When Mazda Built A Matchbox Toy With The RX500

Mazda RX500 1970 Concept - Mazda RX500 Matchbox - When Mazda Built A Matchbox Toy With The RX500

Little did Mazda know when they built the RX500 rotary powered prototype it would lead to one of the most popular Matchbox cars of the 1970s.

The radically angular and streamlined car was unveiled at the 17th Tokyo Motor Show in October 1970. Mazda were making bold statement about their design capabilities and to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary. It was also to show off the performance potential of the rotary engine and some new safety features. It was immensely popular and attracted a huge amount of public interest.

Compared to the company’s road going models it looked like it came from another planet. I kind of think of it as something from one of Gerry Anderson’s TV shows. Maybe Captain Scarlet would have driven one.

Little did Mazda know when they built the RX500 rotary powered prototype it would lead to one of the most popular Matchbox cars of the 1970s.

The radically angular and streamlined car was unveiled at the 17th Tokyo Motor Show in October 1970. Mazda were making bold statement about their design capabilities and to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary. It was also to show off the performance potential of the rotary engine and some new safety features. It was immensely popular and attracted a huge amount of public interest.

Compared to the company’s road going models it looked like it came from another planet. I kind of think of it as something from one of Gerry Anderson’s TV shows. Maybe Captain Scarlet would have driven one.

Whilst the Luce and the R100 had rotary engines the RX500 was quite a bit different. The wedge shape had forward opening butterfly doors and a gullwing opening engine cover. The shooting brake style tail hid an innovative safety feature, there were multicolour strip lights that would change colour to indicate whether the car was speeding up or slowing down.

Powering the car was the little 982cc rotary engine producing 250 PS. The uprated two-rotor 10A engine was mounted centrally to give perfect weight distribution and would rev to 15,000 rpm. Higher than anything in Formula 1 at the time.

The car only weighed 860 kg, largely thanks to using a fibreglass body on a tube frame. This gave a power to weight ratio of 3.4 kg per horsepower, or around 290 bhp / tonne. it was also low at 1.065 m or just under 42 inches.

Whilst the Luce and the R100 had rotary engines the RX500 was quite a bit different. The wedge shape had forward opening butterfly doors and a gullwing opening engine cover. The shooting brake style tail hid an innovative safety feature, there were multicolour strip lights that would change colour to indicate whether the car was speeding up or slowing down.

Powering the car was the little 982cc rotary engine producing 250 PS. The uprated two-rotor 10A engine was mounted centrally to give perfect weight distribution and would rev to 15,000 rpm. Higher than anything in Formula 1 at the time.

The car only weighed 860 kg, largely thanks to using a fibreglass body on a tube frame. This gave a power to weight ratio of 3.4 kg per horsepower, or around 290 bhp / tonne. it was also low at 1.065 m or just under 42 inches.

Mazda RX500 Concept 1971 Show

What drove Mazda to create the radical vehicle in the first place? The idea was to build a development vehicle to research the behaviour of plastic vehicle bodies and driving dynamics over 125 mph. The project was initiated as early as 1968 and was given the codename X810. The idea went on to explore the harmony between people and speed in a futuristic society.

The future of intercity traffic was considered, and an experimental vehicle was developed. Mid-engine, low drag and high downforce combined with the smoothness of the rotary engine. It was also a potential successor to the Cosmo Sport 110 S, Mazda’s flagship at the time.

Mazda RX500 Concept 1971 Show
Mazda RX500 1970 Concept Front Doors
Mazda RX500 1970 Concept Green
Mazda RX500 1970 Concept Silver

Mazda carefully selected the design team who produced a variety of models and studied their aerodynamic drag. The brief was to produce a coupe, but one designer went against that to design a streamlined shooting brake model. Shigenori Fukuda’s model had the lowest aerodynamic drag and was chosen to go forward. Fukuda-san said that he drew inspiration from 2001: A Space Odyssey amongst other things for the RX500.

The idea was for the vehicle to resemble a car as little as possible, so a wide range of design elements from racing to aviation made their way into the RX500. The rear is the most striking of its features, kind of a mix between a spaceship and a jet fighter. Fukuda also had an association with the Italian car body manufacturer Carrozzeria Bertone, and their inspiration led to him adding soft curves and contours to break up any monotonous lines.

Mazda RX500 Concept At Goodwood

The interior comprises of two bucket seats for the occupants and a set of circular instruments behind a nice four spoke leather steering wheel. All of the controls are arranged in a wrap-around dashboard.

The centre console houses an AM/FM radio set behind the gear lever which controls the four speed manual transmission which is taken from the Mazda Luce R130 coupé.

The wraparound windscreen is a clever piece of design. The a-pillar is completely concealed giving the impression that the glass is made in one piece. Kind of a dome covering the cabin. The doors aren’t a new idea, motorsport having forward opening doors which hinge upwards to aid access already.

The gullwing doors above the engine are split longitudinally allowing unhindered access from either side. The bread van design not offering the best rear visibility, though today with a little bit of technology this would pose no problem at all.

In the archives at Mazda, it shows the car in different colours that gave the impression that there were several versions of the RX500. In fact, there was just one, originally in green and repainted yellow for the Tokyo Motor Show to match the rest of the models on display that year.
Here’s hoping that we can drive things that look something like this. Come on Mazda, make it.

Matchbox MB66 Superfast Mazda RX500

So why did Matchbox decide to put the RX500 in their collection? The largest sales market for Matchbox was the united Stated and they were looking for futuristic concept cars that would appeal to children. The RX500 was perfect for that, there was a lot of interest in Mazda and the rotary engine. This was also true in Europe.

The orange Mazda RX500 was introduced in 1971 as the MB66 and immediately became a global bestseller that stayed on sale for over a decade worldwide.

RX500 Matchbox

Matchbox introduced the superfast range in response to Hot Wheels that Mattel had introduced in 1968. Their thin axles and new slick wheels made them faster and more fun. The RX500 was perfect to compete against this new competitor.

One thing that Matchbox didn’t manage to include was the engine cover gullwing opening. Maybe a tooling or cost issue, they resulted to a single piece opening, but that didn’t seem to matter.

Thanks to Mazda for the use of the images,

Simon.

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