Mazda K360 - Three-wheeler with mid-engine / platform and the midwife for passenger car production

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Mazda K360 - Three-wheeler with mid-engine / platform and the midwife for passenger car production

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Created on March 29, 2020

Text:

Daniel Koch

Photos:

Courtesy of RM Sothebys/Theodore W. Pieper

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Mazda Presse

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Theodore W. Pieper - Courtesy RM/Sotheby's

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Archiv

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Mazda K360 (1960) - three wheels, two seats, two cylinders and plenty of space

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Mazda K360 (1960) - Around 280,000 built

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Mazda K360 (1960) - Engine in the middle

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Mazda K360 (1960) - Japanese platform truck

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Mazda K360 (1960) - A considerable success for the small manufacturer

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Mazda K360 (1960) - Practical platform truck

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Mazda K360 (1960) - You look for a seat adjustment in vain

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Mazda K360 (1960) - There were at least two individual seats

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Mazda K360 (1960) - Optimistic speedometer up to 100 km/h

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Mazda K360 (1960) - 16 hp had to be enough

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Mazda K360 (1960) - The engine delivered a maximum of 22 Newton meters

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Mazda K360 (1960) - The nameplate shows the 356 cc engine

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Mazda K360 (1960) - Service hatch above the engine

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Mazda K360 (1960) - Exterior door hinges

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Mazda K360 (1960) - Original Mazda lettering

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Mazda K360 (1960) - Tailgate for easy loading

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Mazda K360 (1962) - three-wheeled pickup truck

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Mazda T600 (1962) - as a pickup with a larger engine

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Mazda T1100 (1962) - three-wheeled pickup truck

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Mazda P360 (1962) - Coupé elegance on a short wheelbase

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Mazda R360 (1962) - at the 1962 Turin Motor Show

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Mazda R360 (1962) - Coupé with air-cooled V2 engine

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Mazda R360 (1962) - Transparency drawing

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Mazda R360 (1962) - the air-cooled V2 engine with 90-degree angle

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Mazda P360 (1962) - together with Mazda R360 at the 1962 Turin Motor Show

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Mazda R360 (1962) - the coupé exhibited at the 1961 Tokyo Motor Show

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Mazda B360 (1962) - as a light commercial vehicle

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Mazda Cosmo Sports (1967) - at an exhibition - the dashboard differs from the later production version, the designation is still Cosmo Sports

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Mazda Cosmo Sport (1968) - at an exhibition, the name is now Cosmo Sport

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Subaru 360 (1968) - on a historical advertising photo

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"Mazda Classic - Automobile Museum Frey"

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Summary

The Piaggio Ape is well known in our part of the world. Although the three-wheeler with Vespa technology is rarely seen, it is still a regular sight on our roads. Very few people are aware that the Japanese company Mazda produced a considerable number of similar vehicles between 1959 and 1969 with the K360. They formed the basis for Mazda's passenger car production, which got underway with the R360. This report looks at the beginnings of vehicle production at Mazda and shows the K360 and the R360 in current and historical pictures, as well as in the sales literature.

This article contains the following chapters

Looking across the pond?
Similar in size to the Italian
From commercial vehicle to passenger car
Lack of road infrastructure
Long history
A look at Europe
Innovative ideas

Estimated reading time: 5min

Preview (beginning of the article)

The Piaggio Ape has been built since 1948 and still rolls off the production line in a slightly modernized form. The small three-wheeler with Vespa technology enjoys unbroken popularity among craftsmen and individualists and is also often used as a mini food truck or advertising medium. However, very few people are aware that the Japanese Mazda company built a vehicle based on a similar concept from 1959 to 1969, the K360, of which almost 300,000 rolled off the production line. With a population of around 90 million in 1960, there was one K360 for every 300 inhabitants. It is unclear how much the Mazda designers were inspired by the Italian Ape when designing the K360.

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