Rotary dream machine: the madcap Mazda

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Of all the Japanese motor manufacturers, Mazda just has to be the coolest. Embracing rotary technology ever since it became available, and coming up with great oddities such as the original Cosmo Sport, Luce Coupé and much of the 1970s RX–range, they stood out for a long time. And then we haven’t even mentioned the concept cars and show models.

This one is as good as it gets, even if it were only for that grand promotional picture with a sports racer placed in the middle of a forest, hugging couple behind… And that colour, those wheels, the shapes! Unveiled at the 17th Tokyo Motor Show in October 1970, the Mazda RX-500 must have captured the public’s imagination quite unlike anything else. It looked as if it had arrived from another universe. Designer Shigenori Fukuda’s dramatic wedge shape, total wraparound windscreen and front-hinged butterfly doors created a silhouette more spaceship than sports car. Naturally, it promoted Mazda’s investment in rotary technology, pairing a lightweight fibreglass body with a twin-rotor engine capable of 250bhp and 15,000 dizzying revs.

But it wasn’t just about speed. Mazda envisioned it as a rolling test-bed for future safety ideas, with its most memorable feature being a rear full of multi-coloured lights that changed from green to amber to red to signal acceleration, cruising or braking intensity. That didn’t really catch on, but it did catch the eye of the public. And also that of model car manufacturer Matchbox, who turned the RX-500 into a global best-selling toy.

Despite pictures of RX-500s in different colours, only one full-size example was made, receiving a total of three different paint colours over time. Unfortunately, the last and outright dullest — silver-grey — was chosen when the concept car was sympathetically restored some fifteen years ago. It now resides in Hiroshima’s Numaji Transportation Museum.

Words Jeroen Booij
Picture Mazda PR

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