Woah, an utterly amazing ItalDesign Aztec is going up for auction

Why is it that the name Aztec always seems to be applied to the most bizarrely styled cars? Of course, you’ll be well aware of Pontiac’s strange MPV-style thing, but before that came Giorgetto Giugiaro's ItalDesign Aztec you see here.

Unveiled at the Turin Motor Show in 1988, the Aztec was actually part of a series of three concepts – alongside the Asgard space wagon and Aspid coupe – that were designed to celebrate ItalDesign’s 20th anniversary.

The Aztec was brilliantly bonkers, with sort of dual-cockpit barchetta layout that split the spaces for the driver and the passenger. The interior featured a properly futuristic trip computer on the passenger’s side and many, many buttons. Just look at those seats too. 

On the outside, the side fairings featured ‘service panels’ that would be activated by three-digit codes and would include an oil drainage spigot, tool kit storage and a hydraulic jack system.

This wasn’t just to be a static concept either. The Aztec was powered by an Audi 5000 Turbo Quattro five-cylinder engine that sent its power to all four wheels through a five-speed gearbox. The four-wheel drive system itself apparently came out of a Lancia Delta, and there was a theoretical top speed of 150mph.

In period, Japanese industrialist Mario Myakawa liked the concept so much that he decided to put it into production. His firm Compact initially commissioned 50 units for Japanese and European markets, but fewer than 25 were ever built.

This particular car is chassis number 12 from that run, and we’re told that it was on display in the Shanghai Automotive Museum between 2011 and 2015.

It was recently imported to the US and given a proper mechanical refresh though, and now it’s up for auction at the Broad Arrow Auctions Monterey Jet Center 2024 sale. The estimate? Somewhere between £214,000 and £253,000. A bargain for something so bonkers, surely?

Images: Broad Arrow Auctions