Just 17

I used to have one of these:

I thought it looked really cool.  I didn't realise just how much it looked like the uncool Renault 12 in real life.  But then again, it was based on the 12.

I found that picture on this fan site which I'm going to have to spend a while trawling through later.  Not sure how they can describe it as red there though - it is most definitely orange.

Anyway, what got me thinking about Renault 17s?

Well, this did - it's an Auto Express story about the Hyundai Pony concept car from 1974.  It was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro a short few years after Gaston Juchet's 17 so I think I know where he got some inspiration from:

Hyundai have got George in again to recreate this for the modern day - the original sadly no longer exists. Whether or not it will be like the electric Pony I blogged about last year we just don't know.

I bet that if they had mass-produced that concept, Matchbox would have done a version and I'd have owned it - like these ones:

Looks like I was definitely in to red, orange and yellow cars - and it didn't matter that buses were in the wrong scale.

And how old was I then?

Just 11.

There'll Be Bluebirds Over...

...at the charging points.

Remember back in April when I quite liked the electric Hyundai Pony?

Well Nissan have done the same thing now with The Bluebird.  Here's Autocar with the story.

Although it's not really Nissan who have done it - they got a local company who do such conversions to do it for them.  It's to celebrate 35 years since the first car was built at their Sunderland factory - seems a strange number to celebrate.  I must have missed the celebrations for the 35 years since the completion of the M25.

I do like it:

I wouldn't have given it a second glance in the '80s even with the garish paintjob and it's only the lights that would make you suspicious today.

Unlike the Pony, the interior is very stock if you ignore the ugly plate where the gearstick should be:

But there does seem to be an issue if you want to get home from the airport and fancy ordering a nostalgic private hire ride:

Creating a Monster

 Albeit a cute one:

Looks better from the rear though:

The front reminds me too much of Tina from Bob's Burgers:

So what is this mystery car that looks so much like a Mark I Hyundai Pony?

It's actually a Mark I Hyundai Pony.  It has been disassembled and rebuilt by Hyundai to celebrate their new customer centre in Busan, Korea. They have added an electric motor and some other funky touches. Car+Driver have the story here.

One of my favourite funky touches is the Nixie tubes in the dash display:

I never even knew that those things were called "Nixie Tubes"

So what is "the monster" of which I speak?

Is it from a film as scary as Dracula or La La Land?

No.

I am talking about the gigantic motoring conglomerate that is Hyundai/Kia and which was created, or at least grown, with a bit of help (including the Mark I Pony in the photo above) from British Leyland.  That story is here.

Now a film of the story of British Leyland WOULD be a horror movie.