down on the street
Welcome to
Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. We've had a real Mazda shortage around these parts, probably because the early rotaries tended to blow out the apex seals and/or suck gas and thus didn't weather the decades quite as well as their piston-engine competition. There's been
an '81 RX-7 (plus one
non-Wankel '82 Mazda) and that's been it until today. I've decided to go deeper into the 80s to enable more RX-7s to qualify for this series, because they were great cars on the street (and
on the racetrack) and deserve our respect.
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monterey historics
When's the last time you saw one of
these? This damn-near-perfect first-year Mazda Cosmo didn't go out on the track, but it did grab more attention than most of the quadrillion-dollar Ferraris, just sitting there parked.
engine of the day
Here's an example of an engine we couldn't really include in the Workhorse Engine of the Day series, because in spite of its incredible power-to-weight ratio and overall screamin' glory, the rotary engine is just not bulletproof enough to be considered a true
workhorse. All that's changed with the new EOTD series, however, and we can now celebrate the nonreciprocating awesomeness that is the Mazda 13B. In truth, all the Mazda Wankels are variations on the same design; we just selected the 13B as the flavor that was built for the longest period, 1973 through 2002. Cosmos, RX-7s,
7-second Starlets, you name it, the 13B has powered it. Make the jump for our favorite hypnotic GIF animation. [
Mazda,
Wikipedia]
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choose your eternity
Technically, the Peugeot Mi16 beat the Mercedes-Benz 6.9 in
last Friday's Choose Your Eternity poll, but we're talking 327 to 317 votes here. When all is said and done, however, France still needs to take on Britain in a PCH Superpower Challenge... but we're postponing that apocalyptic battle for another day, because tipster
EdNiedermeyer sent in a mighty Wankelized contender from not-often-seen-in-PCH Japan (earning a half-credit towards a
Project Car Hell Tipster T-shirt in the process), and we've found a Rotarian opponent that stacks up pretty well against it. So throw those pistons in the trash and stagger into the sumo ring to face your 800-pound opponent, because it's Rotary Swap Hell Day!
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detroit auto show
Not that it's a surprise to anybody, but the new RX-8 looks a lot like the preview shots we brought you earlier. Shown in a very Subaru shade of blue, the RX-8 is in fact destined for an update. Most of the changes happen in the nose with slightly revised headlights, a new grill treatment, the hood has a bigger rotary shaped indent, and of course the trend of the day - faux side vents. Sadly those side vents can only be attributed to additional horsepower of the psychological kind. Check out the live galleries and there's an exhaustive press release below the fold.
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detroit auto show
We just can't get enough of the 2008 Mazda Furai concept. We brought you
preview pics,
video, and live
floor shots. That's all well and good, but thanks to some overzealous designers, we now have pictures showing off the whole enchilada. Engine bay, interior, detailed close ups... we want it; we want it bad.
detroit auto show
We brought you the first shots of the
2009 Mazda Furai Concept a couple weeks ago, and some
hot video yesterday, now we've got photos from the floor of the 2008
Detroit Auto Show. In person the Furai is poetry even without the motion - long and low and wide, it is a monster in Nagare clothing. All it needs is me in a matching fire suit and helmet.
Jalopnik
