(first posted 10/26/2015) Driving around the northern suburbs of Brisbane on the weekend, I spotted these two Mazda Carols (also known as the Mazda 600). This flatbed was parked in front of what I can only assume is a devoted Mazda enthusiast’s house, as there was both a CX7 and a 1986-91 929 Hardtop (aka Luce; the better-looking version of the dull-as-dishwater 929 sold in North America). I can only presume, based on their location and the dealership stickers, that these lovely Kei cars are being prepared for a restoration. Wonderful!
When I spotted them from the end of the block, I drew a blank. The reverse-canted C-pillar seems almost French and the front fascia vaguely reminiscent of a European Ford. Getting closer, I noticed the little Mazda 600 badges. Upon doing a little research, I found out these quirkily-styled minicars are quite interesting creatures.
The P360 Carol was first launched in 1962, and was Mazda’s first four-passenger model. The company, pragmatically, was planning to gradually expand the size of its models with time as the Japanese economy recovered after World War II. The Carol had been preceded by the 1960 R360, an adorably dinky two-passenger Kei car.
All of these little Mazdas featured an all-aluminum, water-cooled, four-cylinder, four-stroke engine. This was mounted at the rear and was only 358 ccs with just 18 horsepower. Indeed, the Carol was diminutive in every dimension: curb weight was a featherweight 1,157 lbs and length a brief 117.7 inches.
Those expecting a crude wheelbarrow-with-an-engine of a car would be surprised to learn the Carol had four-wheel independent suspension with trailing arms front and rear. As a result, the Carol rode surprisingly well for something with a 76 inch wheelbase.
That 76 inch wheelbase made for close quarters inside. But Mazda was building to something and this thoughtfully designed microcar was one step in its ascension; larger cars would follow as the Japanese automotive market grew. Despite the lower expectations within a very price-conscious segment, it is refreshing that Mazda assembled a well-designed, quality product.
The featured Carols are Carol 600s, which boasted a larger, 586 cc engine and some mild cosmetic changes like larger bumpers. However, the 600s were still the same size inside. Just 8,800 of these larger-engined Carols were built between 1962 and 1964. The one millionth Mazda produced was one of these.
The blend of size, ability and style had Japanese buyers singing the P360 Carol’s praises, and it leapt to the top of the sales charts: Mazda immediately established a 67% share of the mini-car market and still had half of it by the end of the Carol’s run.
The Carol 600 was replaced after 1964 by the larger, first-generation Familia. However, the less powerful P360 Carol remained on sale until 1970. Mazda then, oddly, took a break from the segment before launching the Chantez (from ‘chanter’ in French meaning ‘to sing’) in 1972. This adorable little micro-car was dumped after 1976, and Mazda took a lengthy break from the Kei segment until re-entering it in 1989, whereupon they also reintroduced the Carol nameplate.
Mazda may not be the high-volume player Toyota or Honda is in North America (although Mazda is the 2nd best-selling brand in Australia), but they have developed an enduring reputation for engineering, quality and dynamics. And it all started with teensy-tiny little cars like the Carol.
Related Reading:
America’s Home Grown Kei Car – The Rise and Fall Of The Crosley
The passenger cabin and even the wheel arches are very like the larger Ford Anglia 105E*. It’s very cute and the treatment of the rear end is clever, seamlessly making the engine ventilation part of the decoration.
* It’s not often a Ford Anglia can be described as larger!
That’s what I was going to say, the overall appearance is very Ford Anglia, not surprising considering the English influence on 20th Century Japanese engineering.
I agree – very Ford Anglia on the rear window
I remember seeing pictures of the Mazda Carol 360, and at the time, I thought they were hideous looking. I still find them unattractive, but not as bad looking as today’s Mazda cars.
The reverse canted rear window reminds me a little of the Mercury Breezeway.
Splendid find! It’s a car that I long hoped to see at CC, but the chances of finding one curbside are of course minute. But you have, with a little help of a trailer or two.
