Las Vegas, Nevada - One of four Kia show specials due to be unveiled today at the Specialty Equipment Market Association Show is this Optima four-door convertible concept.
Four-door convertibles, popular in the United States in the 1960s, are very scarce nowadays, so the brief was "Let the sunshine in" - and if you can remember the reference to the 1967 rock musical 'Hair', you're giving away your age!
The guys in the Kia workshop didn't, so they named the concept A1A in honour of the main highway that runs north-south down the Atlantic coast of Florida, the Sunshine State - probably the most enjoyable place in the continental US to drive a topless car.
As you'll see in the teaser video below, the concept started life as a standard two-litre turbo Optima. The backroom boys then literally sawed the roof off and shortened the windshield frame to create the 'barchetta' (little boat) look so beloved of European stylists.
SUICIDE REAR DOORS
Then they gave it a distinctly American slant by re-hinging the rear doors to open backwards, while reinforced steel tubes discreetly hidden inside the body keep everything straight, albeit at a considerable penalty in added weight.
The Optima's 180kW turbopetrol four was left strictly stock, other than being given a bit more street cred by fitting a high-performance (read loud) sports exhausts system, while Ksport coilovers behind a quartet of 20 inch chromed alloy rims dramatically lower ride height.
The interior is fitted out with bucket front and custom individual rear seats, separated by extended armrests and a specially designed centyre console, all trimmed in cream-coloured leather. The body was then finished in a very 1960s bright blue that our fashionista colleagues at IOL Lifestyle assure us is called teal.
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