The 1980s were both a glorious and terrible time for the car industry. On one hand, you had dramatic new design trends that allowed for plenty of fun and hilariously funky style. On the other, new emissions and safety regulations, as well as the aftershocks of the oil crisis were still strangling the performance out of almost every sporty car out there. While many performance cars of the '80s such as the Lamborghini Countach, Buick GNX, and Porsche 911 managed to remain highly desirable machines, a huge portion of the '80s performance car market was almost entirely forgotten as they desperately tried to recapture the sports car spirit that had been mostly trampled.
It's hard to really blame anyone for this forgetfulness; as mentioned, it was a dark time for performance, and a wild time for styling—combine the two and you get many cars that looked like good sports cars when new (i.e. the Pontiac Fiero), but haven't aged well compared to the capabilities of later, subtler-looking sports cars. Regardless of how they ended up this way, here are 10 of the coolest '80s sports cars that most people forgot about entirely, along with the price that they typically sell for today.
10 Consulier GTP - $55,000
It's not exactly what you'd call a beautiful or even a pretty car, but as a low volume performance machine, the Consulier GTP is downright cool in its own ways.
The brainchild of Warren Mosler, later responsible for the awesome Mosler MT900 supercar, the Consulier GTP was developed and made by Consulier Industries (later called Mosler Automotive) as a response to Mosler's desire for a truly lightweight American sports car.
Tipping the scales at under 2,000 pounds, and powered by a 174 hp Chrysler Turbo-II engine—later a 300-hp Chevy V8—the Consulier GTP was a proper sports car with racecar-like handling thanks to the low weight and aerodynamic tuning.
Yet for as much performance as the aerodynamic optimization gave it, it also bestowed the car with rather ugly looks. Regardless, less than 100 GTPs were made, spanning a 1985 to 1993 production run. Despite the ultra-rare status and proper racecar engineering, the last two to come up for sale were auctioned off with an average price of $55,000.
9 Lamborghini Jalpa - $90,000+
It almost seems unbelievable, but Lamborghini has indeed produced a few rather forgettable models in the past, and the Jalpa is one of them. Despite being forgotten though, it still is as cool as the Lamborghini badge suggests.
Like the Gallardo compared to the Murcielago or the Huracan against the Aventador, the Jalpa was a smaller brother to the big V12 Lambo of its day - the Countach.
However, this was back before the Gallardo really cemented the smaller Lamborghini offering as a genuine supercar, and only 410 Jalpas were sold during its 1981 to 1988 model run.
Powered by a 255 hp V8, the Jalpa is not a slow car, and still carries all the exotic looks and design cues you'd expect an '80s Lamborghini to have. Despite being mostly forgotten by the supercar world, the Jalpa is still a proper Lamborghini, and a rare one at that. On the lower end, prices can hover around the $90,000 mark.
8 Isdera Imperator 108i - $560,000+
It's not often that a concept car makes it to production with all its jaw-dropping design elements intact, and while the Isdera Imperator 108i had minuscule production numbers, it did exactly that, turning the Mercedes CW311 concept into a road-going reality.
Debuting in 1978, the Mercedes CW311 concept was a fantastically futuristic wedge-shaped design, combining the best effort of both Porsche and Mercedes in a 6-year design process. The designer of that concept though was Eberhart Schulz, who had left Mercedes to form Isdera afterward and noticed all the missed potential in Mercedes not putting the CW311 into production.
Striking a deal, Mercedes allowed Isdera to do exactly that, and the Isdera Imperator 108i was born as a production version of the CW311 in 1984.
Built from a strong tubular space frame chassis and powered by a Mercedes V8 engine ranging up to a 420 hp AMG-tuned version, the Imperator 108i was a genuine supercar at the time and stunned with radical looks and features such as a periscope rearview mirror and gullwing doors. Only 30 examples of the Imperator 108i were made in its 1984 to 1993 model run, and the last one to come up for sale was listed at $561,000 back in 2016.
7 Chevrolet Corvette Greenwood GTO - $34,000
For fans of both old school IMSA racing and Corvettes, the name "Greenwood" signifies something truly special, and truly wicked. The Greenwood GTO may be forgotten by most, but that doesn't change the fact that this Corvette is a monster and a half.
Burning his name into the motorsport history books with IMSA domination, a Trans-Am victory, and several entries to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, John Greenwood built and raced some of the coolest Corvettes to ever hit the track. What was so remarkable about Greenwood though, was his independence from any factory or professional team, a fact that allowed him to go wild building such insane machines.
Gradually selling many of his custom race parts for street use, the Greenwood GTO Corvette was one of 5 custom race-bred, street-legal Corvette models made and sold by Greenwood between 1975 and 1981—and the GTO was the top dog of the bunch.
With just two made, the Greenwood GTO incorporated the insane widebody style found on the Greenwood IMSA cars, custom Greenwood suspension, and a tuned and turbocharged V8 that spit out 450 hp—more than double a stock Corvette from 1981! Shockingly, despite being a proper racecar for the road, and there only being two, the last Greenwood GTO to sell at auction did so for just $34,000 back in 2015.
6 Ford Mustang McLaren M81 - $37,000
On the Ford side of IMSA-bred '80s specials lies the Mustang McLaren M81, a car with just as many wicked looks, and race-oriented engineering under the skin.
Tasked with overcoming the outgoing Mustang II's mediocrity, the new Fox Body Mustang was the basis for the McLaren M81. It was also tasked with proving a 4-cylinder could compete in IMSA was a priority, and with the help of McLaren, that was made a reality in the 1981 24 Hours of Daytona—though with a Cosworth BDA engine in its IMSA racer form.
