Susan Lucci is famous for being perennially nominated for a daytime emmy but not winning until 1999. Similarly, today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe Mazda Luce Royal Classic never won the award for stateside sales, until this one showed up on the Craigslist. Let's see if you find its price to be award-worthy.
With its big boat presence and desirable 6-speed conversion, yesterday's '95 Chevy Impala had 67% of you giving its eighty-eight hundred asking a Nice Price win. That's one for the week and one for the Bow Tie boys. Today we're going with another stick shift sedan, but this time one that goes hmmmmmm.
This 1986 Mazda Luce Royal Classic represents from the marque's largest car line, which we received as the RX-4 in the seventies, and the 929 in the eighties and nineties. As the 929 the car only came with a V6 here, but this Luce comes with that most iconic of Mazda mills, the 13B rotary. And, this one's turbocharged for good measure.
So, is this just a 929 with a wankel? Nope, this is a Luce (lu-che) Royal Classic, and is claimed to be one of only 500 built. Also, unlike the 929 that we were shipped - which looked like an enlarged 323 - the Royal Classic is a hardtop sedan with frameless glass and a barely there B pillar.
The ad says that the car was originally purchased in Japan and claims it to be the only one in the States today. It also ticks off a list of eighties crazy features like a fridge in back for keeping your shrimp-flavored sodas cold, a digital speedo, and electronically adjustable suspension.
Visually, the car seems to be in nice shape with a decent sheen to its paint and all its plastic rockers still rocking. It also looks like something in which a junior-level Yakuza might roll.
As mentioned, the engine is a 13B and there's a 5-speed stick backing that up. Shifting that may require a little getting used to as this is a JDM car and almost all of those require the front-seat passenger to do the actual driving duties while the left seat simply goes along for the ride.
Other interesting aspects of the interior include a really red racing seat for that operator, bonus gauges atop the dash, a MazdaSpeed tiller, and upholstery that seems patterned after vacuumed hotel carpet.
Under the hood there appears to be some aftermarket additions and replacements; things such as the radiator and some of the turbo plumbing. The ad doesn't note the details, however an earlier one did explain the additions of a Trust turbo kit, Trust exhaust, MazdaSpeed twin plate clutch and some other goodies.
The car rocks 53,000 km and while it lacks the visual impact of say, a classic Skyline or Rinko Kikuchi, it's still a pretty dang interesting Japanese import. The question of course is whether or not it's $26,500 interesting.
That's a lot of sake and bukkake and you now need to vote on whether you think this rare JDM Mazda is worth that kind of scratch. What's your take, is this Luce worth that much lucre?
You decide!
New York Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to dieselwagonfornow for the hookup!
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