You want a classic hot hatch but without any of the fuss, bother, rust or any other analogue irritation. The answer - given you have deep enough pockets - you see before you. This is the world of the hot hatch restomod: 1980s classics that have been given more than just a polish, tune-up and vacuum. Restomods are originals remade from the ground up, featuring the latest technology and high-end materials. They're handmade inside and out to a standard even Rolls-Royce would admire, with prices that those purveyors of luxury motor vehicles would recognise. The choice now is which to go for. For lottery winners, it's simple: both, please.
Automobili Amos Lancia Delta Futurista | Price: £270,000 | Year: 2021 | Engine: 1,995 cc inline four, 330 b
Lancia's Delta Integrale was a multiple world rally champion, with road-going examples boasting the same shopping-hatch-on-steroids look as competition machines and a similar turbo-charged four wheel drive set-up. Its enemy was rust. That and the nagging memory of the shopping hatch underneath. In return for in excess of a quarter of a million pounds, Automobili Amos will rectify all of that, and then some. Door count is down by two. Bodywork is now both wider and in hand-formed aluminium with the front end in carbon fibre. The Futurista is a hefty 90kg lighter as a result.
The interior is drool-worthy, with more than just a hint of '2001: A Space Odyssey' about it. Recaro seats are entirely retrimmed. Switchgear, controls and instruments retain the 1980s look while, in true restomod fashion, being completely remade. There are fingertip controls on the bespoke steering wheel. Whether or not there's a secret switch for the enlarged rear wing we can't tell you. Perhaps try pushing the one with the rocketship logo. This is high end Ferrari money, so it's of course a bit much for a hot hatch. But just look at it, and then say you don't want one.
Legende Automobiles R5 Turbo 3 | Price: on application | Year: 2021 | Engine: 1,432 cc inline four, 400 bhp
French name, California base: Legende Automobiles are the new guys on the restomod block. First job: an update on Renault's magnificently ridiculous 5 Turbo 2, a mid-engined, rear wheel drive beast of a road-going rally car, based on the best-selling Renault 5. And what an update this is. Your first glance will recognise the original car. The second will realise that every part of the R5 Turbo 3 is bespoke. Carbon fibre is extensively used in hand-forming both the Turbo 3 and its signature bodykit, with added rear diffuser. Lights are now LED front and rear so they'll see you coming and watch you disappear, fast.
The Turbo 3 is the result, say its makers, of a simple question: "What if there were no compromises?" The interior provides a sumptuous answer, reimagining the luscious design of the original Turbo, by Marcello Gandini for Bertone. Ultra thin race seats are bespoke - of course - and there's an exposed roll cage. Instrumentation is now digital, with transmission through a sequential gearbox. Since it's designed and built in Los Angeles there is also dual zone air conditioning. Legende aren't saying how much they're asking for each Turbo 3, but expect little, if any, change from £250,000. Brilliantly absurd.
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