Category: dots (Page 20 of 21)

DOTS: Mazda 323 mk1

October 18, 2009 / banpei / 3 Comments

In the October 2009 issue of Practical Classics the editors wondered about an eBay sale of an almost mint Mazda 323 mk1 with a broken clutch: in their eyes the car sold for a large sum of money (over 1000 pounds). For classic Japanese cars of that era that amount of money is actually a bargain. On the other side they commented correctly: try to find another one in the same state!

Well I did not succeed in doing that, but instead I found this good looking 323:

Down on the Street: Mazda 323 mk1

I was a bit surprised to find the car for sale at Marktplaats.nl (Dutch Craigslist) for only 950 euros!

From far away it appears to be in a good state! But getting closer reveals some flaws:

Down on the Street: Mazda 323 mk1
V6? Good joke guys! If the car would have been lowered and sitting on some stretched rubber I may have bought it… ;)
No, the car actually runs the original 1.3 liter Mazda TC engine, mated with a 4 speed manual.

Parked in this way it looks like it is participating in a drag race!

Down on the Street: Mazda 323 mk1

The interior was in good condition: the seats are half (fake) leather, half tweed. The front seats do have covers on them, so it a big question what’s under that cover… The dashboard looked completely original and not hacksawed to make a modern car radio fit.

The car isn’t really rusty. All the rust I saw is only surface rust. In some places the car already had its crusty parts repaired:

Down on the Street: Mazda 323 mk1
So I’d say, not a bad RWD car for only 950 euros! It may be a bithigher priced than the one sold on eBay. However this 323 is drivable, while the one on eBay could not move by itself…

In case you are interested, you can find the ad here!

BTW: I know, the Mazda 323 mk1 is actually the Mazda Familia mk4. Europe already suffered from a renaming scheme due to Mazda and Peugeot fighting over the 808 naming scheme of the Mazda Familia mk3. Mazda changed its name to 818 and by the time the mk4 got launched they decided to rename almost its complete lineup to the x2x scheme. The Familia became the 323, the Capella the 626 and the Luce the 929.

DOTS: Honda Civic Mk4 with bullet holes

October 12, 2009 / banpei / 2 Comments

After last weeks rusty Civic it is time for another Civic:

Bullet hole Honda Civic Mk4

I noticed something was odd about this fourth generation Civic. It was not the fact that it was powered by the 1.5 liter D15B, nor that it was another automatic… I noticed it had some weird unfamiliar damage on the windshield…

Looking up close:

Bullet hole Honda Civic Mk4
WTF!? Bullet holes??
Note that guns are not for sale in the Netherlands. They are uncommon and can not be obtained unless you got a license and permit to carry one! Or have 500 bucks and the right connections of course! ;)

Bullet hole Honda Civic Mk4

As you can see there are at least nine of them on the windshield! The driverseat was covered with a blanket and the car was parked on the outskirts of town, so I presume he/she got shot.

So, why was this car parked here? If the police was involved they probably towed the car away and put it in storage for investigation… Maybe that’s what they did: next time I passed that spot a couple of days later the car was gone…

DOTS: Rusty 1980 Honda Civic Mk. 2

October 4, 2009 / banpei / 0 Comments

Time for another Down On The Street edition!

It is funny how you keep finding more and more old Japanese cars when you start looking for them and get an eye for them. I found this 1980 Honda Civic Mk. 2 during one of the cycling tours I’m doing with my two year old son.

Rusty Honda Civic Mk. 2
From far away I already spotted the big dent in the left rear door.

Rusty Honda Civic Mk. 2
When I got closer I spotted some rust on the hatch…

Rusty Honda Civic Mk. 2
And when I passed it I spotted even more rust on the whole front section of the car!

So I turned around, grabbed my camera and took some photos of this Japanese rustoseum!

Rusty Honda Civic Mk. 2
This is how bad the hatch actually is!

Rusty Honda Civic Mk. 2
And at the other corner of the rear window you can almost force your hand inside if you want to!

Rusty Honda Civic Mk. 2
And the headlight doesn’t look much better than the hatch! Weird enough the chrome surrounding outlived the hood! I really don’t want to know the amount of electrical problems with this car, you can just imagine the amount of water gushing in the headlight when driven through rain!

Rusty Honda Civic Mk. 2
Funny enough the interior looked really good compared to the outside of the car!

The car itself has still got MOT till the end of November. I don’t think it will pass the tests anymore unless someone really does a lot of work to it. For MOT it will definitely need a replacement rear door and if you want to keep the car in decent state it needs a new hatch, hood and some welding to the sills.

Rusty Honda Civic Mk. 2
And as you can see this is the Hondamatic version of the Mk. 2 Civic. Since this car is the early 1980 model it is certainly powered by the only choice of engine: a 1.3 liter EJ engine (68hp), coupled with a two speed automatic. Back then a powerful engine: my ageing 2T is only capable of doing 75hp with its 1.6 liter displacement!

