Weekend Edition: Innocenti Turbo De Tomaso

The name “Innocenti” seems to refer to something completely different than a re-engineered Mini that has been built in Italy with a Japanese turbocharged three-cylinder power plant. But that it is, and here it is, making these pages just a little bit cooler by its existence. The car looks like it wants to punch you in the face – with style. The DAIHATSU script on the valve cover seems to fit in nicer than the De Tomaso TURBO detailing on the.. well, coffeemaker on top. The marketing material looks suitably awesome. Look at those gauges! And those are TRX wheels, by the way. I would want to see them in action. The speedometer needle somehow fits in there, and it runs clockwise – the rev gauge anti-clockwise. It’s narrow, it kind of looks like a shrunken Fiat 127 or a front-engined 126, and it packs a punch of 72 horsepower. I want one.