Open Road: The Mazda Museum

Cars, especially classic cars or ones with really out-there designs, are pretty cool.  I like seeing these vehicles up close and being able to learn more about them, but I always imagined that this was best done in person.  Apparently Mazda thinks this isn't necessarily the case.  Though the company has a physical museum in Hiroshima, Japan, they have also elected to display some of their history online for the rest of the world to see.  The result is a pretty impressive collection of images and information.

Mazda's online presence includes a few different components:  a timeline-style history, several special exhibits and a huge gallery of images and information on past and present cars.  The history section contains a fair amount of information, which is not too overwhelming but can also be a bit dry.  A photograph of some aspect of that time period accompanies each entry.  The special exhibitions are pretty unique - you can learn about the fortieth anniversary of a signature Mazda engine, the company's innovative designs shows of 2006 and 2007, and the design challenge they sponsored six years ago - and by including a number of images and video to explore, they provide a lot of supporting material for these topics.  I especially like that you can sign up to get email alerts about new special exhibits, rather than having to check back frequently to see whether anything has changed.

The best part of this museum, though, is the vast collection of pictures and stats on Mazda's cars.  This
gallery is broken down into four sections - one each devoted to classic cars, concept cars, innovations that the company pioneered and photographic highlights from the company's history.  Images accompany all the entries in each category, along with each car's vital stats and a few paragraphs of information.  I was most interested in looking at the cars, but I can appreciate that the other information provided would really delight a car fanatic.

Putting together everything that is provided online, I think Mazda has done a pretty good job of placing interesting and relevant content in a format that appeals to the virtual visitor.  Sure, the experience of being close to these cars and seeing how they relate to the space around them is not something you can replicate in the virtual world, but realistically very few of us will every make it to Hiroshima.  This really is the next best thing - and believe it or not, the Mazda museum does provide an experience that's almost as good as seeing the cars in person.


The Mazda Museum
Website:  www.mazdamuseum.com