| Subcompact cars are space savers and can go through traffic at ease, but there are also smaller cars that can do that. Though subcompact hatchbacks in the 1980s where quite popular.
Honda has been one of the Japanese car manufacturers who made this type of cars as a favorite. The City Turbo II is a sport compact hatch that was also used for rally sport and Hot Wheels pays tribute to the little car in 2018. |
Honda City Turbot II is an upgraded version of its pdecessor and the brainchild of Hirotoshi Honda, son of Honda founder Soichiro Honda also founder of Mugen that was a popular tuning company in the 1980s. The company Hirotoshi has founded was known for producing performance parts for motorcycles and automobiles.
His company gain popularity in racing circles when he created the City Turbo, Hirotoshi took one of Honda's most unassuming vehicles and successfully turned it into an aggressive street rocket, considered to be well ahead of its time.
Impressed, Honda took Hirotoshi's idea and made a production version, introduced in September 1982. A few months earlier, Honda staffers took two City Turbos on a gruelling 10,000 km round trip of Europe, all the way from Sicily to Karasjok in the arctic north.
In November 1983, the intercooled Turbo II joined the lineup. Flared fenders, wings, sideskirts and graphics combined for a much more pugnacious appearance, making its "Bulldog" nickname very fitting. In late 1984 the original Turbo was discontinued while the Turbo II continued in production until the City was replaced in late 1986.
Hot Wheeled City Turbo
Mattel’s flagship brand Hot Wheels pays tribute to the Honda City Turbo II by producing its casting for the mainline that was released for 2018. The small ‘cute’ looking hatch was one of the first eye catching cars that was available late in December 2018 and its one of the ‘New Models’ that got sold out in South Australia.
Its debut casting was released in white with red and blue tampograph details. The “Turbo” graphic can be seen near the rear part of the car while a “5” in black writing is seen on both sides of the door. This sacrifice the details of the car’s rear and front look leaving the front and tail being unpainted including the front grill.
From the back of the US 2018 card:
Born: 1985 Tokyo, Japan
Designer: Honda
An absolute sensation when it hit the market in the 80’s, the Honda city turbo went against the grain, balking at the low and sleek design trends of the time and standing strong like a stocky bulldog - no surprise the Bulldog Race was created in its honor. You may even see a little Motocompo if you peek in the rear window!
Rally Rocket Ride
The one produced by Mattel for Hot Wheels mainline is the rally version not the standard road car. It also has the racing spoiler in red and other additional parts that make it different from the standard City Turbo II road version.
It also has a sunroof which is also tinted in black since its part of the plastic window. The front fenders has a tampographic of the Honda logo and its wheel type is DDisc to add a new personality for this new casting quickly flew from toy shelves. Entirely design by Ryu Asada for Mattel is a 1985 model that certainly a retro classic.
Overall the Honda City Turbo is ‘cute’ for a 1/64 scale die-cast car a ‘New Model’ for the 2018 Hot Wheels mainline that will possibly have a second color release later in the year. For now the white with red and blue accents will do. It’s a shame budge constraints left the front and rear details unpainted it would have been way better.
“1985 Honda City Turbo II” is numbered 068 0f 365 die-cast cars released for Hot Wheels in 2018 and it was acquired at Big W in Westfield Marion for $2.00 AUD or PhP 80.00 in Philippine Peso. Hot Wheels is distributed and sold in the Philippines by Richprime Global Inc now retailed at PhP 109.75 pesos!
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Source: Hot Wheels Wikia | Wikipedia
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