WildRide Magazine - 80s Icons Part 1

[DxRK 1,171]

 

In the seventies, car design was all about futuristic visions of cars, wedge shaped supercars all sporting pop-up headlights. The eighties took the script and completely flipped it, supercars weren't all about computer aids anymore and manufacturers started focusing more on purer machines, putting drivers completely in control. Companies like Pegassi, Grotti & Pfister didn't have to rely on advertisements or posters to sell cars anymore, their lap times and speed records made cars fly out the door of dealerships.

 

In the eighties, Pfister brought out the Comet and this car took the German automotive industry by storm, it was one of the very first road cars to use a turbocharger and with the turbocharger aiding the flat 6 engine in the back, the car was able to produce 260 horsepower which may not seem like a lot, until you realize this was the most powerful car to come out of Germany at the time. Still not impressed by the quick rundown of the Comet? The flat 6 engine in the car was giving V12 powered Grottis and Pegassis a run for their money, whilst sporting half the cylinders.

 

(Stock Retro Comet, Images via WildRide Magazine) 

 

The Comet came with a few engine options during it's years of production, you could go for a 3 liter air cooled flat six engine featuring a 3K K26 Turbocharger which would boast you a modest 260 horsepower or you could go with the 3.3 liter option, bumping the output to 300 horsepower. Pfister are known for their use of flat engine layouts positioned over the rear axles and although this would give an advantage of more rear end grip when on throttle, but as soon as you lose grip, well, got some bad news for you, it's about to get very violent in that cockpit because you'll be flailing your arms around trying to keep the car on the road or if you've got the balls to do it, keep your right foot pinned on the throttle and try to regain grip in the rear. Getting scared whilst driving this car, would've been the death of you. If you ended up panicking under speed and decided to hit the brakes mid-corner, you'd end up flinging the car off the road, rear end first into a tree.

 

When you've got a rear engined car like this with tons of power, lots of turbo lag and absolutely no electronic aids to help you out, it all comes down to driving skill and if you get cocky like a lot of stock brokers did in the eighties, well... let's just hope the funeral is nice. It was a notoriously difficult car to drive under high speed and it was one of the reasons why the Comet received the nickname of "WIDOWMAKER". The good news is, if you had the skills and the big balls to push this car to it's limits and manage to keep it under control, it's one of the most rewarding cars to drive.

 

(Stock Retro Comet, Images via WildRide Magazine) 

 

With buying a Pfister however, you've got the be aware of the Pfister Purists, in order to please them, every single part number on your Pfister has to match, you've got to have the original paint that the car left the showroom floor with. Change the wheels on your Pfister to something aftermarket? You've pissed them off. Lower your Pfister and give it a custom paint job that wasn't available as a dealership option? You've given them a reason to start a witch hunt. With this Custom Pfister Comet however, WildRide Magazine has probably just kicked off World War Three with the Purists.

 

We'll start off with the most noticeable thing about the car, the body itself but before we can go into it, we've got to look into the the man who works on the body of these custom Comets to truly understand them. He has garnered a cult following and it wasn't that long ago where word spread to America of these Custom Comets when they started popping up around various car shows, most notably those in Las Venturas. The craft however didn't start with Pfister Comet's and started over in Chiba, Japan, where he'd build drift cars with wide wheels, massive negative camber, low ride height and propped up hoods, to some this may have just seemed like nothing more than an attention grab but there was a method behind the madness, these cars were built rough and driven even rougher. The build process behind one of these Custom Retro Comets is deserving of an article itself.

 

Of the 300+ Custom Retro Comets this man has built, each one is built specific to the customer but they all share one thing in common, the exaggeration on the classic Coke bottle design, reminiscent of Group 4 race cars, all sporting these wide fenders on each corner such as ours which features vented front fenders to allow brake heat to escape, the fenders have been smoothed out and a cocaine white paintjob engulfs the entire car. These wide fenders allow for more tire width and result in some Custom Retro Comets running extraordinary wheel specs to the point the owners need to contact companies in order to get custom wheels made to fit. This Custom Retro Comet features 18x10.5 (Front) and 18x13 (Rear) Fifteen52 Formula LTWs which have been finished off in charcoal black with a polished center/lip combo. With these wheels being light and strong, tested out on a track, they're up for the job of the car being driven as hard as possible when paired with 265/35/18 (Front) and 335/35/18 (Rear) Toyo R888R tires.

 

(WildRide Magazine's Custom Retro Comet, Images via WildRide Magazine)  

 

The car also features an Aragosta Suspension package which paired with the downforce provided by the custom front bumper, rear bumper/diffuser and wing, makes the handling flawless, you can absolutely thrash this car and not face the problems that the Stock Retro Comets had with losing control of the rear, you no longer have to fear that you'll end up wrapped around a tree anytime you get into your Comet now. You can now sit back and enjoy a comfortable ride, after all, that's what you want from a car, you want to enjoy it, not fear for your life anytime you drive it.

 

(WildRide Magazine's Custom Retro Comet, Images via WildRide Magazine)  

 

The engine of this Custom Retro Comet is where things start to get more interesting as it has got quite a story from going through multiple revisions. It originally started off life as a 3.0 liter single turbo air-cooled flat 6 which was taken out, bored out to 3.2 liters, had the compression ratio adjusted and stronger internals such as the connecting rods, camshafts and piston heads put in to reach a higher output. A few months of it running on the custom built engine, the turbocharger was upgraded to a bigger size but this engine would end up dying later down the line and we come to what it is today. a 3.6 liter flat six which was taken out of a late 80s model Comet and entirely rebuilt, the compression ratio was adjusted to 9.1, a forged crankshaft has been placed in and to that crankshaft, titanium H beam connecting rods with forged piston heads have been fitted. Once the engine was built, it was placed back into the rear of the car where it was then twin turbocharged with two HKS T04S turbos, resulting into the power output being a healthy 469 horsepower. Most of the engine is hidden under a huge Greddy intercooler but underneath the whole car, is a titanium exhaust, a work of art crafted by Promedet which looks like a snake pit. All of this ends up coming together with a mapped Motec engine management system which is the brain of the whole car.

 

(WildRide Magazine's Custom Retro Comet, Images via WildRide Magazine)

 

But wait, this article is meant to be covering the iconic cars of the eighties and we've not covered the Retro Comet in detail, we've gone to covering a modified and custom Retro Comet instead. That's completely right, what makes a car iconic isn't always how it feels or what it's like to drive and own, what makes a car iconic is how it leaves a legacy decades after it's release, the impact it has on the automotive industry and community, and this is a car which many generations later, Pfister models are still following design cues from, it's a brand which has Purists, keeping classic models in garages with all these protection measures put in place to preserve them and then you've got one man who started a movement, building these crazy Custom Comets by HAND, a combination of Japanese and European tuning elements to bring a unique style like no other. Having this passion and interest behind this car gives all the owners a sense of community and "family" and sure, there might be some fights between the Purists and the Custom owners during Christmas dinner but in the end, we all share a love for these Comets.

 

(WildRide Magazine's Custom Retro Comet, Images via WildRide Magazine)