1978 Lancia Siblio
With a drop-snout, flared wheel arches and front quarter windows, the Siblio presages the trends of the early 2000s by 25 years.
And also looks quite a lot like the cars in Total Recall (1990).
/via CarAdvice
Researching the MX-81, I also came across these other two brown gems from Bertone, the 1972 Citroen Camargue, which I had heard of, and the 1979 Volvo Tundra, which I hadn’t.
1982 Bertone Mazda MX-81 Aria
It’s 1981. Mazda has just launched the first front-wheel-drive 323. In order to set a new design direction, they ask Bertone to produce a prototype based on the 323’s mechanicals. Bertone delivers a delightful brown hatchback coupe with a dropped beltline, a huge glass hatch and a wedgy front end with quite tidy pop-up lights. Mazda must have been pleased with the MX-81 as the Astina hatch and the second generation RX-7 make quite strong references to it.
The weirdest feature of the MX-81 was that it had a square belt instead of a steering wheel. I really hope it was a cheeky reference to the Austin Allegro’s “Quartic” wheel.
(Pic via Autotrader, many more at CarStyling.ru)
