Heiji Kobayashi

A single design sketch

The Cosmo Sport's shape began with a single design sketch drawn by Heiji Kobayashi, then a young in-house designer. President Tsuneji Matsuda is said to have liked it and ordered, "Go with this." Because the body was so flat, there was no room to fit a conventional suspension, so the rear wheels used an unusual De Dion setup. The body panels were welded at the seams and then smoothed by hand, finished as if made from a single sheet.