1971 Mazda 1500 DeLuxe panel van ..bought another estate too

kjetilB · **Posted:** Wed Sep 15, 2010 10:46 am

I hired a garage in a old factory 10 minutes away from home, so now I don't have any excuse for not starting the restoration anymore :roll:

Loaded up, and ready to go:

this is probably going to be my second home for some time now :roll:

kjetilB · **Posted:** Wed Sep 22, 2010 3:22 pm

started with taking out the whole interior, and found out that previous owner had taken good care of his car through all years to prevent rust. The whole floor was "wet" of some sort of oil underneath the vinyl.
Then I took off left front guard, and discovered less rust than I feared.
So I hope that this continues through the whole disassembly process!

B1500boy · **Posted:** Wed Sep 22, 2010 4:21 pm

Those exhaust extractors you have there were fitted to the 1500SS sedan. They were used along with the twin carby set up to give the SS an 8hp gain over the standard 1500 vehicles.

kjetilB · **Posted:** Wed Sep 22, 2010 5:00 pm

B1500boy wrote:

Those exhaust extractors you have there were fitted to the 1500SS sedan. They were used along with the twin carby set up to give the SS an 8hp gain over the standard 1500 vehicles.

Thanks! that make sence!
The old man that I bought the parts from, told me that some standard models came with these extractors, but I thought that sounded strange.
He also told that some customers that complained that their cars with ordinary manifold was "lazy", bought and mounted these extractors and got positive effect form it. Do You know if it's true? is it worth the effort for me to put the extractors on my car? My exhaust is long gone anyway, so I have to build a new one!

B1500boy · **Posted:** Wed Sep 22, 2010 5:51 pm

You could certainly buy them from Mazda for the standard 1500. I've heard from a number of original owners over here that had bought the 1500ss were annoyed that you could buy a standard 1500 and then add the "SS" package! The last 1500 sedan I bought had them fitted. The original owner even had the invoice from the work. The car dealers were up selling accessories even back then!

A few variants of the later 1800 also got factory fitted extractors here.

Certainly with our models over here, it's a very easy job to swap the extractors on. There is a chrome manifold cover that fits onto those three studs. It might be even easier for you as it's a LH drive vehicle.

I love those odd panel van windows! the 1500/1800 range seem to have different model variants for every country in the world! The wagons weren't as popular here, mainly due to being a little underpowered. Unfortunately, we missed out on the 1800 wagon, but I've seen a few imports floating around.

kjetilB · **Posted:** Thu Sep 23, 2010 12:52 am

B1500boy wrote:

I love those odd panel van windows! the 1500/1800 range seem to have different model variants for every country in the world! The wagons weren't as popular here, mainly due to being a little underpowered. Unfortunately, we missed out on the 1800 wagon, but I've seen a few imports floating around.

The windows in my car has been locally fitted. They have just cut hole in the steel panels, and mounted laminated glass. The windows aren't even similar on both sides.

But the man that I bought the parts from, told me that when he worked with these vans, they bought and mounted original estate windows and rear door frames when they converted cars from van to estate.

kjetilB · **Posted:** Fri Nov 19, 2010 10:30 am

Today, after asking for info and pictures of 1500 panel van in a Norweigan Nostalgic car Magazine, I got a mail with 11 pictures from a guy 600 km from here. This car has not many parts left to save, but I will take the 600 km trip, and take the rear panels, rear doors, and the part of the cargo area floor where the back seat usually are
So here is the Norweigan 1500 panel van with the steel panels in place!

B1500boy · **Posted:** Sat Nov 20, 2010 2:53 am

That is really cool. It does look a little odd on the back door seeing you can still open it!

Looks like its worth the trip to grab yourself a few more spares. That's so unique I'd bring the whole car home!

kjetilB · **Posted:** Sat Nov 20, 2010 7:50 am

Yes, I considered the whole car, but when I have taken what I need for my own car, this wreck would appear as the shell of a ordinary worn out, rotten estate, and since it's almost 600 km and 8 hrs. of driving on pretty narrow roads, I prefer that trip without a trailer and extra weight.

Eeyore · **Posted:** Sun Nov 21, 2010 2:36 am

What an incredible story! It's very interesting to hear that these vehicles were a factory derived creation. Imagine how nice they would have looked minus the rear doors entirely.

Eeyore · **Posted:** Sun Nov 21, 2010 2:56 am

Oh and before I forget... was this done with Mazda 1300 wagons as well?

kjetilB · **Posted:** Sun Nov 21, 2010 7:13 am

Eeyore wrote:

Oh and before I forget... was this done with Mazda 1300 wagons as well?

I don't really know, but I'm feeling a weak memory of seeing a 1300 panel van for sale on the net in Norway a long time a go! But I'm not sure.
It could have been another brand too, but I know that also smaller cars than 1500 was delivered as panel vans up here.

Eeyore · **Posted:** Mon Nov 22, 2010 2:12 am

Well if you can ever find any information on the 1300's I'd be interested to know! Best of luck with your project.

kjetilB · **Posted:** Mon Nov 22, 2010 2:23 am

Eeyore wrote:

Well if you can ever find any information on the 1300's I'd be interested to know! Best of luck with your project.

Thanks!

I will keep the 1300 in mind!

kjetilB · **Posted:** Wed Nov 24, 2010 8:40 am

After asking for pictures in the magazine, I've recieved more pictures of 1500 panel van, and I will try to find the owner of this car, since it seems to be in a rather good condition compared to the red one I posted earlier, but this one is also about 600 km away ..

kjetilB · **Posted:** Sat Jan 29, 2011 3:53 pm

Eeyore wrote:

Oh and before I forget... was this done with Mazda 1300 wagons as well?

Here is Your little panel van Eeyore!

lillablå · **Posted:** Mon Jul 18, 2011 4:02 pm

Hi guys The blue 1300 "panel van" is my car. I have owned it the last 6-7 years or so.
About those side panels, they where only aluminum plates screwed on. Luckily the original windows and trim was in the trunk
So i have to disapoint u to tell its not original

green200b · **Posted:** Thu Oct 20, 2011 12:07 pm

Any updates on this? It looks like an interesting and unique project.

Stationwagonguy · **Posted:** Tue Oct 25, 2011 7:33 pm

Very nice score on all the parts! Did you get any front turn signals by chance?

I've got a US-spec 1800 wagon myself. Debating fixing or just selling it to someone better equipped to save it than myself, but I'm on the lookout for a few parts.

Sven7 · **Posted:** Sat Nov 12, 2011 11:47 pm

Hah! I was just going to post a picture of yours.

Those panel wagons are very cool and it looks like you're getting lots of parts for cheap! That's a luxury we Americans do not have.

1971 Mazda 1500 DeLuxe panel van ..bought another estate too

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