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MotorWeek proves '90s were awesome with Supra, Stealth, RX-7, Corvette, 968, 300ZX comparo

Oh, the heady days of 1993, back when the Clinton Presidency was just getting underway, and it seemed like every hot new rock band was coming out of Seattle. Sports cars in the US had finally shaken off the shackles that slowed them during the '70s and '80s, and you could buy any number of legitimately quick vehicles again. MotorWeek recently went digging into its archives to find this six-model test from 1993 showing off some of the best semi-affordable performance coupes that money could buy at the time, and it's priceless.
Featuring the 1994 model year Toyota Supra in twin-turbo guise and MY 1993 versions of the Porsche 968, Nissan 300ZX TT, Mazda RX-7, Dodge Stealth R/T Turbo and Chevrolet Corvette LT-1, MotorWeek definitely covered all of the bases. One thing that might surprise younger readers is these cars' performance. The video only provides 0-60 acceleration times, but several of these vehicles would still be considered pretty potent today - over 20 years since going on sale. The Supra is especially impressive, hitting 60 miles per hour in just 5 seconds. Even today, that's nothing to sneeze at.
Given their performance potential and still-attractive looks, it's amazing that some of these coupes are old enough to drink now. The progress of interior design and safety equipment in the intervening years is pretty shocking, though. In most of these models, having two airbags is touted as a big deal. Scroll down to watch a Throwback Thursday blast from the past about some of the '90s best sports cars.

Tesla about to sell 50,000th Model S

Nissan sold its 50,000th Leaf a total of two years and two months after introducing the EV to dealerships. Tesla isn't as established as Nissan, and its Model S - with its higher levels of luxury and performance - costs multiple times more than the Leaf. Consider the Tesla's starting price of $70,000-plus (and easily much more with a bigger battery and a few upgrades), and compare that to the Leaf's base MSRP of just a bit over $30,000 before its 2013 price cut. It would make sense, then, that it would take the Model S longer to hit 50,000 unit sales. But, no. The Model S could meet the 50,000 sales milestone before the end of October (in fact, it may already have done so). This is just two years and three months after it launched in late June 2012. The Model S could meet the 50,000 sales milestone before the end of October. Tesla hasn't released its sales report for the third quarter, but the Palo Alto-based automaker sold 39,128 units of the Model S through June. Previously, Tesla estimated it would have 7,800 third quarter sales (putting it at 46,928 through September), other independent estimates put Tesla at 50,000 sales in late October. The Model S may not have beat the Nissan Leaf to 50K, but it's not hard to see how this is a win for the California automaker. Arguably, this is a case where we all win. Anytime some buys an EV instead of a traditionally powered vehicle - regardless of marque - that's less energy consumed while driving, fewer emissions and an example set to others who have yet to make the switch. It's hard not to be impressed by Tesla's relative success. Furthermore, Tesla coming so close to Nissan in selling 50,000 EVs is, above all, a testament to the desirability of the Model S, despite the Leaf's clear advantage in terms of attainability.

Nissan Bladeglider now on the backburner

There have been some big shakeups within Nissan's top executive ranks in the past 12 months, including Johan de Nyscchen leaving Infiniti to run Cadillac and Andy Palmer taking over Aston Martin. With them gone, the automaker's future product portfolio looks to be shifting as well. Among them, the chances are dwindling for the BladeGlider to actually arrive in dealers – already a rumored possibility. New Nissan planning boss Philippe Klein isn't nearly as hot on the idea of the BladeGlider as his predecessors. Where Palmer said last year the vehicle was in the brand's mid-term plan, Klein recently told Autocar that the model was "not among the immediate priorities." He didn't slam the door entirely on potential production, though. "It is still on the table, but at the end of the day it has to make sense to the company." Debuting at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show, the BladeGlider translated the narrow-front, wide-rear wedge shape of the Deltawing and ZEOD RC racers to the street. In concept form, it used an electric drivetrain with hub-mounted motors, and the driver sat in the center with two passengers flanking them to the rear. According to Autocar, the project to develop a production version got at least as far as creating test cars from Ariel Atoms. The BladeGlider's renegade styling hasn't been the only thing holding it back from seeing the road, though. Panoz has a pending lawsuit against Nissan that claims the styling for the Nissan ZEOD RC and the BladeGlider infringe on the intellectual property for the Deltawing's design.