In 1991, seven Mazda transmission research engineers combined a hard-shell Samsonite and a pocket bike to create something no airline would ever allow. Their submission for the company’s Fantasyard contest was a three-wheeled motorcycle that folded into luggage, weighed seventy-one pounds, and could reach speeds of nearly nineteen miles per hour with a 33.6-cubic-centimeter two-stroke engine. Assembly takes approximately one minute. The thing was highlighted on Oprah and at major auto shows, but just one original remains today.

Japan’s kei car regulations in the early 1990s capped length, width, engine size, and power in ways that pushed engineers toward inventive solutions. Mazda’s short-lived Autozam brand answered with a mid-engined two seater that looked ready to join far larger and more expensive exotics on any road. A 1992 AZ-1 example with roughly 33,400 miles recently changed hands at auction for $23,500. That figure drew attention because the car produces only 63 horsepower. Once the gullwing doors rise, though, the entire package starts to make sense to anyone who values presence over outright speed.