Honda brings a 40-year-old concept car back to life

For the first time in half a century, Honda will be taking part in the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. The company teamed up with Pininfarina to revive the iconic HP-X Concept – the car was first introduced in Turin, Italy in 1984 and later became the inspiration for the NSX.

The coupe has a distinct tapered body with a Plexiglas pop top to get in and out. The designers who worked on the project had considered multiple aerodynamic optimizations for it, including utilizing the ground effect, implementing a manual air brake and routing as much air to the engine as possible for cooling. They had also experimented a lot with lightweight materials such as Kevlar and carbon fiber.

Power for the sports car was provided by a transaxle 2.0-liter, 24-valve V6 mounted just behind the cabin. It was a modification of the Honda F2 racing engine. The prototype featured a number of highly innovative driver-focused technologies when it debuted, such as real-time telemetry and road surface analysis (with a dedicated sonar on board).

Honda and Pininfarina have now restored the original car with an emphasis on keeping the original design intact. At the upcoming Concours d’Elegance, it will compete for the top prize in a niche category named “Wedge-Shaped Concept Cars and Prototypes”.