The Cosmos and the Rising Sun

Imagine running a car company with manufacturing technology limited by only 15-20 years of recovery from one of the most devastating wars ever fought on your soil. Now imagine you are about to risk not only on the design and development of your newest sports car offering, but you are also going to power it with an engine so unique and relatively unproven it’s never been in production. As if this was not already challenging enough, you are going to do it with a team of hand crafting specialists at a price that puts nearly all but the wealthiest of your existing customer base out of buying range. This is what Mazda managed to pull off in 1964 when the prototype for the Mazda Cosmo 110S was unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show.