RARE ORIENTALS

Finding a complete and recoverable Japanese car from the 1970s without breaking the bank is not easy. So, when you get a hold of two and both are Mazdas, then that has to be exceptional.

Ryan Dunn hails from Mairangi Bay, Auckland, and this relatively young enthusiast has developed a knack of finding some exceptional cars, especially Japanese ones.

“I had an 808 at the time. I saw the Mazda R100 advertised on a rotary forum for sale for $12K,” Ryan said of the purchase of the first Mazda. “I did a bit of research and asked a few people about it. I decided it was good money for the car and transferred the money to him. It came on a truck to Auckland, then it sat in my garage for 18 months while I was living in Europe. I then spent two years working on it.”

In the course of arranging to buy the car, he discovered it had been stored partially stripped for some 33 years!

Ryan knew of around 12 R100 cars beginning to surface in the country and most of these had been brought in from overseas, with quite few in left-hand-drive format. This car was right-hand drive and first registered in New Zealand in 1972. There was another surprise in store when he made enquiries about its registration.

He recalled, “I was talking to someone at Mazda New Zealand when I first got the car and I wanted to get more information about it, and they confirmed that it was one of three originals which came to New Zealand in 1971.”

Built not bought

The Christchurch owner of the R100 was a helicopter engineer, and he had begun a process that Ryan was only too happy to follow on and complete now that he realized the rarity of what he had bought.

The owner, Ryan tells us, “had bagged and labelled everything. The panel and paintwork I sent to a company, Chocolate Auto Bodies in Birkenhead here on the North Shore, so I went ahead, and, basically, I’ve done it all myself.”

The condition of the car was confirmed as exceptional, with many areas of original paint still evident and just some rust repairs to be done. It was becoming clear that this Mazda would be quite a car when finished, and one with a steadily increasing value.

“I’ve received a lot enquiries and offers from Australia for the car too,” Ryan said.

Hard to find rotary

When introduced, Mazda’s R100 was designed as a showcase vehicle for its revolutionary new rotary engine, and it was produced with the 10A-designation motor. These motors are increasingly hard to come by in serviceable condition, but, as with the rest of the car, Ryan’s example has an almost-perfect chamber with no sign of stutter marks.

“I’ve got a 12A bridgeport motor in it at the moment, and I have the 10A for it too,” he said. “I’m talking with someone at Mazda, who is trying to source 10A apex-seal springs for me. Everything else 12A fits, but that is the hardest thing to find.”

Once those parts were found, he will get the engine exterior blasted again, just like the 12A, and have the car completely original.

Keeping it original

Although he had sourced a set of alloy wheels for the car, Ryan also had the original steel rims and Mazda hubcaps, which are in great shape. The biggest job was the bodywork, panel, and paint, and Ryan told us that “the panel beater said it was one of the tidiest cars he had seen in 40 years, and it still had much of its original paint, as well as some rust patches that needed fixing up.”

He thought that it was worth hanging onto the R100 and doing it properly with values of

some Japanese cars beginning to appreciate quite dramatically.

“People are realizing the value of these cars and doing them properly, where once it was just a case of putting on a can of bog. [Their prices] … are going up and up,” he said.

The car has recently run under its own power, but there is still quite a bit of work to complete, such as fitting all the glass; chrome window trims; door handles; front panels; carpets; gutter and sill chrome; as well as the bonnet, which was left off while finishing the car to avoid damage.

Ryan started fixing the R100 “on the cheap”, but then decided to get the body blasted back to bare metal and do it properly. The list of replacement and refurbished parts is a long one. The result has been worth the effort, and, when finished, this will be a very impressive little car still with its period black registration plates.

That other car

The second car in Ryan’s garage is a Mazda 808, a three-owner car that has remained virtually untouched since new.

“The 808 came from Christchurch too. The third owner was a lady down there who had owned it for quite a few years. It’s a 1976 Mazda 808, and it still has its original Napier dealer sticker on the back window, original keys and registration. The first lady owner sold it to her son, and then the Christchurch lady purchased it.”

The Mazda 808 has seen very little use in Ryan’s hands and is usually kept in storage. Fitted with a 1300cc four-cylinder engine, it drives very well, and the little sedan is in quite superb condition for a car now more than 40 years old.

“It’s a very nice little car. It’s original and I’ve done very little with it. I’ve driven it three or four times up to Matakana and down to Hampton Downs; otherwise, it sits in storage for most of the time,” he explained.

Ryan is set to get married on 23 November this year, and the R100 would make a great wedding car, but with still some work to do, the future Mrs Dunn has been very understanding. “My fiancée doesn’t want me to worry about it and rush it,” Ryan said. “We have got a friend’s Mazda RX-3 for the wedding as one of the wedding cars.”