Who loves a Japanese bubble car? All of you? Yeah, that’s what I thought.
The “Japanese Bubble Economy” symbolized a time when wealth and ingenuity almost had no limits, except for when it eventually did and it crashed hard. (Sounds like something we can all relate to and or expect coming soon to a timeline near you.) Automakers then, flush with cash but struggling for buyers were forced to get really creative in order to stand out to its domestic buyers. There the “bubble” likely established itself as the last era where automakers truly took daring creative chances and tried to do anything remotely interesting. Its results certainly brought enthusiasts an era of incredible cars we can’t seem to get enough of more than 30 years later.
I am not by any means an authority on the Japanese Bubble Economy or the list of cars that resulted from it. I should thank Patrick George and Raphael Orlove for their plethora of articles and videos on Jalopnik that provided me an in-depth crash course into the era… and their personal obsessions. When I think of this era, my limited knowledge takes me straight to the kei cars, and honestly, that really does not do the Bubble Car era justice.
When I do, however, think of the Bubble Car era, my thoughts immediately go to Mazda’s Autozam AZ-1. It’s possible the Autozam was the first car of that kind I truly remember encountering or clocking as an enthusiast, which is fair because growing up in the Motor City, life at car shows was all about MUSCLE CARS (and the all-caps are necessary) and big-block engines that would have barely fit into the cockpit of an Autozam.
I’ve never had the privilege to drive one, but I have admired a few of them close enough that if I actually needed to drool over one I would need to take a step back from the vehicle. What I might love most is the styling — that petite, tiny MR-2-looking car, some wearing that awkward plastic cladding along the bottom half. In some ways it makes no sense, but then it also makes all of the sense. Is that just how people felt (or still feel) about all Bubble cars?
I’m guessing you already had a couple of cars in mind when you saw the question via the headline and clicked on this article. It is your duty not just as a commenter, but as an enthusiast of what might be one of the greatest times in car manufacturing, to share with the rest of the class what those cars might be. I’ll put them all together for your reading pleasure.