1988 Autech Zagato Stelvio

CRAZY JDM #17

This is the Autech Stelvio. It used to be a Nissan Leopard coupe but Nissan's slightly mad in-house tuner, Autech transformed it into this... thing. It's an exotic 'thing' nevertheless, styled by Zagato (when Zagato was drunk) and sold in limited numbers at interesting prices. A little over £100,000 (or $160,000) when adjusted for inflation! So this car was bought by those with more money than sense. And maybe no eyes.



WHY WOULD PEOPLE WITH NO EYES WANT THIS?
Okay, let me elaborate here. It's not the styling that turns away the 'people-with-eyes' demographic - as that's entirely subjective. It's rather something else. That something else is... the door-mirrors, or to be precise - the lack of them. So how can such a car be legal? Well, they're not quite door-mirrors anymore. Not even fender-mirrors. They're mirrors mounted on the bonnet (or hood)! Visibility ends up so poor you might as well not bother looking.
Furthermore, the people who bought this could potentially never drive it. It's just another way to say,
"Look at me, I'm rich!". Although to be fair, it would be best to look away to avoid getting conjunctivitis.
This car does at least have a legacy though. After Zagato 'styled' this, they copied the design and removed all the awkward bits. The result was the quirky but elegant Aston Martin V8 Zagato, and a presumably an enraged Nissan.

HOW FAST?
As fast as a Nissan Leopard V6 with slightly more horsepower attached...
316bhp (rounded from 315.622...)
0-60 in something slightly under the Leopard's 10.6 time
152mph

MORE PHOTOS PLEASE!

WARNING: View at your own discretion.

Behold, broken dinner plates minimalism within art.

Exhibit A: The mirrors! (Annotated by me).

Exhibit B: The same design but actually pretty! (The Aston Martin V8 Zagato).

Finally, I present to you - one of many proposed replacements to the Stelvio. Sadly, the economy's collapse coupled with the end of the Autech-Zagato partnership killed them off. Except to see an article on these soon!

CAN I BUY ONE?
If you're willing to import - I guess you can. It's even past the USA import cap - but would you want to? Also it's very hard to find these in the first place because 'limited production'. Despite that, I did find one on Goo net. And it had depreciated to less than an 8th of its original value. So... Bargain?

CRAZY JDM RATING!

Silly styling? YES

Silly engineering? YES YES (Handbuilt with bonnet-mirrors)

Silly idea behind it? YES YES YES

●●●3/3 A very silly car that also manages to be something really cool and unique.

1991 Subaru Alcyone SVX

CRAZY JDM #6

This is the Subaru SVX. Aka the SVX Alcyone. Alcyone is the star in the Subaru logo and this car was the 'star' in Subaru's car range at the time. Replacing the oddballish and boxy XT this car is one of a kind. It looks ugly, then it looks pretty. It looks luxurious, then tacky. It was even styled by Giugiaro. And its windows were huge. It reminds me of the Renault Avantime but even cooler.


WHY DO I RECOGNISE IT'S SHAPE?
A certain article I found has an answer and it's simple; they could have stolen it. Although not proven, they may have 'magpied' some of the design cues off of a Ford concept (see photos for more). Despite all that, I can still appreciate the car for what it is. A pinnacle of Subaru's creativity. If it were something like a BMW I'd guarantee it would sell - but this factor combined with the economy's collapse made it owe the company a loss equating to about 75 million (Ouch). Regardless, I prefer its styling to the Ford concept. And remember, you can't drive the Ford concept though, but you can drive this.

HOW FAST?
Not a Ferrari, but not a slouch either. Compare & contrast with the Eunos Cosmo.
230bhp
0-60 in 7.1 seconds
154mph

MORE PICTURES PLEASE!

This is how they showcased aerodynamics in the 90s

A whole load of meaty camera shots

Looks like this picture is from a brochure

Its predecessor, the Alcyone XT. I might cover this car in the future.

The comparison from the article I mentioned earlier.

CAN I BUY ONE?

Why, yes. they were sold in the US. They also depreciate a lot too so you decide if that's good or bad. If you're in the UK then you're in luck (if you're reading this once that car is sold then I'm very sorry). But regardless of where you are remember that this car is very rare even if not that pricey (£2,000 to £7,000).

CRAZY JDM RATING

Silly styling? YES

Silly engineering? NO

Silly idea behind it? YES

●●◦2/3 Although it's not the most bonkers JDM, it's close.

1990 Mazda Eunos Cosmo

CRAZY JDM #5

This is the Eunos Cosmo. It may look ordinary, but this is a car with a very special engine. A Twin Turbo 3 Rotor engine. 'Rotary Power' may as well be Mazda's slogan and this certainly has masses of the aforementioned 'rotary power'. Released under Mazda's ill fated luxury brand 'Eunos', this attempt at a GT car is really something special.


ISN'T THERE THAT REALLY OLD MAZDA COSMO THING TOO?
Well, yeah. The original Mazda Cosmo was the first ever mass produced car with a rotary engine and later models such as this one continue the legacy. Also according to Wikipedia, this was Mazda's top of the line 'halo model' and contained many revolutionary electronic features for its time including; a colour touch screen controlling climate control, analog TV, GPS navigation, radio, CD, and an actual mobile phone. That's luxurious even for today's standards!

HOW FAST?
Yeah, it's pretty fast.
296bhp
0-60 in 7.5 seconds
155mph

MORE PICTURES PLEASE!

Rear view.

Comparison with Mazda's more famed rotary car, the RX-7.

What I'd call a 'sleeper car', you wouldn't expect it to be much faster than it looks but it's very quick.

A very interesting interior.

The original Cosmo, looks like an antique... In a good way.

CAN I BUY ONE?

Though only sold in Japan it is imported to fair range of places. Almost new enough to pass the USA import cap so wait a few months if you want one over there, prices vary a lot. I've seen these go from just £6,000 to the £20,000!

CRAZY JDM RATING!

Silly styling? NO

Silly engineering? YES

Silly idea behind it? YES (an ambitious idea at least)

●●◦2/3 Although it's not the most bonkers JDM, it's close.

1998 Nissan Sileighty

CRAZY JDM #2

This is the Nissan Sileighty. While Nissan is known for their legendary Skyline GTR & Z cars. They also made 2 coupes, the Silvia & the 180SX. These were popular with the youth; who were more likely to crash, especially if they were drifters. 180SXs With damaged front ends would use parts from the '89 Silvia as they fitted perfectly and were cheaper. Thus the Sil(Silvia)eighty(180SX) was born.


SO IT'S NOT AN OFFICIAL MODEL?
Wrong, the Sileighty fad grew so popular that Nissan even made a few models from their factories. Some tuners would even made an Onevia. The One(180SX)via(Silvia) was the same thing in reverse (a Silvia with a 180SX front end) but this was not as popular as the car and front end parts were more expensive.

HOW FAST?
Same stats as 180SX.
205bhp
0-62 in 7.1 seconds
145mph

MORE PHOTOS PLEASE!

Modified

180SX

1989 Silvia

Sileighty Front

Sileighty Rear

CAN I BUY ONE?

Well the Silvia and 240SX were both made in 1989 so an early one is past the US import cap. In other areas they are relatively hard to find but not that expensive. Alternatively you could just get a 180/200/240SX and crash it then replace the front though I wouldn't recommend that. :)

CRAZY JDM RATING!

Silly styling? NO

Silly engineering? NO

Silly idea behind it? YES

●◦◦1/3 A mostly sober car with a couple of cool and different features.