oct 25, 1970 - 1970 EAGLE Motor Company Orion V8 Sport

Description:

The Orion was launched late in 1970 and was a lightweight sports car at a very fair price.

Featuring a 4 liter V8 producing around 250 horsepower, while only weighing in at 1.217kg, it was pretty quick and agile.

It started fairly strong but then tragedy hit in the summer og 1971. The son of a high profile Hollywood celebrity had a crash in a Orion and suffered fatal injuries. The accident hit the media like a storm and safety concerns arose among the public. It turned out that to keep the price down, Eagle had cut various corners during production which rendered the Orion a clear safety hazard.

There was no turning back from that backlash and the Orion was discontinued less then a year from release. There are not many Orions in decent condition left in the world, but the best preserved one is owned by Elias Neumann, the founder and CEO of IDEA Autohersteller.

Price at launch in 1970:
$3.380

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