The Forgotten Mazda Concept Car With Color-Changing Tail Lights – SlashGear

Jump ahead to the mid-1960s. After keeping a keen eye on the global market, Mazda wanted to build a midship car as an heir apparent to its popular flagship — the Mazda Cosmo Sport 110S. According to designer Shigenori Fukuda, the company was using a principle known as “offline 5:5” at the time, which allowed its designers to come up with concepts that only had a 50% chance of actually working (per Pen).

Fukuda recalls the beginning of the RX-500 concept was informal at first. Five other “like-minded” individuals teamed up and began working on the project after hours. Each produced their own design, with Fukuda’s ultimately being chosen because it had “the least air resistance.” After some tweaks, Fukada’s initial Kammback design morphed into a 3-in-1 concept where the vehicle could also become a racer by swapping out the rear cowl and adding a rear wing to the coupe, or be made into — oddly enough — a wagon (via Pen).

In January of 1969, they displayed a clay model of the car and publicly announced the RX-500 to the general public. The response was so great they were given the green light to make a complete concept version. But it needed to be built in time to show off at the Tokyo Motor Show in November of the following year (1970), during the company’s 50-year Golden Jubilee celebration (via Pen).