Miniaturized Two-Door Mazda Protege Is Real And For Sale In The States

The compact-sized Mazda Protege (also marketed as the Familia and 323 in some markets) is far from the most thrilling car built by the Japanese marque but this particular example, recently shared on Reddit, is bound to be more enjoyable to drive than most.

A bit of digging shows the modified Protege is listed up for sale on Facebook Marketplace in Cumberland, Rhode Island, and has been for the past 40 weeks.

The Protege is, of course, a four-door sedan but this example is a two-door. Not only that, but it has been shortened to an unbelievable extent and now has a wheelbase that appears little longer than four or five feet.

Evidently, the owner sliced the car in half, cut out the middle section, and then joined it back together. We have no idea if the Mazda could be legally driven on the road as its safety might have very well been impacted significantly by the radical alterations, but that short wheelbase would make for an interesting drive (as long as it doesn’t break in half during a corner…).

Custom touches extend into the cabin where there is an aftermarket steering wheel with blue spokes and blue across the dashboard. The most bizarre thing about the cabin is that there is a bench seat, presumably taken from what was the second row of the sedan.

The car has an asking price of $2,200 but as we mentioned, it has been for sale for almost a year. Clearly, people aren’t willing to risk their life driving something like this.