Mazda had the bright idea of putting a car in a suitcase. 32kg of portable mobility with three wheels that you can almost carry around.
Mazda have always defied convention. In 1991 they won Le Mans with the Rotary powered 787B, the first manufacturer to win in a non-piston engined car. They showed a hydrogen rotary powered concept with the HR-X and were struggling with the demand for the MX-5. The best-selling open topped rear wheel drive ‘British’ sports car Britain didn’t make.
So, it was probably no surprise when they wheeled out, literally, the suitcase car. The confidence within the company meant that nothing was seen to be beyond their capabilities. They were probably right.
Fantasyard was an in-house competition held between 1989 and 1991. Teams from different departments battled to come up with creative mobility ideas. Having the budget to do this shows a very different time in the automotive industry. Have you ever thought what happened to all those weird concepts that went nowhere and cost fortunes?
Fantasyard reflected that positivity. Now three decades ago in a company that celebrates an unconventional approach. One of the competitions would produce a quite bizarre but rather clever winner.
The suitcase car was a three-wheeled concept with the idea of getting around airports more efficiently. The creators were a group of seven engineers from Mazda’s manual transmission testing and research unit. This group were given a small budget to bring their concept to life.
They went out and bought a pocket bike and the biggest hard shell suitcase you could buy and got to work. The result is quite simple, but ingenious. The parts of the pocket bike used fitted within a 57 x 75cm Samsonite case. it took only a minute to assemble by swivelling the front wheel into the upright position. Attaching the wheels and seat, which is positioned above the rear axle.
The 34cc engine produced a healthy 1.7PS and could propel the suitcase and driver up to 30 km/h.