All in all I consider this an unique find! Never seen that much rust on a MOT-ed car!

DOTS: 1989 Mitsubishi Colt GTi 16V

September 20, 2009 / banpei / 9 Comments

I always had a soft spot for the third generation Mitsubishi Colt: it was my first car and it still brings back many memories… So whenever I see a third generation Mitsubishi Colt I always look for two things:
1. Is it my old Mitsu?
2. Is it a GTi?
I was in luck three times: just once I spotted my very own Colt driving in the other direction of where I was going to and twice I spotted this Colt GTi 16V:

Mitsubishi Colt GTi 16V

The GTi exists in two versions a 1.6 and a 1.8 liter version. However the early type Colt only featured the 1.6 liter GTi driven by the 124 hp 1.6 4G61 engine.

This GTi still has its original GTi rims, however in the picture below you can see that it is missing one:

Mitsubishi Colt GTi 16V
It does have an hubcap, so it can’t be the spare wheel of the car…

Also a fun fact: the Colt and Lancer both have 4×114.3 pcd rims, so the rims of older Toyota, Datsuns and Nissans fit on these cars (wide!). It works the other way around as well, however the offset of the FWD cars is highly positive so you will need spacers to make them fit on RWD cars!

Funny to see the double exhaust tip implying the car needs to breathe well. If you look carefully you will see the second silencer going transverse under the car which feeds the double exhaust tip with a single pipe. Apart from the 2-1 flexible header at the engine the entire exhaust is exactly the same for the whole line. Imagine what improvement an aftermarket exhaust would give this GTi. ;)

The first and last pictures are from a set I took with the shitty-cam I always bring along (weights less than the EOS) and all other photos failed miserably. I did not spot the Colt again till last Tuesday when I was in a big hurry, so I stopped and snapped another four pictures with the shitty-cam from which two failed again and only one (the picture above) was worth keeping.

Mitsubishi Colt GTi 16V

As you can see, the second time I spotted the car was, yet again, around the corner of the office where I also spotted the Toyota Celica Supra MA61. Hopefully I will spot it again and this time have time to have a few pics of the interior as well. ;)

DOTS: Toyota Celica TA28 Liftback

September 13, 2009 / banpei / 0 Comments

No more DOTS vacation editions: I’m through posting all pictures of that. So back to the normal edition pictures!

Some time ago I spotted something old parked next to a playing garden:

Toyota Celica TA28 Liftback

If you look carefully enough you can make out the blue Celica TA28 there! ( ? ??)

Toyota Celica TA28 Liftback

As you can see on the grille, it is the ST version of the Celica liftback:

Toyota Celica TA28 Liftback
ST means it is either a 2T-B or 18R engined car. GT means it has got a 18R-G engine, but those are very very very scarce in Europe.

Toyota Celica TA28 Liftback
On the rear another ST logo, so undoubtedly this is a Celica ST.
I looked up the license plate on the RDW website and it says it is a 1600 and got registered in 1977, so this car has the 2T-B engine under its hood.

Personally I favor the lines of the liftback over the original TA22 coupé lines: much better styled and the car gets better proportions from the rear side. But, of course, that is a matter of taste I guess. (???)

Toyota Celica TA28 Liftback

The Celica was is pretty decent state! It had some rust, but no major rust! All rust I spotted were tiny small rust spots like under this Toyota emblem.

Toyota Celica TA28 Liftback

Knowing this car is 32 years old I’d say it is a very good preserved Celica!

DOTS: Honda CRX Mk1

September 6, 2009 / banpei / 2 Comments

I was taking an rural country road to prevent traffic in Hungary on a very busy main road. In one of the small villages I spotted this Honda CRX Mark 1:

Honda CRX Mk1 in Hungary

I think it was at least 2 years ago I saw the previous CRX Mk1, so it is quite a rarity in the Netherlands nowadays. I was quite happy to see such an “old” car and even drove back to take a few snapshots of it:

Honda CRX Mk1 in Hungary

It was parked next to the common Hungarian small village gutter (see also the DOTS Subaru Justy) next to a mildly tuned Beemer E34 5 series.

Honda CRX Mk1 in Hungary

The CRX itself looked a bit more tuned than the Beemer and features a set of deep dish steelies, a Mk2 (?) spoiler, aftermarket bumpers and sideskirts and a bigger exhaust. And even though it was all ziptied together, I must say it looked alright to me! (???)

Category: dots (Page 20 of 21)

DOTS: Mazda 323 mk1

DOTS: Honda Civic Mk4 with bullet holes

DOTS: Rusty 1980 Honda Civic Mk. 2

DOTS: 1989 Mitsubishi Colt GTi 16V

DOTS: Toyota Celica TA28 Liftback

DOTS: Honda CRX Mk1

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