It takes a certain kind of enthusiast to buy a captive import. As Bob Lutz learned on several occasions with the Merkur product line, the Pontiac GTO and the Saturn Astra, cars need a fair bit of modification to appeal to North American tastes.

Lutz was not the first to experiment with captive imports; Ford first brought the Capri to the US in 1970. Performance however of this car, when compared to the Mustangs and Cougars across the showroom floor, was underwhelming.

Thankfully, an Oregon based tuning house called Rokstock upped the ante on these cars with some excellent tuning. Attaching a turbo to the top-spec 2.8l V6, horsepower was up to 180 from its stock figure which barely crested 120. With suspension and body upgrades to match, these cars are an appealing package.

I have never seen one before but I like the looks of this one for sale on Ebay in Alberta. It’s much more unique and interesting than a Mustang.