The Cosmos Story (RX5)
08-22-10, 10:33 AM
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The Cosmos Story (RX5)
Hi All,
My name is Mark and i started out with fast cars by buying a brand new 1976 Porsche 914 2.0 and built it further for street racing. My dad was always competitive and he read about the Wankel engine and got himself brand new a white 1976 Mazda (RX5) Cosmo shortly after i got my Porsche Well, one time we raced and i beat him, but not by much (and it wasn't his Mazda's fault).
From then on i was hooked. After dad died i inherited the car and then purchased 2 other 1976 Cosmos. i wasn't a mechanic but i was determined to learn and so i "apprecenticed" myself to a Master Mazda mechanic for a full Summer and learned to do *everything* except rebuild the transmissions. We rebuilt three 13B engines for my 3 Cosmos.
In 1992, i stored 2 of them, sold one to my best friend and headed to Hawaii to tackle the waves on the North Shore as an older guy. A vacation turned into 8 years and i even became a professional surf reporter and radio DJ. Unfortunately, i got rear-ended by a Honolulu city bus at a red light and my surf career ended with a herniated neck disc so i came back to California in 2000.
i intended to restore both cars - the blue one was set up for race and the silver one is completely stock as they have been under a tarp for 8 years but then i got into a second right light accident - this time rear-ended by a truck and now my mechanic 'career' was put on hold. Well, just as the first accident, it took a lot of therapy and acupuncture but i returned to work. It didn't end there. i started to work on my Cosmos in 2007 when a *third* accident occurred (at the same red light! - I-10 and Jefferson, Palm Desert) as in 2000 (!!)
i think my mechanic career is over and i started a tech site so that i now work from home. i am probably going to sell both of my 1976 Mazda (RX5) Cosmos as they would make great project cars for someone who would appreciate and restore them.
They are both complete and have about 30,000 miles on rebuilt engines before they were just stored at my home in the SoCal high desert. They are starting to detoriate further (although there is almost zero rust in the desert, the sun is intense) and it makes me unhappy that i cannot afford to restore them.
What do you guys think? Is it time for me to let them go. i have great memories but i have become decidedly conservative in my driving habits over the past 10 or years.
My name is Mark and i started out with fast cars by buying a brand new 1976 Porsche 914 2.0 and built it further for street racing. My dad was always competitive and he read about the Wankel engine and got himself brand new a white 1976 Mazda (RX5) Cosmo shortly after i got my Porsche Well, one time we raced and i beat him, but not by much (and it wasn't his Mazda's fault).
From then on i was hooked. After dad died i inherited the car and then purchased 2 other 1976 Cosmos. i wasn't a mechanic but i was determined to learn and so i "apprecenticed" myself to a Master Mazda mechanic for a full Summer and learned to do *everything* except rebuild the transmissions. We rebuilt three 13B engines for my 3 Cosmos.
In 1992, i stored 2 of them, sold one to my best friend and headed to Hawaii to tackle the waves on the North Shore as an older guy. A vacation turned into 8 years and i even became a professional surf reporter and radio DJ. Unfortunately, i got rear-ended by a Honolulu city bus at a red light and my surf career ended with a herniated neck disc so i came back to California in 2000.
i intended to restore both cars - the blue one was set up for race and the silver one is completely stock as they have been under a tarp for 8 years but then i got into a second right light accident - this time rear-ended by a truck and now my mechanic 'career' was put on hold. Well, just as the first accident, it took a lot of therapy and acupuncture but i returned to work. It didn't end there. i started to work on my Cosmos in 2007 when a *third* accident occurred (at the same red light! - I-10 and Jefferson, Palm Desert) as in 2000 (!!)
i think my mechanic career is over and i started a tech site so that i now work from home. i am probably going to sell both of my 1976 Mazda (RX5) Cosmos as they would make great project cars for someone who would appreciate and restore them.
They are both complete and have about 30,000 miles on rebuilt engines before they were just stored at my home in the SoCal high desert. They are starting to detoriate further (although there is almost zero rust in the desert, the sun is intense) and it makes me unhappy that i cannot afford to restore them.
What do you guys think? Is it time for me to let them go. i have great memories but i have become decidedly conservative in my driving habits over the past 10 or years.
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