If you’re close to the 2022 New York International Auto Show but about to go due to the somewhat ho-hum OEM presence this year, Radwood offers a little extra incentive. The show floor display includes a privately owned strip and real Rad iron for your avid perusal.
The sheer volume makes the floor collection lean a bit towards the latter half of the “Rad” era (meaning ’90s instead of ’80s), but a few heavy hitters from the legwarmers-and-spandex days make an appearance also . Here are a few highlights:
Jaguar Sport XJR-15
This is indeed a rare bird. The Jaguar Sport XJR-15 is built around a Le-Mans-winning race chassis. Not a Jaguar in the strict sense of the word, this supercar was produced in extremely limited numbers. The body was designed by future McLaren F1 co-creator Peter Stevens. It featured a 6.0-litre Jaguar V12 rated at 450 horsepower (pony cars fluctuated half that at the turn of the century, as you recall) hitting 60s in under 4.0 seconds on the way to a top speed just north of 190 mph.
Honda Acty SDX 4WD
We’re not 100% sure what year this little boulder truck is, but the Honda Acty is quite a charming little utility vehicle. This looks like a second-generation post-facelift model, meaning it had a whopping 656cc engine producing at least 38hp (slightly more if it’s a later fuel-injected model). That was enough for a top speed of 65 mph with 4WD – and you think your old Jetta 2.Slow can’t hack it in traffic.
1990 Nismo Pulsar GTi-R
Fans of the Gran Turismo series will appreciate this nugget. The 1990 Nismo Pulsar GTi-R was part of a limited series of homologation models that enabled Nissan’s tiny Pulsar to compete in the WRC Group A rally. Depending on the street variant, it had between 215 and 225 horsepower, which went to the ground via Nissan’s ATTESA all-wheel drive.
1985 Renault 5 Turbo 2
Can you see we can’t get enough of these hot hatches? The Turbo 2 wasn’t the pinnacle of the Renault 5 Alpine rally homologation models, as it brought back some of the (cheaper, heavier, easier to find) road car parts that the earlier Turbo ditched for racing gear, but it’s a bad ride nonetheless. It could hit 120 mph thanks to a 158 horsepower turbocharged engine.
Like the Pulsar above, it may seem underwhelming by modern hot hatch standards, but remember that it was built nearly 40 years ago and these cars were meant to represent race entries that were limited based on their classes of power . They can’t all be Ford RS200 Evos. Oh, there’s one of those too. We’ve put together the entire display in the top gallery so you can get a taste of what’s out there before requesting an Uber or checking your couch cushions for subway fares. I don’t know; I live in Michigan. You just figure it out.