Hyundai Pony Coupé Concept Restored After 50 Years

It’s often the impression that a concept car is something that is elevated to public view quite fast; from drawing board to construction with a far more relaxed regard for the unwritten rules that go towards what might eventually become a production vehicle – the incomprehensibly uncomfortable and impractical (unless on a beach) front seats in the Nissan Juke concept springs to mind. Hyundai has done it all a little differently. Having first revealed the Hyundai Pony Coupé Concept in 1974 at the Turin Motor Show, 50 years later Hyundai has revisited the – surely now classic concept – car once more; the Pony Concept still a concept, but now a fully restored and rebuilt one.

Hyundai held its Reunion event in Italy recently, where the Korean automotive company revealed the ‘new’ Hyundai Pony Coupé Concept at the Lake Como Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. Hyundai also revisited the Pony’s original designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, who it partnered with once more for this intriguing restoration.

In 1974 Giorgetto Giugiaro collaborated with Hyundai to build 5 Pony concept vehicles, with just one of the prototypes being a coupé. These days, Giugiaro works with Fabrizio, his son, in their company GFG Style. Giugiaro clearly enjoyed the nostalgic experience and says he would like to work with Hyundai on future projects. If you think the Hyundai Pony concept has a familiar look about it, well that might be because Giugiaro, along with the Mk1 Golf and Lancia Delta, had a very big hand in the way the DeLorean DMC turned out. You can see those similar straight lines angling off from each other in the Pony just as you can the DeLorean. It’s like the Pony concept has been put together with a template of triangles to somehow create a pleasing geometric flow, giving a look that is pure 1970s. Yet, I feel that we are in a mindset where we can appreciate such automobile shapes once more – maybe our eyes crave something a little different to the plethora of wind tunnel sculpted curves…

GFG Style and Hyundai have effectively restored the coupé using original parts and the original early seventies specification. The minimalist interior has not been added to and includes the eye-catching one-spoke steering wheel and slim-line bucket seats. Power comes from a period 1238cc engine putting out just 82hp, and seeing as the Pony boasts rear wheel drive, any increase in horsepower might introduce some very interesting handling to journeys.

As revolutionary as the Pony was, it was scuppered by what Hyundai describes as the adverse global economic conditions of the mid to late seventies – fitting then that the concept should rise once more like a phoenix in these present uncertain time.

Not so long ago, Hyundai design chief SangYup Lee said he would like to borrow from Hyundai’s past legacy for the company’s future designs, but this isn’t likely to fit that remit as such. The Hyundai Pony Coupé Concept has been built purely as a showcase for Hyundai – very much like the original Pony was in 1974. The N Vision 74 concept on the other hand…

Images: hyundai.news