The 360 had what was almost undoubtedly the smallest four cylinder passenger car engine ever: 359 cc. The Honda 360 truck had a four too, but that was not used in the Honda N360 car.
Probably build one from two I think the blue one and I have crossed paths before or one just like it, there were some of these at the cavemans wrecking emporium in Riverstone, he had a small herd of early Japanese cars all grouped together and I’m pretty sure a Mazda Carol was in there, cool find.
Was “Caveman” the guy who had an engineering degree? The yard was very heavily wooded and there were many interesting things there – if it’s the place I visited in the 80s seeking Phoenix bits. I bet that’s all brick veneered houses by now.
Riverstone auto wreckers he called his operation he took up about 4 acres cars were stacked 6 high all along the fence all old 50s models he had another storage yard that was mostly bush, a hard man to buy stuff from unless it was one of his advertised scrapping specials, There was a sign on the gate over 200 restorable driveable cars for sale but try getting one off him, His neighbour had several Galaxies and Chryslers hidden away but mostly stuffed beyond repair.
That was him!
Cool place to visit, I sold him my bay window Kombi thats how I found the place back in 85.
When I was stationed in Japan in the mid 80s I would often pass a building with 2 of these Carols in a corner of the 1st floor garage. One like the trailered example and another like the 1st generation Familia 2 door. Both cars were in like new condition and since I had never seen a Mazda Carol before I could only guess at their vintage.
While I find the styling to be….interesting, the drawing makes the tail lights look like an “after thought”, just something that was laying around and stuck on the back end. If I had been the stylist, I would also have made that “grille” area slimmer/less tall.
BTW, that blue hatchback pictured was a VERY popular model in Japan, though I never saw one in blue. 95% were red in color, with an occasional green example…..nearly ALL driven (owned?) by women.
Great find, never heard of those.
The lack of rust on these leaves me speechless, around here they would turn into brown flakes in 3 years.
I love reading about some of these obscure cars from fairly early in Japan’s auto industry. The styling of these is so very, very British.
On the side view they look like a miniature an early Studebaker Lark to me.
Those are some cool little cars, very unique. It’s hard enough spotting a 323 anywhere on the road, never mind even a 70’s Mazda or older.
I would have thought French at first, but Japanese it is.
Cool little car.
What a surprise! I had no idea the Carol was sold here; the 800 is the earliest Mazda I’ve ever seen in the metal or advertised. But back in the sixties cars were often imported on a state-by-state basis, rather than being handled nationally, so they may not have made it to the further states.
What I find amazing is that people in Australia bought cars like these at all. I cannot even begin to imagine what it might have been like going from Sydney to Melbourne in the 60s, what with the odd Grey Ghost at full chat bearing down on you and then overtaking. Actually, I can imagine: it would have been a bit like being vacuumed by a Typhoon. Struth, as they say.
Doubly odd that they’re the two-door model given how many cars that had a choice of both in their home markets only came in four-door form in Australia.
Interstate car travel in the sixties was rather unusual in Australia, as we didn’t have any freeways then. Also people had less need to travel, and less money to afford to do so.
Dad was a commercial traveller, and I occasionally went with him during the school holidays. Once you got out of the major cities, it was one lane in each direction, usually with crumbling potholed edges, often rough surfaces, and the occasional single-lane bridge – still! Trucks were also much slower in those days; the British ones usually maxed out about 40mph. Traffic was a lot lighter, true, and drivers seemed to have had a lot more courtesy then. Small towns were a welcome diversion on a long trip. I remember how exciting it was as a kid to see a car with a ‘foreign’ (interstate) number plate.
So few people would be driving interstate. And the general idea at the time, carried over from the earliest days of motoring, was that you needed a big car for a big country. An American car would be ideal for the country if somewhat unwieldy in the towns, but failing that an Aussie six was usually taken as the minimum car that would do. Small underpowered and undergeared British cars seemd to prove the point. Meanwhile Peugeot drivers just smiled to themselves…..
