, so they converted the drivetrain to an AWD manual 5 - speed and called it a day. Despite the big engine and upgraded interior, the car was still relatively light and weighed 2,683lbs. Much to Maxon’s surprise, the Phoenix was actually somewhat easy to drive if you overlook the constant oversteering and uncomfortable ride.
Vents for days
The Phoenix was a solid straight line performer, going 0-60 mph in 4.6 seconds and doing the 1/4 mile in just a hair over 13 seconds. Maxon put an absurd amount of effort into shaping the body to allow the car go a higher top speed. Turns out, all of the spoilers and vents kept the car at 154 mph. That’s still faster than anyone had any business going on the road, but it wasn’t good enough. Maxon needed more. The people need more.
Rule of thirds, dynamic triangular composition, focal point.
The Phoenix GT350 only lasted 2 years. The nature of the Phoenix brought out the worst in drivers and became the center of a some high profile accidents in 1985. Due to the bad publicity as well as the fact they were losing $ 3,000 with each car sold, production ended after just 1,255 examples were made. Maxon wouldn’t make another high-powered sports car again until 1996.
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That front end looks quite Olds Cutlass Supreme-ish… which oddly is a good thing, coming from me (weird, right?)
the back is so not 80’s. Lol…
And your photos are fantastic!
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Pegasus was a loss leader for Olympus Motor Group, featuring simple inexpensive automobiles such as the Courrier. From 1953 until 1980, the Courrier remained unchanged, other than mandated by federal regulations (padded dashboards in 1961, 3 point front seat safety harnesses in 1967, rear seat belts, etc.). The car relied on a 60 HP 1.3 Liter 4 cylinder that it shared with other Pegasus vehicles. 1980 noted a radical departure for the Courrier however, as Pegasus engineers turned it sideways and mated it to, the first for this brand, Front Wheel Drive. Many competitors had been converting to FWD over the last decade (and many would continue for the next decade). With this ‘innovation’, the Courrier got a new, distinctly 80s redesign (one that would not likely carry over the next 27 years).
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Looks exactly like the kind of cheap, uninspiring hatchback that we came to love (and hate) throughout the 80’s!
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Thanks. I was actually going for that this time. I’m surprised more people don’t remember the single mirrors from that time.
I do. My Dad’s car growing up had just a driver’s mirror. It was the base model. Funny enough, the “luxury” model of the exact same car, exact same year, was my 2nd car. It had both a driver and passenger’s mirror, power no less!
Marrow HGH (“Hot Garbage Hatch”)
Marrow Motor Company was hitting its stride in the 80’s producing cheap boxes in various shapes and sizes. In an effort to become more globally known, Marrow began work on cars that could compete in motorsports. In 1987, the HGH SE was born.
A 1988 HGH SE
The HGH SE was essentially Marrow’s base hatchback on the outside, with only new rims and a spoiler to give it some identity. While radically toned down from its racing counterpart, the HGH SE was still quick for its size. The 1.4L inline 4 engine cranked out 80.2 hp which propelled the little box from 0-60 mph in 9.66 seconds up to a top speed of wait for it…wait for it…95.6 mph!!! The extremely light 1709 lb weight meant that if you were particularly swole, you didn’t need another car to pull you out of the snow when you got stuck.
The Concept car
The only surviving HGH prototype
Before Marrow released the SE, they experimented with a more faithful road version of their new racing machine. Three HGH prototypes were produced with the last being fully driveable despite the lack of mirrors and safety features. The small twinturbo V6 more than doubled the output of the production model at 168 hp. It was also outfitted with a new AWD 5-speed transmission and extremely wide tires.
The Race Car
Actual real footage of the HGH Pikes Peak tearing the competition apart
Marrow’s new race car went where all radical-winged boxes go, the Pikes Peak Hillclimb. With 370 hp packed into it’s small body, it was a force to be reckoned with. Marrow Motorsport felt they have perfected the art of the rally machine. How did it perform? Terribly. That 300+ horsepower only lasted for about 1500 rpm. The rest of the time it was wheezing out 40 - 80 hp. It was as aerodynamic as a vertical brick. The suspension was low and tight, too tight for the gravel and dirt that made up the course at the time. After the crushing failure, Marrow shifted it’s focus to road racing.
(To my surprise, it is actually about as fast as a 2014 Porsche Turbo S on the paved Pikes Peak).
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Well your designs clearly stand out and are cool… but that photo edit, I’m not sure if it was a joke or if you really need some pointers…
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Oh it was a joke 
. I’m actually a digital arts student, I just didn’t feel like spending any amount of time on it.
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1979 Ardent Sentinel (Mk.3) Sport DL
1979 brought the 3rd iteration of Ardent’s Sentinel line, with the whole series moving a little upscale. Long gone were any truly “Sporty” options; the Oil Crisis and emissions implementation drove numerous nails in that particular coffin, with the final nail being conversion of the entire platform to front wheel drive with this redesign. Thus the “Sport” moniker referenced the body style, which was a 3-door hatchback. Sentinel was also available as a 4-door sedan and 5-door wagon.
Overall, the Sentinel line was a good one, if not wholely inspiring. Some of the mid-range “DL” offerings were a little less popular than others, however. The Sport DL with the 5-speed manual was one such example.
Unfortunately, Ardent didn’t fit it’s highest-level manual transmissions with the Eridani Type 1 V6 engines, instead opting for the sorely underpowered Cygnus Type 2 1.8 liter four cylinder. Pushrods and a 2-barrel carb didn’t exactly inspire any semblance of performance, especially with the automatic transmission (though, for inexplicable reasons, more DL autos were sold than DL manuals)
Interior options fell far short of the more interesting GL models, and Base trims sold better due to an aggressive price point. Improvements such as a standard in-dash quartz clock, two-tone paint, and full cloth seating just didn’t attract the buyers to this particular trim.
Sentinel DLs could be had with a manual transmission up through the end of 1983. A bit of a shame, as 1984 saw the introduction of the brand new Cygnus 3 “Mite” series engine, displacing 2.3 liters and equipped with overhead camshafts, replacing the aging 1.8. If nothing else, that ended up being a boon for automatic/4-cylinder Sentinels. The 2.3 and the manual could also be configured together starting in '84 but only in bargain budget Base trim.
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Gives me some Renault 11 vibes, I dig it
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