Mazda's suitcase car is the retro roadster you never knew you wanted

Picture this: your plane lands smoothly at your holiday destination. You get off the plane, collect your luggage and walk out the front door. 

You scoff as you promptly fold out your suitcase, start the engine and leave all the other travellers waiting for their taxis in the dust.

Sounds cool? Mazda thought so too, and they made it a reality 29 years ago.

In 1991, Mazda’s engineers came up with this suitcase car concept in the run-up to the company’s ‘Fantasyard’ event.

A smartly-coined portmanteau of ‘Fantasy’ and ‘Yard’, it’s exactly as its name suggests - an inter-departmental ideas contest to come up with the most innovative means of transport. 

Mazda was riding high in the 1990s. The MX-5 was an immense hit, and the screaming 787B dominated Le Mans. What better time is there then to continue developing novel stuff?

Driven by these successes, seven engineers from the Manual Transmission Testing and Research Group took up the challenge, probably because they thought waiting around for taxis isn't fun. 

Work started with an off-the-shelf chassis (the largest Samsonite bag they could find). Power and handling came from a Pocket Bike. Then it was just a matter of ‘bag, meet bike!'

The 33.6-cc, 1.7 PS two-stroke engine could store enough fuel to last two hours, and can reach speeds of 30 km/h! It had three tyres, and a tiny handlebar sorts out the handling.

Head and tail lights were installed, and it had indicators too!

It only takes a minute to get running. Open it like a normal suitcase, affix the two rear wheels, mount the lights, raise the handlebars, fix the seat, start the engine and voila, you’re ready to go.

Like a tragic love story, it never made it to production. The original concept was inadvertently destroyed just a few months after Fantasyard, but one suitcase car still remains in existence.

Image source: roadraceengineering.com