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COMING TO AMERICA
“For years, I’ve said that it is possible to build a small GT with a generous size engine, fully independent suspension, disc brakes, four or five spedd gearbox and decent trim and fittings for under $4,000. All it would take, I reasoned, was a manufacturer with some appropriate parts in its shelves and vision to tool up for enough production to pare the cost”
Ron Wakefield - Road & Track January 1970
He went on.
“An American company could do it; using one of the six cylinder or even a small V8 from their smaller sedans and the front suspension the same, they could build an independent rear suspension and an exclusive body with simple equipment and meet that sort of price target if the car was produced in quantitiesof, say 50,000 per year. It’s more difficult to envision a European maker doing it: they always think in terms of small displacement engines, which immediately puts a damper on US sales, and their GT cars tend to be premium items even in their home market. The British have larger displacement engines but lack the vision to invest capital in such a project. It was left to the Japanese, and somehow we knew a long time ago they would do it. They did.”
SALES
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America
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9,997
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Canada
|
1,201
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Australia
|
319
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Uk
|
2
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