Italdesign Machimoto (1986)
Italdesign Machimoto is not a car or a motorcycle. The ideal combination of them.
It was shown at the Turin Motor Show in 1986, and the public and critics were immediately divided: either appreciate it for its character as an intelligent provocation, or dissect its flaws, labeling it a museum paradise.
Machimoto, based on the Golf platform and mechanics, derives its personality from the mid-80s global economy, which is defined by low-cost fuel, which opens the market to cars meant for leisure, as the Dune Baggy did in the 1960s and 1970s.
The ideal audience is young people, making the Machimoto a socializing vehicle: 6 seats that can be converted to 9, situated in parallel rows where you can sit like on a motorcycle. Two lateral safeguards allow you to enter the car. Each passenger is fitted with a retractable shackle and a seat belt with two anchorage points. There is another seat in the back, close to the cargo van, that can accommodate up to three passengers.
The steering wheel is a cross between a vehicle and a bike. It has two knobs that can be adjusted to three distinct positions: rest (within the bar), vertical (90° compared to the bar), and open (parallel to the bar). When the knobs are closed, it can be used as a standard steering wheel.
The engine is a Golf GTI 16v with 1781 cc and 139 horsepower.
Source: Italdesign
The unusual concept of a pleasure car was developed by the head of the Italdesign company Giorgetto Giugiaro. It was based on units and assemblies of the serial Volkswagen Golf GTI. As the name of the car, made up of the initial letters of the Italian words “macchina” (car) and “motochiclo” (motorcycle), shows that it combines the features of a car and a motorcycle. From the latter, in particular, the “horse” landing of the driver and passengers on two longitudinal “horses” was borrowed. The design of the scooter echoes the suspension and design of the front and rear wheels, handlebars, seat design.
The Machimoto has front wheel drive, tubular welded frame, aluminum honeycomb underbody, disc brakes on all wheels, fiberglass open body with roll bar. Unlike many experimental cars, which are nothing more than mock-ups, the Machimoto is capable of performing all the functions of a vehicle. The car was demonstrated at the Turin International Motor Show in 1986 and was made in one copy.
In the late 80s crossovers “from Giugiaro” were born at the junction of not only classes, but also different types of vehicles.
Four wheels, a handlebar, a roll bar and two rows of motorcycle “saddles” that can fit up to nine riders: the Machimoto is a machine bike!
