Mazda GLC

My first car was a 1980 Mazda GLC. The thing had its quirks, a reconstructed title as it was put together by a friend of my fathers from two donor GLCs. One was black (which had faded to gray) and the other must've been orange.

I haven't seen one of these in ages. If I saw one I think I would buy it just for old times sake. Anyone have one? I figure they have all been turned into piles of rust, squashed for scrap metal, or who knows what else, but they are not driving around anywhere I go.

I only want a 2 door hatch. Sounds like a fun car to do a miata drivetrain swap into.

Mine looked like this, except the decal was gone, but it was this color and was a sport model.

The only ones I've ever seen in person have been drag cars.

Yeah, they get bought up and turned into ersatz 2nd-generation RX-3s.

IIRC these cars were called 323s in other markets, and rotary conversion (RX-3 bits apparently bolt in) is done, people call them RX323s.

From what I understand they are/were Great Little Cars.

I only see two of them regularly. One is an absolute beater here in Dallas. Looks like the guy commutes to his construction job in it, gets a new whiskey dent every month and I don't think it's been washed in 20 years. The other one is in Austin. It's lowered and has SCCA roadracing and Pro Rally stickers in the windows. The rear seats and hatch area are stripped and it has a rollbar and racing seats in it. Aside from the one time I caught the car parked at the BMW motorcycle dealer, every time I see it he's tearing around like he's on the clock.

Paging Hobiercr!!!!!

My mom had one of the rwd versions (I can't tell if the one pictured is rwd or fwd). I've looked for one now and again, and, yup, they are all gone.

There is a blue one here but I've never seen it move. Other than that I haven't seen another for close to a decade.

You rang?

Yeah, these are getting very hard to find. There were two recently in FL on CL. The Orlando one had no drivetrain but looked fairly solid and had all the glass, etc. There was another one in Miami which was post front end donor for a wagon restoration. No front suspension, fenders or hood. Down here they have become the go to cheap option to drop a worked rotary in to go drag racing. The RX3 front cross member bolts right in allowing the fitment of a 12A or 13B. Rx3 front struts bolt right in (either cross member) and allow for more spring/strut options. If you want a beefier rear end with more gearing options an RX2 axle will bolt right in and take pumpkins from the RX3 and some aussie pickups as long as they have the right axle shaft.

I currently have two GLC's but one is a race car and other the remains of the one I flipped at Sebring. My thoughts now are to find a clean/straight donor and build a vintage racer.

A miata engine swap would probably be fairly easy with the only issue being the modification of the stock fuel tank to support fuel injection. If you wanted to stock with a carb you can tweak the stock 1300 with dual side draft webers and the hemi head will flow very well. Later models had a 1400cc block or you could do a 2 or 2.2 liter out of a b2000/b2200.

If you end up finding one and need parts, let me know. I have just a few parts laying around.

I'm guessing they sold at least as many of these as Toyota sold Starlets, but for some reason Starlets are just a tiny bit easier to find. I think I saw one years ago in Memphis (if you want one, look in middle America states) and maybe a wagon or two, also.

I haven't seen a FWD GLC in a long time either (car pictured is RWD).

I bought a 1980 Mazda 626 new. I remember the GLCs were fairly common at the time, but just like the 626 they're all gone now...Mazda hadn't yet perfected rustproofing.

I saw those two Florida cars. I did a search tempest search and they showed up. The Miami one looks to be mostly made of filler.

There were only a few other ads nationwide for RWD ones, but those just lead to expired ads. I believe 1980 was the last year for them and they went FWD in 1981.

I just want to sing my version of Joe Walsh's classic song. You know the one where he says, "My Mazdarati does 85, I lost my license and now I don't drive." That pretty muched summed up my high school experience, although to be fair I didn't lose my licence officially, just wasn't allowed to drive for a year by the parents, and that wasn't anything to do with the Mazdarati - that all happened when I had a V8 Camaro with 5 speed and no AC and even radio delete.

I spent a lot of time on old country gravel roads practicing for my rally career....the car would've been way better if only the master cylinder wasn't so shot. I mostly had braking out of one front wheel and that was after several pedal pumps.

I was offered a free one last fall and turned it down. I just didn't have the room. I'll check with the guy to see if it still is around.

The first new car I ever bought, right after I graduated from college and got a good paying job, was an '81 GLC. Totally different from your '80, being Mazda's first front wheel drive car. It really was a great little car; quiet, refined, good handling, and... sloooooooow. With 68 hp, 0-60 was over 12 seconds. A few years later, I sold that for an '85 GLH Turbo and doubled the horsepower.

craigs list

Bringing up one of my old threads from the dead. Sadly, this ad, with so little info and no price makes me want to look into it more.

There was one in Knoxville on cl a few months ago. Under a grand, I sent an email and got no reply.

T.J. wrote: craigs list Bringing up one of my old threads from the dead. Sadly, this ad, with so little info and no price makes me want to look into it more.

That gets me excited. I really need to find a good clean shell platform to build my vintage racer on. Let me know what you find out on this one.

jstein77 wrote: The first new car I ever bought, right after I graduated from college and got a good paying job, was an '81 GLC. Totally different from your '80, being Mazda's first front wheel drive car. It really was a great little car; quiet, refined, good handling, and... sloooooooow. With 68 hp, 0-60 was over 12 seconds. A few years later, I sold that for an '85 GLH Turbo and doubled the horsepower.

I had an 82 when I was in college. I have fond memories of it. They were among the best handling FWD econoboxes of the era.

Back when I was a teenager, I was sorely tempted by a '79 GLC wagon, in beige. Sadly, lack of funds (and the near-donation of a 1983 Civic S to complement my DD '80 CVCC) killed that.

jstein77 wrote: The first new car I ever bought, right after I graduated from college and got a good paying job, was an '81 GLC. Totally different from your '80, being Mazda's first front wheel drive car. It really was a great little car; quiet, refined, good handling, and... sloooooooow. With 68 hp, 0-60 was over 12 seconds. A few years later, I sold that for an '85 GLH Turbo and doubled the horsepower.

My first brand new car was one just like this. Same colour and Sport trim level, and I even had some gold, 5 spoke, Cheviot wheels on it.

....now ,just photoshop some 18s and a 4" fart can exhaust on that mother and it would be right up to date ! Notice I didn't mention "stance".

Pre-catastrophie picture of my '78 at Sebring.

In reply to hobiercr:

OOOOOh ! Nice.

and then...

and THEN....