The story
The SVX was conceived in Japan's bubble years and born into the hangover. Ital Design drew a long, smooth wedge with a 0.29 drag coefficient and a glass canopy flowing from the doors into the roof, and Subaru put it into production almost exactly as the 1989 show car looked. Underneath sat a new 3.3-liter flat-6 and standard all-wheel drive, plus thoughtful little touches such as wipers that sped up with the car. The famous windows were the compromise: the curved panes could not drop into such shallow doors, so only an inset section rolls down, leaving a permanent ledge of glass and rubber across the opening.
On the road it is a 1,639 kg (3,614 lb) long-distance express, hushed at 80 mph, unbothered by weather and far happier cruising than attacking. The 4-speed automatic, the only gearbox offered, dulled its pace, and it was priced alongside quicker, more prestigious coupes. Subaru hoped to sell 10,000 a year in America and managed 14,257 in total. Yet an SVX won the 1991 Alcan Winter Rally, a regularity event that rewards steady, precise pace over hundreds of frozen miles, and it still turns heads at any gathering.