As for the two doors, we’d buy two doors for tiny cars, if they came no other way. Minis and 105E Anglias were everywhere, but BMC never sold the 1100/1300 as a two-door here; that size car was seen to need four.
My uncle Sam was a comercial traveller for Clipsal industries western NSW was his territory All along the Newel and its surrounds, monthly round trips.
Nice summation Pete.
I expect that these cars have come out of a decades-long ownership, possibly after a death. Hopefully both will be restored. The wheels are quite unusual, I wonder if they are bolted to brake drums Pontiac-style?
An ex GFs father towed a double horsefloat from Melbourne to Sydney in a day back in 65 with the EH Holden he gave me, sure its a long way and no freeway back then either, My Uncle Sam and his mate drove a 1926 Armstrong Siddeley all the way up the Hume from Melbourne it was a non running barn find, the plan had been to tow it but the 59 Holden they took down couldnt do it so the revived and drove it home cool car too only 4 door sedan on the planet its still unrestored though the engine has been rebuilt, Brand new shock absorbers were found wrapped in grease paper under the back seat ordered when it was new collected and never installed, they were an accessory not stock fittings.
Renids me a bit of a Sunbeam Imp for some reason.
Oh Carol, don’t let him steal your heart away
I’m gonna learn to dance if it takes me all night and day
– C. Berry
Great find William
Wow, I’d love to find an example of the Carol’s successor, the Familia. Looks like a miniature 60’s BMW, with the first-generation Corvair beltline that got copied by almost everyone.
That is a fascinating little car. I had never heard of them before. I just read about it on Wikipedia.
The blue one appears to have a side mirror facing the wrong direction. Wonder what that’s all about?
Brilliant example e of why we like CC. Great find and history. Thanks!
That Familia has a bit of Opel Kadette in it, too.
As a life-long tiny car fan, I am nearly smitten. The details could use some massaging, as Howard suggests. If the tail lights were hidden under the grille, like and early GTO, it would be pretty sharp, but you never know that the stylists might have wanted to make them overly obvious to allay fears of being rear-ended by a truck. The stance of the car is winning; may I say, “insouciant”? Those rear-angled back lights somehow always come off as a gimmick even though they make a lot of sense for such a small car; I once took a lady friend and her Mom to dinner in a Goggomobil TS 250 coupe, and the former sat in the rear, hunched over sideways because of the swoopy cabin.
There’s been a Chantez for sale in Pennsylvania for well over a year. It’s down to $7000 from $7500 but that must still be too dear for any of the microcar hoarders out there (it’s easy to become one, since so many of them can fit in a garage). The hilarious-reading URL below is the link to the ad:
http://www.racingjunk.com/Golf-Carts/182555034/1975-mazda-chantez.html?imageIndex=1&showSuperSize=true
Very cool little cars. Much like a scaled-down Anglia overall, but with a host of details that loudly proclaim 60’s Japanese. I’d definitely never heard of these before!
They are cute small cars , but you will certainly need a big budget to restore one ,
Think of reconditionning a cracked and wrapped aluminum block,
Or find a machine shop to custom cut watch-sized gears for that tiny transmission,
I certainly hope they’re able to get it road worthy again .
-Nate
How random I should come across this. Both cars belong to me. The pics have been taken at the sellers property on their way to me in Sydney
Do any engine weight figures exist for both the 586cc RA version of the all-alloy Mazda OHV used in the Mazda 600 as well as the larger 782cc SA version used in the Mazda Familia 800 (and Bongo 800)?
Additionally is it known whether the larger 987cc PB, 1169cc TB and 1484cc UA/UB engines were related to the smaller engines that began with the 358cc DA/DB?
The double round taillight idea for the “more sporty” (read “rotary powered”) Mazdas in the early 70’s likely came from the Carol, where the 360 got the single squarish taillights and the sportier 600 got the dual round taillights, as we see here.