Mystery Car 80

In the 1980’s, MacGyver was a popular tv show featuring a man who could get himself out of a difficult situation with a little duct tape, a paper clip, and his left sock. When you stop and think about it, shows like that can make you a more resourceful person. You start looking for ways to use what you have to get the job done. But that wasn’t the usual result of watching the show. Instead junior high boys* borrowed their mother’s kitchen blender in an attempt to make a one man submarine and ended up blowing a fuse in the basement.

But let’s get back to “resourceful.” In the 1980’s American car companies were trying to capture the mystique of the zippy European turbocharged cars. But instead of changing its American lineup, one of those companies decided to bring over one of its European models to see how it would do. The reaction was immediate. A well-known car magazine rated it as one of its top ten cars for the year (but later took the award back because of the car’s strange exterior design). After five years, only 40,000 cars had been sold and the car was discontinued for the American market. Honestly, it was a very resourceful move on the part of this American company. It just didn’t end up working.

As I was driving past Corduroy Road last Tuesday, I came across that very car and resourcefully snapped a picture and made it Mystery Car 80. With all the clues you have been given, surely you know what it is, right?

* As Mrs. Hurst used to say, “One junior high boy, half a brain. Two junior high boys, no brains.”