It’s 1981. Ronald Reagan is elected as President of the United States and almost gets assasinated, The Space Shuttle program begins, Jamaican singer Bob Marley unfortunately dies of cancer, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ is released in theaters, English rock band ‘The Police’ releases ‘Ghost in the Machine’, and Yuro opens up their first few hundred dealerships around the world.
The beginning of an interesting decade. The 1980s.
The Yuro 3500 is a front-engined, rear-wheel-drive, four seater, 2-door personal luxury car Introduced at the 1980 Detroit Auto Show. The car was aimed at the west’s Personal Luxury Car market, and thus as much effort and care was given to achieve their goal.
Its radical design stunned the world for its sporty and futuristic looks. The unpainted stainless steel finish of the car gave it a unique and special look like no other. The gullwing doors also gave it a special touch like no other car on the road.
An interesting design cue was its twin sealed beam headlight design which looked like it didn’t comply with FMVSS 108, however the outer headlamps were faux lights, which gave it a rather interesting look. (For the USDM model. Non-USDM models had both being lower-power headlights.)
However, rather disappointingly it made only 124HP from its 2.8L inline 6, paired with the 1,330kg curb weight, it wasn’t as sporty as it looked. The handling was more floaty and soft than it was sporty.
But wherever it lacked in sportiness, it made up in luxury. The car was packed with luxurious amenities from the 80s. Including fully swivelable power-operated seats to assist getting in and out of the rather small doorframe, power operated windows, power locks and a prestigious compact cassette player with a small CRT screen that allowed for video playback to top it all off.
Talking more about the car’s powertrain , the 3500 sent its roaring 124 horses to a 4-speed “Yuro-matic” Transmission connected to the rear wheels and sent the car barrelling from 0-60 in 11.3 seconds, and gave it a top speed of 115 mph. The Japanese market 3500 had an optional 5-speed manual which gave it a 0-60 time of roughly 10.5 seconds, however the car was limited to 112 mph.
This meant that the 3500 was slower than it’s A3000 predecessor, rather disappointingly. A Special Edition was planned in 1987 as an attempt to boost sales, but was binned in favour of the first generation Classique instead.
The 3500 went on sale in February 1981 for about 25,000$ (68,000$ in 2019 adjusted for inflation.) and 12,300 cars were sold until it was discontinued in 1989 due to slowing sales.
The 3500 would be the last “thousand” number car made by Yuro, and since no Special Edition 3500 made it past the drawing board, it meant that the A3000 would be the last Special Edition Yuro to ever roll off the production line.
The 3500, along with cars such as the Ferrari Testarossa, DeLorean, etc. would be recognised as one of the most iconic cars of the 1980s. With the 3500 being featured in a handful of famous 80s films that would cement its status in the automotive world.
Like its predecessors, due to it’s rather low sales and high desirability a good condition 3500 can run for fairly high prices in auctions, expect some to show up in car collectors’ garages every now and then.
