An eighties 1 liter 3-cylinder hot-hatch on a set of genuine panasport wheels. For personal travel around San Francisco, can it get any better than this? I recently took a weekend trip to the SF bay with my wife, little brother, and little sister, and while they spent time seeing the touristy stuff like China Town, the Fisherman’s Wharf, and some bridge somewhere, I spent most of my time carspotting. I suppose that’s what I do anywhere we go, though, so it should come as no surprise to them. This one had so much of my attention that I had to walk a block out of my way and across a busy street to see it. They didn’t understand my fascination, but you might.

I knew what it was from half a mile away. The red color (they were only available in red or white), the little flip up spoiler on the hatch, and the conspicuous side script do nothing to hide what it is. It’s blatantly obvious to all those in the know. So why was I so confused when I got closer? Well, if you look closely, the nose has a Chevrolet bowtie as well as a Suzuki badge. On the side, there are “Turbo Sprint” white decals, as well as “Swift” scripts. The back says “Sprint” in white and “GTi” in an emblem. Hold on a second, is it a Suzuki Swift GT, or a Chevrolet Sprint Turbo? Well, technically its both.

Luckily the owner noticed me taking photos and stopped to talk about it a second before taking off (The black Corolla is also his, and judging by the Cycle World decals on the Chevzuki, the motorcycle behind it is probably his, too). He explained that this car was an import, and he registered it as a Chevy, or something I didn’t quite understand in our short conversation. Honestly, I’d probably just pull all of the badging off of the car and let people guess what it is. I’m sure a lot would say Honda or Toyota. No matter, as they say in California, it’s hella cool.

In North America, we had the Sprint for only 1985 through 1988, and the Turbo “G10” engine wasn’t introduced until 1987. Canada, however, kept receiving the car through 1991, as well as a Pontiac version called the “Firefly”. The Turbo wasn’t exactly a powerhouse, but the car wasn’t too heavy to drive around either at 70 horsepower and 1700 pounds. I like to think of this car as a spiritual 1980s successor to the original Issigonis-designed mini. It’s great for a city like SF, because it can zip in and out of tight spots with aplomb, though I bet some of those hills are hell on the clutch.
All images ©2015 Bradley C. Brownell, All Rights Reserved