Hyundai Pony II

This is a face lifted version of the original 1974 Hyundai Pony although some might see it as a Pony generation 2. The 1982 face lifted Pony was revised to make it looked more up to date. Before the Pony was made, the Hyundai factory was assembling Ford Cortina for domestic market. The Pony was the first car sold under the Hyundai branding with a Japanese engine, English engineering and Italian styling. Not bad for a first attempt, at least in the looks department. It was a budget little work horse from the 70s to 80s but Hyundai wasn't popular in Singapore during the early 80s.

I am a hatchback person since young. I remembered that one of my primary school teachers drove a blue one (tone of blue close to today's WRX blue) and had Celica XX2800GT look alike sport rims. I don't know if those were standard on the Pony but it never fail to turn my head. The colour and the rims seems to blend with the car so well that I am convince that those were originals.

The teacher who drove the Pony never taught me during my 6 years in primary school but I knew her ride. It should be a 1982~1984 registered, the registration plate was 3 digits, can't remember the alphabets in front of the numbers though. There were many others cars in the car park but the Pony always had a place in my heart during those days. The other cars in the car park I can recalled are the 1980 Datsun 100A (known as Cherry in some markets) with registration plate "EM2654" and a 2nd generation 1984 Honda Accord with registration plate "SBB265". I can remember them because the 100A is the ugliest car in the car park and the Accord belong to our discipline master, we were terrified of him then. I never get to see that Pony after I left primary school in the 90s. I think all Ponies are scrapped in Singapore by now. In fact, most Korean cars never live past the 10 year cycle in Singapore, a 20 year old Hyundai is extreme rare here. The oldest Hyundai I saw on the road this year should be a 1991/92 Hyundai Scoupe which was featured some time ago in Go! Go! Tomica.

This new toy I got here is made by Clovertoys in Korea. Most toys made in Korea were much inferior in quality to the Japanese made ones (just like the cars then) but this 80s toy car from Korea looks good even if a Diapet of the same era were to park beside it. The scale is a little larger than most Diapet at 1/35 and it has a pullback motor on its rear wheels, just like the actual car which is RWD.

This little Pony has opening doors and a rear opening hatch. The car look very proportionate to the real car. It is unmistakeably recognisable as a Pony (if you know what's a Hyundai Pony) unlike some current Korean car models made today which looks a little rough on edges, not so proportional to actual car and tastelessly choice of colours. Who will buy a yellow Ssangyong Chairman or a yellow Samsung SM5? I don't mind getting one more Pony if I come across another one again. Next wanted list should be the Stellar which is a challenge to hunt it down. Anyone wanted to let go a Stellar?