aww it’s so neglected :( this Great Little Car is too rare to be in this condition, get her going like the LeCar and clean her up! don’t let them ants do any more damage than they already have. this ol’ gal would be a sweet commuter
An old rotary engine rust bucket wouldn't be my FIRST choice as a commuter. If said destination wasn't your favorite place to visit, then yes, GREAT commuter.
In high school...1974-1977 my friends mom had a Mazda wagon with the rotary engine. It came with a 4 barrel carb with 2 barrels blocked off. We fixed it so all worked and it was a hoot to drive and could beat most small block v8s in quarter mile
A list of my Wankel ownership from the 1970s & 1980s: 1969 NSU Ro80 1971 Mazda R100 Coupe 1973 Mazda RX-2 Coupe 1973 Mazda RX-2 Coupe (yes, another one!) 1974 Mazda RX-4 Coupe 1973 DKW Wankel 2000 My very first car was a Wankel and the bug stayed with me for a long time. Those 4bbl Nikki carbs were quality little units. There used to be a guy here in the States who opened them up to flow more CFM, but that too has faded into the past.
I had a 1974 rotary powered truck. We called it the rotary pooper. Was a cool little truck. It had a four barrel carb and two plugs per cylinder. Was a fun quick dependable truck. I wish I still had it.
Very cool car.. I’ve never seen a station wagon, my Grandma had a hatchback 1300.. and some time before that a Mazda Capella with a Rotary;-) Looking forward to seeing this one come back to its former glory!
@@clickreportifyouareacrybab5942 I live about an hour from him so I'm in the same boat of that seeming like a lot of rust. Then I look at any super rust belt states and my jaw drops
Yeah... ...little cars from that era aren't even FOUND where I live. Forget about what rust they would have today--the last of the "survivors" probably were junked 25 years ago.
@@iFixJunk 90s Japanese cars especially went through some hard times in a salted road community lol. I had an 87 Prelude a while back, a good amount of the undercarriage bolts were literally rusted together. The only point of torquing on them was to snap the bolt in half so you could start tapping it out lol. After messing with a car like that I just started buying them from down south. Once you start chasing rust you'll never stop. It always comes back!
@@iFixJunk I think starting mid 00s they started spraying the inside of the body panels and using zinc and other additives to the body and frame to improve rust prevention. That actually helped quite a bit.
My father had a late1970's 2 Dr GLC sedan, that was very basic, buy easy for an older driver to make runs to grocery store, 3 speed stick (iirc) was a daily driver & quite economical. Father drove it until 1990 & had to stop driving due to a stroke, was sold to wife of one of my nephew's who drive it for several more years. Was CHEAP to maintain & got reasonable fuel mileage. 🤠
I love old cars like this. They're so simple and so full of character. There designs seem basic today but at the same time they're unique across all the different manufacturers.
Wow. Nice collection of trucks! Specifically, at least 1 1990-1992 Ford Ranger (Red). I approve of the work you're doing, brother -- and I understand the soreness. Been at a junkyard, trying to get the block for my '92 Ranger, and get her back on the road. On Saturday, guess what I saw? A Mazda 2200! Literally, the first truck I saw with the Perkins 2.2 diesel in it! It would make for an awesome resto project, if I had the space and money to restore it. And, it would be a learning experience, since I've never worked on a diesel motor before.
One here in my garage i may sell for right price also its in New Zealand and its a real 323 because its RHD like its release in Japan not LHD U.S.M so in your neck the world my one should be worth more bein factory floor RHD
Thanks for sharing that. it really takes me back! My first car was an '82 Mazda GLC, but the sedan body style, which meant a transverse 1.5 and FWD. It's odd that the drivetrains differed so much. Maybe the wagon was a style update of the older round headlight version. The blue interior and the front end look pretty identical, though, from what I can tell.
I travelled in exactly one of these in the same color from Springfield, Illinois to Chicago in the summer of 1991. We drove past Peoria and it took 8 hrs flat of non stop driving. I was in the right passenger seat. This was the 323 wagon. Just another Japanese import of the time like the Corolla wagon, Sentra wagon, Lancer Wagon and the Civic sedan. Thats it. The RX 7 was all the rage back then. Hope you restore it to its pristine glory.
