TWIN RX-3S
BORN IN 1920 IN HIROSHIMA, MAZDA SURVIVED TUMULTUOUS TIMES TO BECOME ONE OF THE WORLD’ S LARGEST CAR MANUFACTURERS AND PRODUCE AN ENGINE NOW FAMILIAR TO US ALL: THE ROTARY ENGINE, SEEN IN THESE TWO RARE R X -3 S
HIROSHIMA TWINS REUNITED IN NEW ZEALAND
The Mazda Motor Corporation is the company that persevered with the idea of a rotary engine when others had given up. NSU, Citroën, and even General Motors, had all tried and failed — they had simply put the idea in the too-hard basket.
Mazda began producing cars in 1930 and, by the early ’60s, had developed its version of the rotary engine and released its first models with this mode of power. The Mazda Cosmo sports car was the first to use the motor, and then came the RX-2 and the RX-3. Rotary twins On Wednesday, 5 September 1973, at closing time at Armagh Mazda, Christchurch, the sales manager had his feet up on the desk and was reflecting on another successful day two after selling two Sunrise Red coupés. Fast forward 46 years, and New Zealand Classic Car has found the two current owners of these twin RX-3S. We share their stories here. Nowadays rare The RX-3 did not start its life as a rare car — Mazda sold thousands of them from 1973 to 1975. Today, it may seem odd to consider early Mazda rotaries as daily-drivers, but, of course, this is why so many bought them. Admittedly, they had that X-factor under the bonnet and attractive styling (for some), but very few would have purchased them thinking that one day they would become highly collectible.
Finding any two early ’ 70s cars with a shared relationship and history is rare but even rarer with the RX-3. Even though many thousands were originally on our roads, the odds of survival have been heavily stacked against them. A high-performance motor and less-than-ideal road dynamics generated a high crash rate, and this was coupled with rust issues, which has always been a problem with early Japanese cars. The result of these factors was the premature retirement of many RX-3S to wrecker’s yards throughout the ’ 70s, ’80s, and ’90s. They were also hot favourites with both boy racers and rally guys in this period, which went hand in hand with the high crash rate.
The handling can best be likened to that of a rowboat crossing Cook Strait in a southerly. Those who have driven a completely stock-standard RX-3 will probably recall some past excitement or close call when the handling and braking were simply not adequate. The first-generation 10A-powered RX-3S weighed 880kg, had 77kw at the wheels, and a top speed of 180kph. Driving at pace in challenging conditions on 155/13 cross-ply tyres in an RX-3 was exciting to say the least. It’s a wonder that any of them made it out of the ’70s.
Motor sports
The RX-3 has built up an incredibly diverse and impressive motor sport heritage. With some fairly straightforward modifications and cost-effective tweaks, you could make your RX-3 go even faster, stop on a dime, and corner like a train. Its achievements might not match up to those of some other marques, but the car proved to be more than competitive and a whole lot of fun.
The RX-3 even had significant success at Bathurst over the years, with numerous class wins and a placing in the top 10. The best showing was in 1975 with a fifth place outright ( behind four Torana SL/R 5000s). RX-3S also achieved legendary status in Japan with 100 touring car (equivalent) victories by 1977 and they even had a crack at qualifying for Le Mans in Europe.
Rallying is another motor sport category in which the RX-3 has excelled. Rod Millen was the Rally New Zealand champion three times in the ’ 70s in his distinctive white and blue RX-3 sedan. His exploits contributed to the pedigree of the car and helped to initiate the rotary’s reputation for power and performance.
Success at the national level sparked interest in the average weekend racer. Almost every motor sport club across New Zealand had an RX-3 owner or two within its ranks. It was cheap and easy horsepower, the cars were easily sourced and modified, and they were often successful. But, with only so many cars available, the numbers continued to dwindle.
Finding one now
Today, a tidy unmodified RX-3 is a very rare and sought-after car. More and more, people are looking to relive earlier times and enjoy owning an early Mazda rotary. However, unlike with many European and Australian marques, you simply cannot pop over to Japan and easily import a cheap RX-3. Even to buy the aftermarket panels and parts needed to restore the basket case that has been found in the back of someone’s shed is difficult. What’s available locally is limited, and no one makes aftermarket 10A motors. As a result, values for clean and original cars have appreciated considerably in the last couple of years, arguably more than for any other commonly available daily-driver of the ’70s. Some recent sales examples show cars selling in the early to mid-six-figure range, significantly more than the NZ$4200 they cost new.
