New York Auto Show: Visit for the reveals, stay for the Rad
If you’re local to the 2022 New York International Auto Show but on the fence about going due to its somewhat ho-hum OEM presence this year, Radwood is offering a little extra incentive. Its display on the show floor includes a swath of privately owned and properly Rad iron for your enthusiastic perusal.
By sheer quantity, the collection on the floor leans a bit toward the latter half of the “Rad” era (meaning ’90s rather than ’80s), but a couple of heavy hitters from the legwarmers-and-spandex days make appearances as well. Here are a few highlights:
Jaguar Sport XJR-15
This is a rare bird indeed. The Jaguar Sport XJR-15 was built around a Le-Mans-winning race chassis. Not a Jaguar in the strictest sense, this supercar was produced in extremely limited numbers. The body was designed by future McLaren F1 co-creator Peter Stevens. It packed a 6.0-liter Jaguar V12 pushing 450 horsepower (pony cars were rocking half that around the turn of the decade, you’ll remember) and hit 60 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% certain what year this little kei truck is, but the Honda Acty is quite a charming little utility runabout. This looks like a post-facelift, second-generation model, meaning it had a whopping 656 cc engine producing at least 38 horsepower (slightly more if it’s a later model with fuel injection). 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
“Gran Turismo” series fans will appreciate this nugget. The 1990 Nismo Pulsar GTi-R was part of a limited run of homologation models that allowed Nissan’s little Pulsar to participate in WRC Group A rally. Depending on the street variant, it had between ~215 and ~225 horsepower on tap, going to the ground through Nissan’s ATTESA all-wheel drive system.
1985 Renault 5 Turbo 2
Can you tell that 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 source) street car parts that the earlier Turbo ditched for race-issue gear, but it’s nonetheless a bad little ride. 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, this was built nearly 40 years ago, and these cars were meant to reflect racing entries that were power restricted based on their classes. They can’t all be Ford RS200 Evos. Oh, there’s one of those in there too. We’ve compiled the entire display in the top gallery so you can get a taste of what’s there before you commit to requesting an Uber or checking your couch cushions for subway fare. I dunno; I live in Michigan. You figure it out.
