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The 1986 Italdesign Machimoto Is a Bonkers Concept Car From the Past

Concept cars are not a novelty in the automotive industry. Actually, they have been a staple of auto shows worldwide for many decades and can gather a lot of buzz around them, even if the truth is very few become production vehicles.
Italdesign Machimoto concept car 15 photos
Photo: Italdesign
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Automakers have been pushing the boundaries of car design to show off their creative abilities for years. There are incredible concept cars exploring out-of-the-box ideas and featuring technologies way beyond their time, dating back to the 1930s.

Here at autoevolution, we cover lots of amazing new concept cars, but we think it’s worth taking a look back at some concept cars from the past to see what designers imagined the future could be like. Today, we’ll talk about the Italdesign Machimoto, a concept car from 1986 that stunned both the public and the press of that period.

Its name might fool you into believing it’s a Japanese concept, but the Machimoto was actually developed in Europe by famed automotive designer Giorgetto Giugiaro at Italdesign, a Turin-based studio. Giugiaro was widely known for creating the DMC DeLorean and the Lancia Delta, among others.

1986 Italdesign Machimoto concept car
Photo: Italdesign
The Machimoto concept car was based on a Volkswagen Golf GTI platform and was designed as the perfect blend between a car and a motorcycle. Its name is formed by combining the words Machina, which means 'car' in Italian, and Motociclo, meaning 'motorcycle.'

The designer behind it wanted to give drivers/riders the opportunity to experience the best of both worlds – the stability and reliability of a car and the open-air sensation of a motorcycle.

The Machimoto was shown to the world at the Turin Motor Show in 1986 and was met with mixed reactions. While the majority were taken aback by its design, some were quick to point out its obvious defects, and others appreciated its innovative approach.

Let’s see what it brought to the table to better understand why critics classified it as a museum utopia. As mentioned, the concept was created on VW’s Golf platform and mechanics and was designed as a vehicle focused on leisure and social life and targeted at the young public. That is obvious from the fact that it included six saddles instead of traditional seats distributed on parallel rows.

Those seats could become nine thanks to an additional seat in the back that could accommodate three other people. Passengers mounted on the seats just like on a motorbike, and each one had a retractile shackle and individual lap belts with two anchorage points. Two lateral protections provided access inside. These side impact protections, along with an oversized roll cage at the rear, provided a minimum of safety.

Given that the vehicle wasn’t too well equipped for nefarious incidents, all the passengers were to wear helmets.

1986 Italdesign Machimoto concept car
Photo: Italdesign
This incredible cabin layout was Machimoto’s true claim to fame, but the synthesis between car and bike continues on the steering wheel, which could be transformed to look and function like a traditional motorcycle handle. To this end, it featured two pivoting handles tucked inside the steering spoke arms. They could be used in three different positions: rest (inside of the bar), vertical (90° compared to the bar), and open (parallel to the bar). When the handles were closed, the driver could use it as a traditional steering wheel.

The car was powered by a 139 hp (140.9 ps) 1.8-liter inline-4 engine from the Golf GTI with a front-wheel-drive layout and was a fully drivable prototype.

The wheelbase was slightly extended to 2,475 mm (97.44 inches) to accommodate that crazy interior layout. And as you can see, it has no roof and features some unusual rear wheel fender skirts that were the norm on show cars of the period.

Although at the time, critics rejected the idea of a car-motorbike hybrid and lambasted this concept, later on, the Italdesign Machimoto was viewed as the best nine-seater open-top sports car ever made. And it did serve as inspiration for other contraptions, such as the 2006 Volkswagen GX3 concept, a hardcore trike that came very close to production but was stopped by VW’s legal team as it had no doors, no airbags, and no stability control.
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About the author: Ancuta Iosub
Ancuta Iosub profile photo

After spending a few years as a copy editor, Ancuta decided to put down the eraser and pick up the writer's pencil. Her favorites subjects are unusual car designs, travel trailers and everything related to the great outdoors.
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