While hunting for cool miniatures of my favorite cars I came to learn about Japan’s ‘kei car’ ( 軽自動車, keijidōsha) culture. Starting in 1949, the Japanese government created the ‘kei car’ category of compact, highly affordable cars for the public… kinda like how the VW Beetle came about as ‘the people’s car’. And as Japan grew prosperous through the 70s and 80s, Kei Cars evolved as well, never quite leaving behind the idea of super compact vehicles that made sense in urban environments, but now embracing increasingly sporty designs and nimble engines.
Amongst these, one of the most outrageous was the AZ-1 from 1992, the flagship model from AUTOZAM, a joint-venture between Mazda and… Suzuki, better known for its motorcycles. Mazda designed a sleek little roadster with actual gull-wing doors, and powered by a sub-700cc engine mounted amidships for extra nimble performance.
So why haven’t you heard of it? Well, it was Japan-only… and it was only produced up to 1994 before AUTOZAM went belly up. The 90s was the tail end of Japan’s boom time, and the subsequent crash meant almost no one had 1.25 million JPY to spend on a frivolous fun ride like the AZ-1.
And yet… it was well-loved, as I found no lack of beautifully detailed diecast models of the AZ-1, often in 1/43 or larger scales. As for my preferred 1/64 scale? I had to settle for a series of fully painted plastic mini kits sold in blind boxes. I really wanted a red one to go with the pen case I found, but ended up with a couple of blue and black cars. At the same time, I came across an actual AUTOZAM branded mechanical pencil. It looked cheap, and turned out to be the Sailor Pasta series of colored lead mechanical pencils. Since I didn’t have a red car, I thought, what the heck, I’ll go colorful!
Maybe I should do the Beetle next! 