OMG you really souped that wagon up! My dad had a '74 RX-4, and I can recall riding home from the car dealer with him. That car was SO much fun to drive. I seem to recall going over 50mph in 2nd gear - it really did hum. 4-speed with the 12B motor. That car rusted out in about 8 years with our salty roads in NJ. Manual choke as I recall. I rebuilt the engine due to a small triangular corner seal getting loose and jamming up between an apex seal and the housing. I remember being fascinated that I could carry the block myself into our basement it was so light in weight. Have fun with that project! I test drove an RX-8 when they were being sold - the fun and spirit I recall of the 12B was gone :( I don't believe they ever really were able to solve issues with seals. The rotor had 3 corner seals on each side of the rotor, 3 apex seals, 3 corner seals, 3 side seals on each side, and one or two oil rings on each side IIRC. That is a like 20 give or take.
Nice car. Had a 1979 Mazda GLC 2 door hatchback with a 3 speed automatic in original condition a long time ago. It was rear wheel drive, but wasn't too bad in the snow once you added weight. It looked similar to your wagon, but it had round headlights. Unfortunately, a bad head gasket and a warped head did it in with about 113K miles.
There are still a fair amount of those 323 wagons here in New Zealand and about 90 percent of them have rotaries in them. People keep them immaculate as the rear wheel drive was so rare. Now they are worth big money. We call them rx323. If I ever win lotto, it's going to be one of my first purchases!
Still see this model in Australia. Many are now restored to either standard OEM or modifications. Very collectable. Were available as a wagon, 4 door or 2 door hatch with either manual gear box or automatic but fitted with 1.8 litre 4 cylinder. 👍👍🇭🇲
I see I just haven't seen this video very cool! I wish I met you back in the day haha you were doing wild stuff very excited to see you get this going again!
This is known as a Familia in Japan ,GLC in America . In Australia we called it a 323 and it was imported from 1978 until 1986 . The first Mazda RX7 was based on this platform in 1977 . The hatch and sedan converted to FWD in 1980
Here in Ontario it’s so rare to find older vehicles like this one in somewhat decent shape, and trucks? Lol your paying crazy money for no rockers and high km. To put it into perspective you could buy a brand new car or spend the money on a 2012 pickup breaks my heart.
Come here to Cali,rust is rare but be ready to cut every bit of smog and emission control shit out since Cali has stricter smog laws. Bought a 69 C10 the other day for instance, and its only rust is in the rockers and its been sitting outside most of its life.
Now THAT needs a good scrubbing ! Those ants were making me itchy. Got potential though. Amazing how you are able to hang on to those old cars for so long
Mom had a '79 GLC Wagon with the 4 speed, and it's how I learned to drive a stick back in high school. It was my date car until I bought my own car. That thing was fun to drive...as well as park with my girl in a dark secluded spot. 😉
I'll bet that was a fun wagon/estate back in the day. In other markets that was the Mazda 323 or Familia estate. In the UK we got those rear-wheel drive estates alongside the first of the front-wheel drive hatchbacks and saloons/sedans for about a year. They were good little cars but they could rust like nobodies' business and they pretty much all disappeared due to rust and being worked to death years ago...
super dope, sounds like u got plans for this nice lil whip but if you were ever selling it i’d buy, regardless i’m looking forward to more vids on this car
Fun fact: this generation of 323 was manufactured in Indonesia with different front end from 1990-1997 from Mazda 626 GC It's called: Vantrend (this wagon), Baby Boomer, and MR90 (both are hatchbacks) -And for most weird moment, is at one point Porsche wanted to enter Indonesian market by collaborating with Indomobil which is sole agent for Suzuki and Mazdas (today only manages Suzuki). But it's failed because Marvi Affandi (at that time head of Indomobil) made a -*-replica of Porsche 911 using this car underpinnings and 911 toolings!-*- As the result, Mazda and Porsche got angry. Only 50 replica 911 (Marvia 911 Carrera) was made- the porsche mazda is somewhat disputed
I owned a series 1, RX7 in USA; Great and fun; WICKED fast !!! but THIRSTY !!!. 10MPG no matter how I drove it. It crossed my mind to transplant a 626 2.0 litre 4 cylinder . Still would have been sufficiently fast and much more economy.
I saw one of these before and was like wtf is this sexyy wagon as it drove by lol thanks for the info! Deffinatly keep it or restore it protect it atleast lol
I have a 86 glc wagon too same color and everything but a few years back I seased the engine. I wanna get the poor thing running again would you happen to know what engines can fit in there?
