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revival
1984 witnessed the great come-back of the retractable hardtop / no less than three cars, all from germany, resurrected the system /
during the first era of tuning, german tuners had no limits in their ability to chase money from the rich, especially from
the persian gulf / two of these new cars were aimed at this target : mercedes-benz magic top by b+b
and audi quattro roadster by treser / the opel corsa-based michalak corsaspider
was more affordable, but equally awkward / however, the alternate
systems derived from the retractable hardtop were not dead / the 1988 venturi transcup and the 1989
suzuki cappuccino concept car introduced a new formula in which a classical targa roof is completed with a retractable roll bar /
the limited edition 1989 toyota soarer aerocabin had another system / the roof has basically the same motion as a modern retractable hardtop
except that the window frames stand still / the come-back of the real retractable hardtop in mass production was definitely very close
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a bunch of retractable hardtop concept cars has been unveiled during the nineties, but the highlight was the arrival of the first modern retractable hardtop in the market / mitsubishi started selling its 3000 gt spyder from 1994 (available only in japan and in the usa), but mercedes-benz stole the show thanks to the slk, unveiled in 1996 (derived from the 1994 slk paris concept car) / the slk benefited from the excellent reputation of the german maker while it was targeted at younger buyers, thanks to its compactness, modernity and competitive price / the lack of competitors eased the slk's success, but other carmakers replied quickly
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nissan unveiled the silvia varietta in 1999, peugeot showed the 206 cc the year after (though it had been known since 1998 as the 20
concept car)
as lexus with its sc430 / volkswagen and lancia should enter the market
within the next few years, and mercedes-benz and peugeot will broaden their range with the new sl
and the forthcoming 307 cc / american carmakers are on the edge too : the chevrolet ssr will arrive soon,
and cadillac will sell the xlr (derived from the evoq concept car), hopefully more successful
than the ill-fated allanté / even the pope has a retractable hardtop car, as lancia
offered him a very special parade car called giubileo, made on the basis of the dialogos concept car
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audi photo : auto chromes / n°72 / avril 1986
mitsubishi photo : fournie par jeff mulligan
mercedes-benz slk photo : brochure mercedes-benz
nissan photo : nissan
peugeot photo : peugeot
lexus photo : lexus
mercedes-benz sl photo : mercedes-benz
chevrolet photo : chevrolet
cadillac photo : cadillac
last updated 13/01/2002