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Saru's '69 Mazda Luce 1500


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Cheers for the compliments. :)

It's not the original engine (shhh! don't tell rego!) - it's a 1.8 out of a mid/late 70s 929 or 121. But it's basically the same block as the original and it's got most/all of the original fittings.

As a mate says, it's good from far (and in photos) but far from good. The paint is very amateur and actually comes off the front passenger door in chips as big as 20c pieces.

There's a tiny bit of rust in the front quarters behind the wheels. Unlike newer oldschool Mazdas (if that makes sense ;) ) 1500s and 1800s don't rust badly. This car has the advantage that it was a Canberra car for most of it's life so it was protected from sea spray and it was kept nice and dry.

More pics here:

http://flickr.com/photos/newnowknowhow/tags/1500/

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No way my favourite Mazda, but awesome nonetheless.

There is a little old lady who drives around one (1800 I think) here. It's white, and mint. Every time I see her (twice now) I try to follow her so I can offer to buy it when she stops... but she always loses me :lol:

Anyway, good luck with it etc. Show more pics as your project progresses!!!

Hell, show more pics now. !

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It's not my favourite Mazda either, but it was cheap :lol:

There are elements of the Triumph 2500 to it but I see more BMW and Alfa Romeo.

The Alfa connection is there because Giugiaro designed it (when he worked at Bertone) for Alfa but they had no money to buy the design so Mazda did. Of course, if it was an Alfa it might have gotten slightly more sophisticated suspension and engines. :? I like to think of it as the last of the "classical" Japanese cars before they all went Baroque.

1800s are basically the same car. For some reason known only to Mazda they actually switched a lot of parts for stuff that's almost-but-not-quite the same late in the 1500's cycle and then just dropped the 1.8L engine in (perhaps for the US market). So, things like doors, tail-lights, dashes are different between 68 and 69 (ish) 1500s and are the same between 69+ 1500s and all 1800s. The really annoying thing is that the different parts are almost the same.

For example, the tail-lights are the same basic shape across both series but in the later series are slightly longer and taller.

Go figure. This car is a 2nd series 1500.

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If there's one thing the Japanese were/are good at, it's continuous improvement. This is the reason why there are so many little differences in most old Japanese cars. They continually changed little bits and pieces to make better cars. This is arguably one of the major reasons why they were so successful.

I agree, definitely Alfa Romeo/Lancia looking. Of course when you hear the story behind it that makes sense.

I just noticed you live in Brisbane. Nice! You should definitely attend the RACQ Motorfest coming up in a bit over a week. Last year there were quite a few Mazdas and this year there should be more.

Here are some photos I took last year, the green car you might like :)http://www.storm.elxx.net/alfadog/racq1 ... dex_5.html

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I just noticed you live in Brisbane. Nice! You should definitely attend the RACQ Motorfest coming up in a bit over a week. Last year there were quite a few Mazdas and this year there should be more.

I ususally try to make it :) Lived in Canberra the last few years so haven't been for a few years.

Here are some photos I took last year, the green car you might like :)http://www.storm.elxx.net/alfadog/racq1 ... dex_5.html

Yeah, that ones about 1000 times better than my one. Though it has confirmed my love of RX-5 mags on these.

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