This one is a 1985 one, and it made an impressive-for-then 102 hp from its 1600cc four-banger–remember the 80s were still a time when 70 hp was a reasonable amount of power to expect from a small car. This thing actually looked pretty good, too! Check out that very graphical eighties-tastic grille, too, with the progressively thinning lines, like the sunset on the back of one of the shirts the kids in my middle school wore from some surf shop they’d never been to. You know what’s a nice touch? Check out that front side marker lamp. Look how it extends all the way from the edge of the wheelarch to the very front, like an inset amber stripe. It’s clean and sleek. Hell of a marker lamp. Also, look at this interior:

A desirable Mirage! What a world, right? I’m currently pretending to work but actually watching the final episode of the first season of Severance. Have you seen this show? More importantly, have you seen the CARS in this show? Like most other set elements for this show, they seem purposely picked for their strange timelessness and unfamiliarity. You’ve done excellent breakdowns of cars featured in movies/TV shows before on the Jello Picnic site; I particularly liked the Stranger Things one. I think Severance would be worth your time. Just think of the taillights. Idk, the radio controls being on the floor (and right in front of the shifter) seems like the opposite of ergonomic to me. That photo reminded me that I have often wondered why cars now all seem to have a flat surface on the outer edge of the wheel arches/fender flares. Older cars like this don’t have generally had fender flairs like the front ones in the photo. Any ideas about why this is? Also, I really like the seat fabric. I miss the days when there was so many choices for a hot hatch. I didn’t even look at the GTI because we didn’t have a local dealer at the time!

Cold Start  A Hot Mirage Wasn t Always An Illusion - 72Cold Start  A Hot Mirage Wasn t Always An Illusion - 27