We also get to see Land Cruiser FJ40 and Supra A80 design proposals that weren't chosen.
Calty Design Research Incorporated is turning 50 this year, prompting Toyota to dust off some concepts penned by the design studio over the years. These had been kept a secret until now, including an early Land Cruiser FJ40 proposal that was left on the proverbial cutting room floor. There was also a travel trailer concept in 1975, but it’s the pair of supercars that caught our attention.
It’s 1983 and Calty decides to envision a mid-engine performance machine with scissor doors. The white supercar was called “MX-1” and was more than just a design sketch since it was built as a full-size scale model. Some of the higher-ups at Toyota were given the opportunity to see the car but the project was never approved for production. It’s worth noting the original MR2 came out a year later and it too had the engine behind the seats, but it wasn’t on the same level as the MX-1.
Unseen Toyota concepts
Another performance-oriented design with a Mazda-esque name was the “MX-2” created a couple of years later. It too had the engine behind the seats and was conceived with gullwing doors part of a swoopy body made from fiberglass reinforced plastic. Its sloped, elongated roofline makes us think of the Dodge M4S from “The Wraith” movie starring Charlie Sheen. Inside, Toyota installed a swing arm steering wheel to easily accommodate both left- and right-hand-drive configurations, à la Mercedes Unimog with its VarioPilot system.
But wait, there’s more. Calty also worked on a design for the fourth-generation Supra. It wanted to make the A80 a “pure sports car” with an elongated hood and a bulge to fit a large-displacement inline-six. As a refresher, the Supra Mk4 was offered with the legendary 2JZ in naturally aspirated (GE) and twin-turbo (GTE) flavors. Although rejected, some of the design’s traits did make it to production in 1993 when the fourth-generation model was launched.
By far the quirkiest of the lot was a conceptual city car for the defunct Scion brand. Created in 2012, the NYC was a green oddity in which the driver stood almost upright behind the wheel. It had an unusually tall greenhouse and looked pretty much like a frog on wheels.
Keyword: Toyota Shows Unseen MX-1, MX-2 Mid-Engine Supercars