My Luce Rotary Coupe RX87
06-21-08, 04:02 AM
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My Luce Rotary Coupe RX87
I found this car on a local internet auction site. I couldn't believe it! I almost fell off my chair...
She was not what I'd call in a presentable condition but a diamond in the rough none the less. I purchased her direct from the importers. I dont think the importers had much idea what they had. They purchased it from an auction in Japan. It was a weekday afternoon when bidder numbers were minimal so his bid, the first bid was not beaten with reserve met. He imported it and sold it to me with his small margin of course. Hence I purchased this car at a very good price.
All I know about its history is that it was in storage from 1982 untill mid 2007. It still had the original oil,air,fuel filters etc.
Made exclusively for the Japanese market, Only 976 of these were ever made, 542 in 1969, 431 in 1970, and 3 in 1971 making it even rarer than its Cosmo 110 sibling. It was styled by Bertone and related to the rear-drive piston-powered Mazda 1500/1800 sedans. This was the only production front-drive rotary Mazda, and the 13A was designed just for this application to give relatively more low-speed torque. The R130 was capable of 118 mph. The R130 was Mazda's only production front-wheel-drive vehicle fitted with a rotary engine, and sold on the Japanese domestic market. Based on Mazda's RX-87 prototype, the R130 featured the Italian inspired lines in vogue at the time, making it an attractive-looking machine with performance to match.
She was not what I'd call in a presentable condition but a diamond in the rough none the less. I purchased her direct from the importers. I dont think the importers had much idea what they had. They purchased it from an auction in Japan. It was a weekday afternoon when bidder numbers were minimal so his bid, the first bid was not beaten with reserve met. He imported it and sold it to me with his small margin of course. Hence I purchased this car at a very good price.
All I know about its history is that it was in storage from 1982 untill mid 2007. It still had the original oil,air,fuel filters etc.
Made exclusively for the Japanese market, Only 976 of these were ever made, 542 in 1969, 431 in 1970, and 3 in 1971 making it even rarer than its Cosmo 110 sibling. It was styled by Bertone and related to the rear-drive piston-powered Mazda 1500/1800 sedans. This was the only production front-drive rotary Mazda, and the 13A was designed just for this application to give relatively more low-speed torque. The R130 was capable of 118 mph. The R130 was Mazda's only production front-wheel-drive vehicle fitted with a rotary engine, and sold on the Japanese domestic market. Based on Mazda's RX-87 prototype, the R130 featured the Italian inspired lines in vogue at the time, making it an attractive-looking machine with performance to match.
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07-04-08, 03:36 PM
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The 13a is mazda's largest 2 rotor engine. It is also the only mazda rotary engine with a rotor diameter of 120mm compared to 10a/12a/13b's 105mm diameter rotors.
I am currently detailing the engine and transmission so I will post pics when finished.
07-05-08, 05:31 AM
#17
So glad you posted up these pics of your car! When you first mentioned your car in the Post Pics of Your Old School Rotary thread I thought ,"No way. Doubt he has one of those rare gems". Easily the most rare and unique Mazda period. You completely made me a believer!
Toyo-Kogyo, wasn't this car was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro who at the time worked for Italian coach builder Bertone? I know for sure it was done by Bertone design though. Guigario is also rumored to have styled the Capella or RX2 as we know it here. Bertone is right up there with Pininfarina as far as design houses go.
I really hope some of the snobbish European collectors (more like speculators) don't start spoiling our fun!
Toyo-Kogyo, wasn't this car was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro who at the time worked for Italian coach builder Bertone? I know for sure it was done by Bertone design though. Guigario is also rumored to have styled the Capella or RX2 as we know it here. Bertone is right up there with Pininfarina as far as design houses go.
I really hope some of the snobbish European collectors (more like speculators) don't start spoiling our fun!
07-05-08, 05:42 AM
#18
Crazy that Mazda made that rotary engine only to be made for a handful of cars. No wonder the Luce Coupes were so expensive back in the day. Think of of just the tooling alone to build a small amount of these engines.
