In early May, the “Mazda Classic Automobile Museum Frey” was opened in Augsburg, Germany. The Frey family, who run a Mazda dealership, gathered their large collection of Mazda cars, that they have collected over many years, into one place and established this museum in order to put them on display for Mazda fans from around the world. The classic brick construction stems from the fact that this location was originally a tram warehouse for Augsburg, and its towering chimney is one of its iconic features. The building was constructed in 1897 and is imbued with 130 years of history. One can only imagine the difficulty of negotiating with the notoriously stern German authorities to have this common property entrusted to a private company for the purpose of creating a museum aimed at car enthusiasts.

However, the Frey family’s passion was unshakable and they received permission from the city authorities in 2011 to conduct renovation work for the museum. With an unspecified number of visitors set to visit this museum, various safety and security measures were necessary to ensure the capacity to respond to numerous possible risks. The Frey family worked painstakingly and with conviction to overhaul the facilities and then, when they were approaching 6 years since they had obtained it, they could finally see the day of their first public opening approaching.

When you walk through the entrance of the museum, you are greeted by a huge wall covered in pictures of the Cosmo Sport. When you pass the registration on the left you reach the museum hall. The exhibition floor is crammed with approximately 50 cars. Beginning from the three-wheeled track that was released immediately after the war and gained a great deal of popularity, and Mazda’s first passenger car, the R360 coupe, early rotary sports cars such as the Cosmo Sports 110S and R100 rotary coupe are spread out before your eyes. On the stage the Luce R130, considered the most beautiful grand coupe of the time, is on display and even lined up alongside modern day sports cars it steals your gaze with its cohesive elegance.

On top of these, there are rotary cars from the 1970s, such as the Mazda RX-2 (Capella), RX-3 (savanna), RX-4 (Big Luce), RX-5 (Cosmo AP), alongside 80s machines such as the Savanna RX-7 (SA22C, FC3S). Meanwhile, you can also see rare vehicles that were only sold in the United States such as the Rotary Pickup (nicknamed “REPU”), the Roadpacer (large size saloon), and Rotary Bus. In the second half of the museum you can see FF series machines such as the 80s Mazda 323 series (Familia) and Mazda 626, along with ɛ̃fini, Eunos and Autozam brand vehicles that were created through the B10 expansion plan.

If you are a Mazda fan and you have the means you should really make a trip to see this museum. Alongside the occasionally exhibited and regularly displayed vehicles, there will also be temporary exhibitions of rare Mazda vehicles. For details of all exhibited vehicles, check out vol.3 of the Mazda Fan Book (Bungeisha CO., LTD).

You can purchase it here. http://geibunsha.co.jp/car/mazdafanbook/19510.html

Photos and Text by MZRacing