Old-School RX-3 in for service @ local dealer!

[Antoine]

I was at my local Mazda dealer today checking on the custom navi install for the Cosmo...After checking on my ride...I was told they had a 1976 (if I recall correctly) Mazda RX-3 GT with a 12A in for service...Apparently, some old man is the owner and he still drives it in near original condition!

Enjoy (drive)

The paint was a bit ruff in areas with tiny rust spots here & there but overall in awesome condition...especially the interior!

Love the "enthusiastic" decals...

Lots of room to work in this engine bay...Although it uses a point system for the ignition which some of the younger mechanics were not too familiar with...

The interior is in awesome condition and even has the original radio & "cassette" player. Note the random "hanging baby" and Shrine charms...

Low miles for such an old school Mazda!

Original rims...note the "TOYO KOGYO" stamp...Mazda's original company name (Toyo Kogyo Co)...

Gotta love the fender mounted side-view mirrors (thumb)...

Believe it or not...That massive exhaust tip is factory...part of an old-school emissions system...Wonder how well that worked...lol

Thanks for watching

 

[aMaff]

I <3 those things

 

[Antoine]

Yeah...If I had the dough and SPACE...I'd love to have one of these and setup it up old-school Japanese custom style...I think the RX-3 would look badass slammed to the ground with small spoked rims and a nice paint job...along with a beefed up 12A...Maybe one of these days

I really dig this old-school custom Nissan/Datsun that was at the 2008 Osaka Automesse...I believe young punks used to cruise around in these beasts back in the day...(laugh)

 

[R2s99zoom]

damned... I wish my RX3's interior was that nice.

But, I found mine as a used-up IT/EP racer... interior gutted, not a piece of the dash even remaining.

Slowly restoring it back to street worthiness.

what the interior currently looks like:

Just last week found an original 12A nose for it:

(test fitted w/a fibreglass replica lower spoiler)


hopefully by next summer I'll have it ready to drive on the street.

 

[aMaff]

what a waste of such a cool race car





jk... kind of. We have a couple of RX3s that run up at Road Atlanta from time to time. I love watching those things dice on track.

 

[R2s99zoom]

what a waste of such a cool race car





jk... kind of. We have a couple of RX3s that run up at Road Atlanta from time to time. I love watching those things dice on track.

oh, not to worry.... even tho we're restoring it back to streetability... the welded diff is being replaced with an LSD and the brakes/suspension from a donor '85 rx-7 gsl-se, possibly the 13b fuel injected motor from it, and we're planning a custom dash, getting nicer race seats, and a more modern rollcage... and my pops found a shop that can re-drill the hubs from the rx7 to 4x100 so we can use my MX-5's track wheels on it (and its a lot easier to find cheap/light/nice looking wheels in 4x100 than it is 4x110, and the current race wheels on it are really hard to find cheap street tires for... not too many street tires made for 13x8's anymore...)

since the last owner ripped out the dash and trashed it, the car will likely never again be legal for Improved Touring... but it will certainly see PLENTY of HPDE track weekends, and still be able to be driven on the street... probably not many autocrosses, tho... our CSP RX-7 will probably keep taking those beatings... if i bust the nose on the RX-3, I think it would be better to blame it on spinning off a roadcourse, rather than running over a stupid cone

 

[aMaff]

nice. In that case, I retract my previous statements

Also... the MX-5 has 5x114.3 hubs, not 4x100....

 

[R2s99zoom]

nice. In that case, I retract my previous statements

Also... the MX-5 has 5x114.3 hubs, not 4x100....

none of mine do... I've had 2 '99s and a 96, the whole lot of them 4x100

 

[aMaff]

none of mine do... I've had 2 '99s and a 96, the whole lot of them 4x100

Ah... it appears we're arguing semantics. Miata = NA and NB. MX-5 = NC

 

[Antoine]

Be sure to keep us updated on your progress...Cool RX-3 + Nice garage pic (2thumbs)

 

[DMRH]

Awesome to see an original condition "series-III" version (76-77) Savanna still floating around.

The rims are "Series-I" RX-7 (78-80) by the looks of it & the tail lights are from the "Series-II" version Savanna (74-75) which in my opinion look far better than the factory "Series-III" tail lights.

That Savanna in that condition would fetch Y2.5M over here in Oz

Truly a classic early RX.

REgards

 

[Maxx Mazda]

That... Is... Cool!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Matt22]

ya the old school cars are really sweet. i really miss my old 72 RX2 Coupe.
Here are pics of the day i found it and what it looked like when i drove it.
OH it was all original except it had the Reman motor put in in 1980 by Mazda.
still had the dual distributer. car car like a top. had it up past 110, very smooth car. I wish everybody could have an old Mazda.

 

[Antoine]

Welcome...Very (cool)...I have a feeling that "old" Mazdas are becoming irresistibly more charming as time rolls on...Who knows...I might end up with one some day