Before the electric Honda Motocompacto, and even its 1980s predecessor, the Motocompo, there was another Japanese folding scooter. It was the Fuji Go-Devil, an example of which recently popped up on Facebook Marketplace in Columbus, Ohio.
Introduced in 1964, the Go-Devil was manufactured by Fuji Heavy Industries, the parent company of Subaru. It launched with a 50cc, single-cylinder, two-stroke engine. Simple tube-frame construction and tiny five-inch wheels allowed it to fold up and fit in a snazzy travel bag. The rear wheel is attached to a swing arm with a single shock absorber, while the front is hard-mounted.
The asking price is $12,000, which the seller claims is justified by recent transaction prices for Go-Devils in comparable condition on Bring a Trailer. Of the 13 Go-Devils sold on the auction site, three made it into five digits. A 1968 model sold for $35,000 in 2022, but that one was still in its original box. Most sold for much less, with the most recent—another 1964 model—going for just $3,300 this past August.
Alternatively, a new Motocompacto costs just $995 without the need to deal with pungent two-stroke exhaust fumes or the Fuji’s pull-starter. It also weighs about 30 pounds less than the Go-Devil, at 41.3 pounds. In folded form, the Motocompacto is longer and shorter than the Go-Devil, but the biggest difference is its narrow width, owing to the lack of an engine.
The Go-Devil is an interesting piece of history, but perhaps it could be more than that. Imagine if Subaru launched a modern electric version as a complement to its four-wheeled EV efforts, as Honda did with the Motocompacto.