Hi Mazda lovers. The other day I was driving my bus on my route and I saw this pickup pull around a corner and up the street in front of me with a FOR SALE sign in the window. Well me being me and being on the look out for an old Japanese car decided at that second that I had to own it. As soon as my light turned green I tried to catch up with it. I never did, but luckily it was listed on craigslist. Now, a week later, here I am - proud owner of a 1973 Mazda B1600. I've never owned a vintage Mazda before. I did once own a used '90 or '91 626 that went through two transmissions in the couple months that I owned it and I swore up and down that was the last Mazda I would ever own. Well, let's give it another go.

I can't wait to get started on this thing. Trouble is, I'm not sure what direction I want to take it. I could leave it pretty much as is (although I do want to get all the rust out of it and replace the pans in the cab). I could attempt to restore it (but how much $$ do I want to put into this). Or do some sort of odd-ball customization with it. Hopefully by the time the snow falls I will figure out what I want to do. But until then, I am going to replace the brake master cylinder and drive it around town and see what it needs and what it doesn't.

Very excited to be back in a vintage Japanese car. Been missing them since I sold my Landcruiser a few years back.

Congratulations on your purchase!! Post up some pics so we can see it. I am sure you will get some ideas from some members.

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Rockin' the 7 in a street near you.....

Without seeing a pic, I'll say just lower it until its at a comfortable but good looking height, maybe some white walls and your good to go for a few months while you decide what direction to take. Looking forward to pics.

There is a lot you can do to a B1600 and they are really popular here in NZ. Some possible mods are:
If it is still original engine and column change you can sawp it out for the Mazda 2l and 5 speed ditching the column change and making it a floor shifter. This is a popular mod for those people that drive them regualry. Or you can put a Rotary in it. Both these options will give it a bit more Umph.
Then I would lower it a bit and either go for vintage mags, or widen the original wheels, go for some hub caps then white wall them for total awesomeness.

Or drive it as it is!

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lol you could go the way i went with my mazda repu and drop in a V8 people will hate you but you will deffinitly enjoy your toy

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one does not simply find repu parts

Kiwi, I've noticed these little guys are quite popular in NZ. Seems whenever I pull up photos from one of the internet they seem to come from there. Here I've seen far more Ford Couriers than these (occasionally I would see a REPU) but now those days seem gone. I hardly ever even see the Couriers anymore.

It's nice though that this forum exists with all these cars and trucks I remember as a kid. I am trying to post a couple photos of my pickup but I must be doing something wrong. Noob.

One of these days I'll get some pictures posted for y'all.

Contact me through PM and I'll happily post the pictures for you.

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