The Two Seat Commuter Car Phenomenon

In the 1980s, the US auto industry was still recovering from the fuel crises of the 1970s.  A lot of planning went into making cars smaller, just as gas prices hit all time lows.  One of the more interesting phenomena to hit dealerships of the 1980s was the two-seater commuter car.  There had been two seat cars before (the original Thunderbird, the Corvette, the Shelby Mustangs), and there had even been two seat economy cars before (the AMC Gremlin offered this as an option- to very few takers), but this was different.  From the onset, these cars were purpose designed to be two seat economy cars.

The Ford EXP & Mercury LN7 were the first to hit the market in 1981 (as 1982 models), and the bizarre frog’s eye headlights ensured that these cars looked like absolutely nothing else on the road.  The LN7 was dropped after two model years and approximately 40,000 sales.  While the EXP would soldier on through 1988 (eventually being replaced by the all new Ford Probe in 1989), and sales did recover a bit with the 1986 restyle that eliminated the frog’s eye headlight treatment, the EXP never met sales expectations, selling a mere 225,000 examples in seven model years (this total includes the 40,000 LN7s).  Ertl and Zylmex offered the first generation EXP in small scale- the only examples of this car in 1/64.

The Pontiac Fiero was Pontiac’s way of getting around management’s refusal to grant the division a true sports car (for fear it would cannibalize sales from the Corvette).  So they decided to develop a sporty two-seater economy car instead.  And the futuristic styling proved to be a hit with car buyers, as almost 400,000 were sold in the five years the car was available.  The real problem was the car could not deliver the performance to match its looks.  With the Iron Duke 2.5 liter motor the Fiero was a sloth, and the car’s handling won very little praise due to the fact most of it was made from off the shelf parts used in the Citation and Chevette to save money.  By the time Pontiac corrected the performance and handling issues, GM had already decided to pull the plug on the project.  This was a very popular subject for diecast manufacturers with Hot Wheels, Matchbox, Majorette, Welly, Zylmex, Rhino, Road Champs (opening rear hood/trunk), Blue Box, Faie, and others offering models of the car when new, and lastly, a model from the MotorMax Fresh Cherries line issued long after the real car’s expiration date.

The Honda CR-X was a Civic based two-seat hatchback launched for the 1984 model year.  Sportier styling and better performance than the regular Civic helped the reputation of this car and it’s slowly approaching cult status.  This is likely the most collectible of the cars listed.  That said, real examples of the car often trade for less than $500 as evidenced by the frequency they are raced on the LeMons racing circuit (a race series designed for any car costing the drivers less than $500).  Perhaps most importantly to this article, this is also the model that achieved the best gas mileage- published claims of 57 MPG (highway) have been recorded for this car.

In the mid 1990s Honda replaced the CR-X with the Civic del Sol, a two-seat roadster based on the Civic.  This was not an overly successful model for Honda, but a modifiable small-scale example exists by X-Concepts.

The Toyota MR2 deserves an honorable mention as the original intent was to provide a sporty car that delivered great gas mileage.  Somewhere along the way Toyota turned the MR2 into a true sports car before its introduction, but considering it is a two-seater and delivers great gas mileage, we’re including it in this article as well.  This was by far the longest lasting car of the bunch, lasting through three generations and only being discontinued for good in 2007 and more than twenty years on the market.  Replicas were made in small scale by Matchbox, Zylmex, Road Champs, Tomica, and others.  The second generation was made by Hot Wheels, and the final generation was replicated by Yat Ming, Jada, Muscle Machines and others.

Ford EXP:

Ertl
Zylmex


Pontiac Fiero:

Hot Wheels

Matchbox
Majorette
MotorMax Fresh Cherries

Blue Box

Welly
Road Champs
Soma
Zylmex
Rhino

The Fiero GT was only modeled by Hot Wheels, and only as the generic “Camo” armored, well-armed, and lifted 4x4 military vehicle.  A fiberglass sports car would be an absurd choice of vehicle for armoring, and an even more bizarre choice for combat.

Honda CRX:

Zylmex
Johnny Lightning
Tomica Limited Vintage Neo
Summer
Mega Toys


Honda Civic del Sol:

X-Concepts


Toyota MR2 (1st generation):

Matchbox
Tomica
Road Champs
Zylmex


Toyota MR2 (2nd generation):

Hot Wheels
Summer


Toyota MR2 (3rd generation):

Yat Ming

Jada
Muscle Machines