1982 Ikusa City RS Turbo 1.0

The year is 1976. Kaijido Ikusa has finally release his masterpiece, the Ikusa Blade. RWD, straight-six cylinder engine, manual gearbox. This car was truly the genesis of the Ikusa lineup... but there was one problem. Nobody bought the Blade. Production numbers from 1976-1978 were in the thousands, and Ikusa Motor Corporation soon found itself at the mercy of the Tokyo banks. Bankruptcy followed, and Kaijido Ikusa had one thing left. Kept locked away in secret was a small hatchback codenamed "Kawaii Mono" (cute one). No engine, no gearbox, and only a rudimentary suspension design were available to Ikusa.

1980: Ikusa finds a buyer for his dormant, bankrupt company. American company Calvary Motor Company paid a lump sum of $200 million for all Ikusa Motor Corporation assets, except for the small Kawaii Mono. Ikusa befriended a leader of the Calvary skunkworks division called CSV (Calvary Super Vehicles). CSV were able to get Ikusa one 2.2L pushrod 4-cylinder from a Montana mini-truck, a 5-speed transaxle from the recently released Rodeo compact, and the same semi-trailing arm rear suspension.

Ikusa took this engine, transaxle, and suspension design and shoehorned them into his locked away secret.

Spring, 1981: It's time for the annual company-wide board meeting, and Ikusa has his own little spot. The meeting starts, Ikusa stands, and plunks down nothing more than a set of blueprints, and a drawing of what looked to be a misshapen shoebox with one word written in Japanese: "Taun" (town).

Fall, 1981: Ikusa Vehicles LLC launches their first vehicle for almost half a decade, the City compact. It features a 3-cylinder overhead cam engine derived from Calvary's 2.2L 4-cylinder, a 5-speed transaxle as standard, and a semi-trailing arm rear suspension with MacPherson struts up front. The car is an instant success. However, Ikusa had an itch for speed, and a small 3-cylinder econobox wasn't working for him. So he took his personal City LX, threw out the stock 3-cylinder engine, and replaced it with something grand...

Spring, 1982: It's time for the annual company-wide board meeting, and Ikusa has his own little spot. The meeting starts, Ikusa stands, and plunks down nothing more than a set of blueprints, and a drawing of what looked to be a misshapen shoebox with one word written in Japanese: "Tabo" (turbo).

Summer, 1982: The RS Turbo is released. Featuring an Ikusa Vehicles LLC first time fuel injection system and a small Bug-Warmer turbocharger mated to a highly modified 2.2L OHC Calvary 4-cylinder, it's said to be one of the earliest examples of a Super-Hatch. With 120HP on tap and short gearing with lowered and stiffer suspension and revised brakes, the City RS Turbo was a force to be reckoned with.