Let’s say you’ve always wanted to the visit the Mazda Museum in Hiroshima, Japan (as we had the opportunity to do a few years back); maybe you’ve been limited to visiting it virtually via Google Street View. Now, you have an alternative way to immerse yourself in a near-century of Mazda history: the very first Mazda museum outside Japan opening its doors this weekend, in Augsburg, Germany.
The new museum is the fruit of a collaboration between local German dealership Auto Frey, the driving force behind the project, and the German division of Mazda (remember that the automaker also has a design studio in the country).
Bringing together several decades of history and innovation, the new museum features a collection of 45 classic Mazda cars on display, including a few ultra-rare specimens belonging to the Frey family itself. The collection includes a 1967 Mazda Cosmo Sport, a 1969 Mazda Luce RX87 and a 1992 Mazda RX-7, which happens to be the best-selling rotary-engine car of all time.
Unsurprisingly, another highlight of the collection is the very first mass-produced Mazda, the 1960 R360. Then there are the 1962 Mazda K360 3-wheeled truck and the 1966 Mazda Familia 1000 coupe, both likely to attract strong interest at the museum. The Museum’s owners promise to maintain a rotation of models on display at any one time – after all, their total collection amounts to some 120 cars!
For more information, consult the new museum’s website at www.mazda-classic-frey.de/en.
