Hi, I'm Micky from Graz/Austria/Europe.

I own a 83 Mazda 323BD 1.3 with only 47000km,



a 85 929 HB Coupe 2.0i who needs a lot of work,



and a 91 MX-5 NA V-Special 1.6i.

Hmmmm, that 323 looks suspiciouslly like an american market Ford Escort, not that I have seen an escort in that condition for years!

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Brad D.

'83 Sapporo Technica; '84 Starion ES; '87 Conquest TSi;
'91 RX7 convertible; '68 Camaro SS 350 convertible; '71 NSU 1200c

Yes, you are right, but I think it was the Laser, that had been similar to the old Mazda....

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Iiiiih, what a ugly backside!

Wait till you see the front!

All Mazda 323 had been sold as Ford Laser in the USA

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Lovely 323 and 929!

I thought the BD series 323 was sold in the USA as Mazda GLC?

I do admit the 323/Familia range gets confusing - I have a few brochures on Australian Lasers and the early ones have same nose as Japanese-market Familia saloons. I took a bit of interest as I had a facelift BD 323 1.3 3dr, which Mat.T here now owns.

Random Laser pictures found through Google:





From my own scans, facelift Familia:



Early Familia saloon:



Facelift Laser:



Facelift Japanese Familia 5dr, note additional window in the rear pillar which I think Laser also got but European 323 didn't:



Edit: Don't know why that second Laser pic won't work.

These are interesting, and for me unknown pics.

I think I didn´t write right:

Of course the Mazda 323 had been sold as Mazda, too. But Most Mazdas had been sold had been sold as Ford, too. The Mazda 626 had been sold as Ford Telstar since 1982 as I know up to the last 626. The last Mazda 323 had been sold with the Name Ford Tierra, looks like a smal european Ford Mondeo. The komplette 121 series had been sold as Ford Festiva, -even the first smal 121 (DA)

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Pretty sure there's no such car ever sold in the US. I think the only small Mazdas we got here badged as Fords were the Fiesta and Festiva.

Fiesta:


Festiva:

They were sold in Australia as Fords along side the Mazda versions

The 323 and 626 as the Ford Laser and Telstar respectively.

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...................www.nostalgictrio.com...................

The Festiva is indeed a Mazda but the Fiesta was fords own baby.

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The Ford Laser is, in fact, a restyled version of the 323 produced by Mazda in Japan since 1980. (Ford had acquired a 25 percent stake in Mazda in 1979.) The Laser replaced the rear-wheel-drive Escort in Australasia in 1981, proving hugely popular as a hatchback, as well as a sedan (also known as the Meteor, and providing a worthy rival to Japanese models like the Toyota Corolla; the Meteor nameplate died in Australia when the second-generation sedan was launched in 1985, but survived in South Africa until 1995.


The Ford Festiva was a subcompact car sold by the Ford Motor Company in North America, Asia and Australasia, introduced in 1986 in Japan. The car was manufactured by Kia in South Korea, who at the time were part-owned by Ford. It was based on the Mazda DA platform, using Mazda's B Series engines.

The Festiva was sold in North America from the 1988 to the 1993 model years. It was also sold in Europe and some other markets as the Mazda 121 from February 1988 until 1991, when it was replaced by a rebadged Autozam Revue. It was sold as the Kia Pride in some regions after it was discontinued as a Mazda. It replaced the Ford Fiesta in North America.

The 1986 model was available with three Mazda B engines:

1138 cc SOHC, 56 hp (42 kW), 65 ft·lbf (88 N·m)
1324 cc SOHC, 71x83.6 mm, 65 hp (48.5 kW), 77 ft·lbf (105 N·m)
1290 cc DOHC, 88 hp (66 kW), 72 ft·lbf (98 N·m)

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I knew some Mazda's were Fords in some other country's but I never saw any pics of it.. nice to see it now

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www.mazda-madness.nl | www.zoomzoomclub.nl

What is even stranger is that some of these Ford-badged Mazdas were then sold back to the Japanese market! The Autorama dealer chain appears to have sold Festiva (Mazda 121 DA), Laser (BE, BF and BG Familia), Telstar (GC and CD 626/Capella) and Spectron (Bongo) models in the 1980's.

If I'm not mistaken, the 1st gen US market Ford Escort was an abomination of the Blue Oval's own creation and had nothing to do with Mazda. Of course, I could very well be mistaken, since I had absolutely zero interest in the car

The Festiva was a Kia, methinks. While you Brits got the Mazda-built versions, we Puritans got the Korean-made ones.

Rebadging is fun!

To make things clear: The Ford Fiesta was also sold in Europe as Mazda 121 (1996 - 2001. Facelift in 2000)









The Festiva was indeed sold in the US and as a Mazda 121 in Europe for a few
years as a 3-door hatchback till 1991. The Kia Pride was sold (atleast in my
country) from 1995 to 2000 as a 3-door, 5-door and stationwagon







I was the cheapest stationwagon you could buy



Well.. no not true In 1991 Ford had a Escort in the US that didn't looked like the 323 at that time:





And the Protoge(5) was the 323 in Europe and that one also wasn't for sale as a Ford in the US. It was on other markets though: http://www.citywholesalecars.co.nz/the5 ... W102_0.jpg

But ontopic: Great 929! I hope you get the car all way. The 323 isn't really my thing but I think its cool that you have one. You don't see them very often anymore these days

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www.mazda-madness.nl | www.zoomzoomclub.nl

One more car in my Garage: '84 Mazda 929 HB Coupe, 2.0i, RWD.

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1973 Mazda 818 Sedan De Luxe
1985 Mazda 929 2.0i Coupe
1987 Volvo 244 GL Automatic
1991 Mazda MX-5 1.6i V-Special

mazda 121=festiva=KIA pride. Kia Pride,
initially the mazda 121, was the final (?) passenger Kia tracked form mazda.
Yes, ECE (European market) had never the third side window at the 323, buy I think no LHD car had it.

Although appearing completely different from its Mazda counterpart, the white car is indeed a Ford Laser [in aus at least] and shares mechanicals, suspension etc with the equivilant maz.

I beleive body style/interiors were different to sort of seperate the cars from each other.

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[F3ARED] 76 Isuzu Gemini Coupe - forged G180z, EFI, 525hp Turbo, 6years and still building...

Daily 78 Isuzu Gemini Sedan, stock G161z, Rodeo EFI, 500hp roller, 157rwkw. Fun

And if you bought the GT model, it came with a Mazda B6 DOHC engine.