Ford Motor Company Bring Back Group 5 Mk1 Escort & Group B RS200 With The Help Of Boreham Motorworks
Ford have granted a licence to Boreham Motorworks, a division of the DVRN Automotive Group, to produce new versions of not just the Mk1 Escort
Mazda With Bertone’s Help Produced Their First Concept Car, The MX-81
Mazda have produced a new documentary to accompany the 40 year anniversary of the MX-18 concept car designed with Bertone. This was Mazda’s first ever concept, which may be a surprise seeing as they company had already been making cars successfully for over 100 years.
The Shape of Time documentary is available to watch below. I hope your Japanese is good, if not there are subtitles. The 13 minute film tells the story of The MX-81, a futuristic concept and the unveiling at the 1981 Tokyo Motor Show. The wedge shape, which was popular at the time, scream Bertone and has all the trademarks you’d associate with the Turin based styling house. Designer Marc Dechamps was responsible for the first MX badges Mazda. Mazda eXperimental, the acronym intended for the brand’s most technically challenging cars.
Most prototypes are destroyed once exhibited, but this one survived. In 2019 rotary engine developer and the MX-5 program manager Nobuhiro Yamamoto found the MX-81 in a warehouse at Mazda’s Hiroshima headquarters. The car was shipped to Mazda Italia in Turin and has been painstakingly restored by SuperStile under the direction of Flavio Gallizio. Upon completion the MX-81 was positioned in front of the Milan Cathedral to recreate the photoshoot from 40 years earlier.
The relationship between Japan and Italy was growing some 20 years before the birth of the first Mazda concept car. This is explored in the video and the long standing collaboration.
Back in 1960 Hideyuki Miyakawa, an automotive journalist, travelled to Italy to meet styling legend Giorgetto Giugiaro who was by then the head of design at Bertone. He was also fortunate enough to meet his future wife Marisa Bassan, an interpreter with a passion for cars. When Marisa took a study trip to Hiroshima in 1961, Miyakawa met the chairman of Mazda, Tsuneji Matsuda. The two discussed the importance of design in the Japanese car industry.
Back in Turin the couple started to work as intermediaries between the Italian design studios of Bertone, Ghia and Pininfarina and the Japanese car manufacturers. The collaboration between Mazda and Bertone led to the creation of the Giugiaro designed Mazda Familia and Luce in the 1960s. This continued even after Giugiaro went to work for Ghia and Dechamps picked up the pen for the MX-81.
You can see the Volvo Tundra from the Bertone Avante Guarde Concepts at Retromobile 2020 led to the Citroen BX and shares oh so similar lines to the MX-81.
The VW Golf At 50 Years Old
Europe’s number 1 selling car the VW Golf has reached 50 years old this year, starting production on the 29th of March 1974. In
Ford’s Heritage Vault Makes The Ford Times Magazine Available To The Public
Ford’s expansion through the early 20th century was something to behold, the rapid growth of the company and the success of the Model T led
The Audi 50 At 50, Germany’s First Small Car
The Audi 50 that was the basis for the VW Polo is now 50. The small car was developed ahead of the oil crisis of
The Best Things Happen In An English Shed, Especially The Tyrrell Shed At Goodwood
The Tyrrell Shed once home of the World Championship winning Tyrrell Formula 1 team has been relocated to Goodwood and is set to open for
A 1973 Ferrari 246 Dino From The Manager Of Rock Legends Led Zeppelin Sold At Auction
Something of a piece of rock and roll history went for sale with the auction of Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant’s old Ferrari 246 Dino
Ford Motor Company Bring Back Group 5 Mk1 Escort & Group B RS200 With The Help Of Boreham Motorworks
Ford have granted a licence to Boreham Motorworks, a division of the DVRN Automotive Group, to produce new versions of not just the Mk1 Escort
The VW Golf At 50 Years Old
Europe’s number 1 selling car the VW Golf has reached 50 years old this year, starting production on the 29th of March 1974. In
Ford’s Heritage Vault Makes The Ford Times Magazine Available To The Public
Ford’s expansion through the early 20th century was something to behold, the rapid growth of the company and the success of the Model T led
The Audi 50 At 50, Germany’s First Small Car
The Audi 50 that was the basis for the VW Polo is now 50. The small car was developed ahead of the oil crisis of
The Best Things Happen In An English Shed, Especially The Tyrrell Shed At Goodwood
The Tyrrell Shed once home of the World Championship winning Tyrrell Formula 1 team has been relocated to Goodwood and is set to open for
A 1973 Ferrari 246 Dino From The Manager Of Rock Legends Led Zeppelin Sold At Auction
Something of a piece of rock and roll history went for sale with the auction of Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant’s old Ferrari 246 Dino
The MX badge has been a feature more than a dozen times and covers a wide range of Mazda cars. Series production, concepts and racing cars. The MX-5 might be the first that comes to everyone’s mind.
As things change in the automotive world, you’ll find the new electric Mazda with an MX badge, the MX-301. Seems fitting.