Tag Archives: rx-5

VIDEO: An all-rotary episode of Option Video

The Japanese tuning series Option Video has just posted an all-rotary episode. In it, host Daijiro Inada assembles a group of cars that showcase the progression of rotary engine-equipped Mazdas, starting with a Cosmo Sport. Accompanying him in what seems … Continue reading

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RIP Kenichi Yamamoto, Father of the Mazda Rotary Engine, 1922-2017

Kenichi Yamamoto, who famously led Mazda’s “47 Ronin” team that brought the rotary engine into reality, passed away on December 20, 2017. His family made public his passing to the Japanese press on Christmas Day. Yamamoto was 95. A bona fide legend in … Continue reading

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EVENTS: Automobile Council 2017, Part 02 – Mazda, with heritage guns blazing

Now in its second year, Automobile Council gives car companies a chance to flex their heritage a bit. Some seized the opportunity better than others, but none came out with more guns blazing than Mazda. 

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50 YEAR CLUB: Mazda Cosmo Sport and Rotary Engine

Like it or not, the automotive industry is a highly conservative one. Advances are incremental, radical innovations few and far between. Amidst this seemingly depressing state, however, genuinely novel and creative ideas that challenge convention catch our attention and imagination … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2016 New Year Meeting, Part 04 — The Streets

In the last two installments of our 2016 New Year Meeting coverage, we prowled the parking area to find as much diversity in marques and models as there were in customization styles. In our final installment of the 2016 New Year … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2016 New Year Meeting, Part 03 — This is Japan

A life-size Gundam robot towers above the trees. Giant windowless shopping centers operate like small cities. In this snapshot of a hyper-futuristic metropolis floating on a man-made island in Tokyo Bay, tradition comes in the form of a parking lot teeming … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2015 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 05 — Stock as a Rock

This year’s Japanese Classic Car Show seemed to have more diversity in bone-stock rides than ever. We might be reaching a point where fans of J-tin are truly beginning to appreciate unmolested cars. Along with the other time warps peppering our other … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2015 Nostalgic2Days, Part 02

One of the featured marques at this year’s Nostalgic2Days was Isuzu. It’s a brand that usually doesn’t get much love, here or in Japan, so it was a rare opportunity to see some machines from the company’s own collection. 

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EVENTS: SevenStock 17

SevenStock is the annual gathering of the Southern California Rotary Club. The combination car show and track day is one of the largest American assemblages Mazdas both old and new, held at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California with official support … Continue reading

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EVENTS: 2014 Japanese Classic Car Show
Part 07 — Taking Stock

As we near the end of our 2014 Japanese Classic Car Show coverage, we delve into the crux of what it means to have a classic car show.  Here are some of the rarest and best preserved Japanese nostalgic cars you’ll see … Continue reading

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SHOP LIFE: Standards, Part 01

Standards is a little known shop hiding up in Gifu Prefecture. We would have never been aware of had it not been for some internet digging by a friend in a desperate bid to find some rare Mazda Carol 360 … Continue reading

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PROFILES: Touring Osaka in a Seibu Keisatsu Skyline

Driving through Japan in a red-on-black DR30 Skyline festooned with emergency lights is akin to prowling rural Georgia in an orange ’69 Dodge Charger. Or Miami in a white Testarossa. Or Los Angeles in a black ’82 Firebird with a … Continue reading

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EVENTS: SevenStock 16

Mecca for Mazdafarians. That was the scene at SevenStock 16 last weekend, held at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. This year’s gathering for fans of rotary engine was one of the biggest in recent memory, and although everything … Continue reading

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Behold, the Mazda Cosmo AP RX-5

The Mazda RX-5 is easily the most unloved “RX” car ever sold. When Mazda decided to revive the Cosmo name on a 2+2 GT at the height of the mid-70s luxo-barge craze, it dropped the “Sport” altogether and gave it … Continue reading

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Behold the bridge of the USS Mazda Cosmo

This is the interior of a third-generation Mazda Cosmo. The first generation 1967-72 Cosmo Sport had space-age styling on the outside. Then Mazda brought back the Cosmo name in 1975 for the Mazda RX-5, and the only thing spacey about … Continue reading

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Friday Videos: Sayonara, Rotary Engine

This week Mazda announced the death of the RX-8. That means that for the first time since the Cosmo 110S debuted in 1967, there will be no rotary powered car sold anywhere in the world. Currently about 300 unsold RX-8s … Continue reading

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Pre-Digital Camera Kobe Kyuusha Meeting

We here at JNC love photos taken in pre-digital days. Clearly it’s not the photo quality, it’s that these authentic time-warp photos probably lived in some Japanese bloke’s personal photo album until one fateful day when it met with a … Continue reading

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Friday Video: Zokusha Cruise Osaka

As Japan recovers, let’s visit a simpler time. Here’s a nice evening commute through Osaka. Judging from the cars the background, it’s mid-1980s. Fun times. Watch the video below the fold.

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EVENTS: New Year Meeting 2011 Part 08: Sights & Sounds

We’ve shown you a lot of cars from the 2011 New Year Meeting, but the event is much more than that. It’s a celebration of kyuusha kulture, and as you might expect, there’s all sorts of car-related goodies dotting the … Continue reading

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Friday Video: The Man Who Stole the Sun Mazda RX-7 SA22C vs RX-5 Cosmo

We posted about 1979’s The Man Who Stole the Sun three years ago but the video has since been taken down. Besides, that one didn’t include the car chase in its entirety, so here’s a new one that does. In … Continue reading

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