Autozam AZ-1

Autozam AZ-1 (PG6SA) Buyer's Guide

A gullwing the size of a fridge, and nothing else feels like it

The AZ-1 was sold from 1992 to 1995 under Autozam, one of Mazda's early-90s sub-brands. Of all the tiny kei sports cars, this is the wild one, and for two very good reasons. It is properly mid-engined, and it has real gullwing doors that swing up off the roof. You do not expect either of those things on a car built to a 3.3 metre box, which is exactly why people lose their heads over it.

Mechanically it is a bit of a mongrel, in the best way. Mazda co-developed the car with Suzuki, so the engine is Suzuki's 657cc F6A turbo triple, sat behind the seats and driving the rear wheels. Like every kei car of the era it was capped at the gentleman's-agreement limit of 64 PS, and it tips the scales at around 720kg, so it is quick in the way a go-kart is quick rather than a straight-line hero. Suzuki liked the idea enough to sell its own rebadged version, the Suzuki Cara, though those are even thinner on the ground. Design was led by Toshihiko Hirai, the same bloke behind the MX-5, and you can feel that in how honestly it steers.

Here is the context that sends the values north. The AZ-1 is one of the ABC trio of early-90s kei sports cars, the Autozam AZ-1, the Honda Beat and the Suzuki Cappuccino. The Beat sold in the tens of thousands and the Cappuccino not far behind, but the AZ-1 flopped when it was new and only a few thousand were ever built. That makes it the rarest and most exotic of the three by a mile, so it has become the collector's pick, and prices have climbed hard as the West woke up to what these are.

So why buy one. Because nothing else on earth drives like a mid-engine gullwing car the size of a fridge. The cult status is enormous, and it is genuinely an event every single time you open the door and clamber in. If you want a small car that makes you grin like an idiot, this is close to the top of the pile.

Now the sobering bit, because a good one matters more here than almost anywhere. The body is plastic and FRP over a steel frame, and that frame can rust badly while the panels quietly hide the damage, so you have to get under it and look hard rather than trust a shiny exterior. Check the health of the little Suzuki turbo triple, listen for a tired snail and watch the temps. Water ingress is common, so poke around the interior and the seals for damp and mould. Parts are scarce once you leave Japan, and those fragile plastic panels are dear and hard to source when you crack one, which on a low car with wide-swinging doors is easier than you would think. A rust-free, honest, dry car is worth chasing even if you pay more for it. The cheap one with bubbling and a soggy carpet will cost you triple in the end.