The 1980s was the decade of some of the most important events in recent history – the fall of the Berlin Wall, the release of the first personal computer, and the Chernobyl disaster, just to name a few. This wasn’t a particularly great era for the American automotive industry though, as it faced poor quality control, rising import competition, and a severe economic downturn. Most of the European automakers left the North American market by the end of the Eighties but on the other side of the big pond, some of the greatest hot hatches were born.
The Late Brake Show on YouTube recently visited Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands region of England. This is where an amazing 1980s car collection is located and you’d probably expect to see it in a big shiny building. Instead, Mark Holland’s collection featured in the video attached at the top of this page lives in an old and rusty barn. That doesn’t mean the cars are abandoned and this is not a barn find by any means. In fact, these are all very healthy sports cars that are driven regularly.
The 1980s Were Amazing:
No 1980s hot hatch collection would be a proper collection without two icons of the small hatchback segment. Of course, we are talking about the Peugeot 205 GTI and the Renault 5 Turbo and these are the first two machines we see featured in the video. Two facts strike us at this point of the clip – the owner of the collection has had 14 Peugeot 205s in his life and he has spent an enormous figure restoring the Renault 5 Turbo.
Just behind the two French ladies, there are two other interesting cars. On the left is a silver Volkswagen Corrado VR6 and next to it is a blue MGF. Of course, with these two cars, we are moving to the 1990s era but there are more 80s cars in this collection. It also features some hot hatches from the early 2000s, like a Mini Cooper S JCW and a Renault Twingo RS. But if you really want to focus on the 80s and 90s gems, you’ll have to jump to the 13-minute mark. There’s a lot to be seen as the collection currently includes about 25 vehicles.
Source: The Late Brake Show on YouTube