So, you can see that having twin original RX-3S birthed on the same day is a rarity. The owners, Clint and Tony, recently met and here share the history of their respective cars.
‘GR8983’ — Tony’s story
Tony has been a Mazda rotary owner almost continuously since 1986, starting out with an immaculate one-owner RX- 4 coupé. Since then, he has owned a succession of standard and modified Mazda rotary cars. This car has been in Tony’s ownership since 2012 as a result of a straight swap for an RX-3 circuit car.
GR8983 has had 13 previous owners and
Even though many thousands were originally on our roads, the odds of survival have been heavily stacked against [RX-3S]
has done 122,000 miles (196,335km). It was in Christchurch for half of its life before spending a significant time in Feilding, Levin, and Wellington. It is a matching-numbers car, still running its original 10A motor and gearbox. A complete, comprehensive, and faithful rotisserie restoration was carried out in 2002, including the body, trim, interior, and running gear. The restoration was based on new parts, when available, with the remaining parts restored to factory condition. As a result, this RX-3 has essentially been returned to the condition it was in when delivered by the factory.
Since Tony has owned it, the motor has been freshened up, some rust has been removed, and the paintwork has been finished. The usual maintenance expected for a car of this age has also been done.
‘GR 8984’ — Clint’s original
Clint’s obsession with RX-3S began in 1991 when he was 17. He had no idea what a rotary engine was until he rode in an RX-3 — from then, he was hooked on the look and sound.
He says, “From 17 to 22, I went through four or five RX Mazdas and survived somehow, before growing up a little. Anyone who has had the rotary bug knows that once you’ve had it you can’t really ever give it up.”
A few years later, it was time to own an RX-3 again. “I didn’t want a really modified one, so kept an eye out on Trade Me until one day, two years later, in March 2011, this one popped up,” he recalls.
If you look hard enough and long enough
It was advertised in original condition. The radio, rims, and dress rings — something usually ditched early in the car’s life — were still there. The seller, an ex-banker, wanted the car to go to someone who’d look after it and not want to fit a roll cage and all the other bits and pieces that had led to the downfall of so many.
Clint was doing this deal from London, and, after 14 hours of watching, he pulled the trigger and became the RX-3’S new owner.
The seller reported that the car had had an exterior repaint but had never had a colour change. No wiring had ever been removed, the brakes were standard, and the suspension height was unaltered, which made it all the more attractive. Slight modification had been made to the external trim colour, and it had hotwire mag wheels (which still go on every now and then). The original 10A motor had been replaced with a 12A six-port. “I was never a fan of 10A engines, anyway, so this suited me
fine. In the big scheme of things, it was all superficial stuff, really. After owning these cars as a teenager, I’m surprised any survive,” Clint says.
Almost original
Clint’s goal is to return the Mazda to a condition as original as possible. The grille, headlight surrounds, lights, and badges were all sent for restoration to Restoremaz in Australia.
According to Clint, the interior was in good order and all previous owners had made honest attempts to keep it that way. The car still has the original steering wheel, and that’s an immediate $2K win. The original seat bottoms had been recovered in a factory 1990s pattern vinyl — “a 17-yearold me would have had those out of there and replaced with Autosport rally seats in 10 seconds,” he reckons — even the original AM radio was in a box in the boot.
“The 12A six-port was out of a mid ’80s Cosmo and was fine,” Clint says, “but I really wanted a 12A RX-3 engine and box. RX-3S received the 12A from 1974, only a few months after our cars were built.”
He had been carefully planning the work that he wanted done on his ‘new’ car and collected parts over a couple of years. “I was living in London at the time and was lucky enough to find a $500 ’ 77 RX-3 coupé five hours’ drive from Chicago, all for $500, on Craigslist. With $10K plus worth of parts on it, a flight and road trip to strip it was well worth the effort. This car was optioned with air conditioning and a factory RX-3 five-speed, something we never saw in New Zealand or Aus.”
With all those parts collected, Mark Haynes of High Performance Rotaries in Hamilton rebuilt a stock motor and gearbox. Clint also tidied up anything looking time-worn in the engine bay.
The two owners discovered their ‘ long-lost family’ cars when Clint was browsing the web. His original plate number had been sand-blasted into the window glass and so, when he spotted a car with the next number to his on a rotary enthusiast’s website, he contacted the owner. From there, they found that their cars both had this incredibly similar story.
Editor’s note: There’s no doubting the classic status of these cars; a point well made by their appreciating value. The owners informed us that the combined insurance value of the two cars, on the day of our photo shoot, was a quarter of a million dollars. As a pair, they are probably worth considerably more than that.