This 13A engine almost sounds like the predecessor to that new 16X engine Mazda has in the works currently. Amazing how much ahead of it's time this car was.
07-06-08, 08:19 AM
#21
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Toyo-Kogyo, wasn't this car was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro who at the time worked for Italian coach builder Bertone? I know for sure it was done by Bertone design though. Guigario is also rumored to have styled the Capella or RX2 as we know it here. Bertone is right up there with Pininfarina as far as design houses go.
I really hope some of the snobbish European collectors (more like speculators) don't start spoiling our fun!
I really hope some of the snobbish European collectors (more like speculators) don't start spoiling our fun!
Mazda sold around 969 of these if memory serves me from 69-72.
Having driven one I can tell you that the 13A has better torque than the carby 13B from an RX-4 in the low to mid range. Its stroked rotor configuration see's to that.
Take the eccentricity of the 13A, widen the rotors to 70mm (12A) & you have the 16X engine or close to it.............. funny how history repeats itself.
As for the design. Bertone did this back in the 60's & sold the design to BMW, Lancia & Mazda. It was the Luce/1500 series that gave Mazda a true export vehice back in the mid 60's to put them on the map as a serious contentor from Japan.
The Mazda coupe variant was only sold as a 13A powered luxury tourer where the sedan was limited to a 1.5lt 4-cyl & rudementary interior styling for the day.
REgards
07-07-08, 12:23 AM
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Commonly called the RX-87 in Japan for obvious reasons (back when RX meant Rotary eXperimental) & the rare exports where known as the R-130 (back when the concept was an RX & production was an R) . Mazda's only fwd production rotary was a gem & set the scene for low production luxury coupe's.
Mazda sold around 969 of these if memory serves me from 69-72.
Having driven one I can tell you that the 13A has better torque than the carby 13B from an RX-4 in the low to mid range. Its stroked rotor configuration see's to that.
Take the eccentricity of the 13A, widen the rotors to 70mm (12A) & you have the 16X engine or close to it.............. funny how history repeats itself.
As for the design. Bertone did this back in the 60's & sold the design to BMW, Lancia & Mazda. It was the Luce/1500 series that gave Mazda a true export vehice back in the mid 60's to put them on the map as a serious contentor from Japan.
The Mazda coupe variant was only sold as a 13A powered luxury tourer where the sedan was limited to a 1.5lt 4-cyl & rudementary interior styling for the day.
REgards
Mazda sold around 969 of these if memory serves me from 69-72.
Having driven one I can tell you that the 13A has better torque than the carby 13B from an RX-4 in the low to mid range. Its stroked rotor configuration see's to that.
Take the eccentricity of the 13A, widen the rotors to 70mm (12A) & you have the 16X engine or close to it.............. funny how history repeats itself.
As for the design. Bertone did this back in the 60's & sold the design to BMW, Lancia & Mazda. It was the Luce/1500 series that gave Mazda a true export vehice back in the mid 60's to put them on the map as a serious contentor from Japan.
The Mazda coupe variant was only sold as a 13A powered luxury tourer where the sedan was limited to a 1.5lt 4-cyl & rudementary interior styling for the day.
REgards
Giorgetto Giugiaro gets the credit for the design whilst working at Bertone that year. He eventually started italdesign.
Mazda made only 976 Luce rotary coupes, production ceased in 1971 not 72 as a lot of other sites on the net say.
NONE at all were exported however they did have full intentions to export at the time.
Which 13a luce did you drive? the one in Melbourne or the one in Sydney?
Being mazda's largest 2 rotor production engine it is very tractable.
The 13a really is a delight to drive in the low to mid range, you can let the clutch out at idle on a slight hill and it moves away without any throttle and its oh so quiet and smooth too. Its the only rotary that I have ever had to blip the accellerator pedal every now and again to check to see if the engine is still running.