Carried over into road car form, the epic custom widebody and orange paint make it immediately obvious you're looking at a McLaren Mustang. Under the hood though, the IMSA spec Cosworth engine was gone in favor of a more normal Ford turbo 4-cylinder, although it was tuned and tweaked by McLaren for a maximum of up to 190 hp with the optional boost controller—far more than what the V8 Mustang offered at the time.
Accompanying power and style were some excellent all-around suspension and handling tuning that helped to make it a genuine racecar for the road. Only 10 were made, and despite its rarity, McLaren name, and race-focused engineering, a Mustang McLaren M81 sold this year for just $37,400.
5 Renault Alpine GTA Turbo - $20,000+
One of the coolest French sports cars of the late '80s, the Renault Alpine GTA Turbo was a sleek Porsche competitor that shockingly had better performance than the Stuttgart sports cars of its day.
Once an independent Renault tuner and race team, Alpine produced some awesome Renault-based sports cars such as the gorgeous rally-bred Alpine A110, and the super funky A310. The GTA, though, was the first car made under Alpine after they became Renault's official performance tuner (think along the lines of AMG), and was produced from 1985 until 1990.
What they made was rather incredible. The GTA was built with sleek and aerodynamic fiberglass body panels and looked simply awesome. And backing up those looks was a mid-engine layout with a PRV V6 on the GTA Turbo; the eponymous turbocharger helped deliver 200 hp, easily matching most Porsches in not only speed but handling too.
At the time, Automobile Magazine wrote about the GTA Turbo saying, "All told, the Alpine is more manageable and confidence-inspiring than any 911." Mostly forgotten today, an Alpine GTA Turbo typically sells for around $20,000 on the low end.
4 Matra-Talbot Murena - $15,000
Another obscure and sporty French car, the Matra Murena is a rare and thoroughly unique machine with some seriously funky character to it.
Most famous for their Formula 1 and Le Mans racers of the '60s and '70s, Matra isn't well known in the road car scene but made several interesting sports cars in the past, all of which had a certain level of weirdness to them. Included in their past cars was the 1962 Matra Djet—the world's first production mid-engine sports car—and a funky wedge shape three-seater, the Matra Bagheera.
An evolution of the Bagheera, the Murena, was introduced in 1980 with a focus on fixing the Bagheera's issues while retaining its good points. It kept the unique three-seat configuration while tackling previous rust issues, bestowed better build quality, and simplified the construction. Additionally, the Matra Murena used Talbot-sourced engines mounted in the middle, with the more powerful choice of a 2.2L inline-4 delivering around 118 hp. A rare and almost entirely forgotten sports car, the unique Matra-Talbot Murena typically sells for around$15,000.
3 TVR 450 SEAC - $40,000
One of the strangest sports car makers out there, TVR has had an interesting history producing some truly wild cars. Among their lineup for the '80s was the Wedge Series, and the 450 SEAC was the top performance variant within it.
Denoting a more special version of the TVR Wedge, SEAC stood for "Special Edition Aramid Composite" and meant that the car was made from either a carbon fiber body or kevlar-fiberglass composite that could shave up to 200 pounds off the car's weight. As for power, the 450 was at the very top of how powerful the TVR Wedge could get.
Built as a homologation special for TVR's racing team, the 420 SEAC released in 1986, offering some of the best power-to-weight ratios and acceleration for its day. Using a 4.2L Rover V8, the 420 SEAC made 300 hp and could do 0-60 MPH in 4.7 seconds, the 450 SEAC turned things up even more when released in 1988, bringing the engine to 4.4L and 324 hp.
With very few examples made (estimated at just 18) and as one of the last TVR Wedge cars, a 450 SEAC is a difficult vehicle to find for sale. One sold for around $40,000.
2 Giocattolo Group-B - $60,000 (Claimed)
Made in Australia, powered by a meaty V8, and built using an Alfa Romeo model derived from a Group B rally prototype, the Giocattolo Group-B is the wildest low-volume performance machine that the car world seems to have forgotten about.
A car devised by computer tech entrepreneur Paul Halstead, it was his other business in Sydney, known as "Toy Shop," that would be the basis for the Giocattolo Group-B. An importer of Ferraris, Porsches, De Tomasos, and Alfa Romeos, Halstead took the Group B prototype derived Alfa Romeo Alfasud Sprint and used it as the basis of his new machine.
Upgrading and tweaking the Alfasud Sprint with parts such as a kevlar and carbon fiber body, stronger and lighter subframe, and positioning an Alfa V6 in the middle of the car, the Giocattolo Group-B was born. However, Alfa Romeo wasn't too pleased with this, forcing the remaining Group-Bs to use a Holden V8, and just 15 were completed between 1988 and 1989.
While RedBook Australia claims its private sale price is between $58,200 to $71,600, take that figure with a massive grain of salt, as a sold example with its sale price included was unavailable for reference.
1 AC 3000ME - $20,000
If the name AC as an automaker sounds familiar, it's probably due to Carroll Shelby, who worked with the company to create his legendary Cobra off their Ace sports car. The 3000ME was AC's sports car for the '80s and one that ended up being nearly entirely forgotten.
Beginning with automotive engineer and icon of '60s race cars Peter Bohanna, the AC 3000ME started off as the Diablo concept, designed by the Bohanna Stables company and first shown at the 1972 London Racing Car Show. Catching the attention of AC executive Keith Judd, the Diablo's design was acquired by the company. Entering a long gestation period, the Diablo would become the AC 3000ME and finally go on sale in 1979.
Built by AC until 1984, the 3000ME used a mid-mounted Ford Essex V6 that produced around 138 hp and weighed around 2,300 lbs. A fun little sports car, the car's lifespan was marred by production issues and only 106 AC 3000MEs were built, with 71 made from '79 to '84, and another 35 in 1985. Despite the rarity, one AC 3000ME sold for around $20,000 on Bonhams.