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Thread: The car that got away

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    The car that got away

    An episode of Chasing Classic Cars has just featured a Toyota 2000GT that auction sold at $725k, which was a disappointing price for Carini who expected more.
    I am wondering if this could have been the very car I passed on in the early seventies.
    When buying a then brand new Mazda RX2 I was looking over a white 2000GT on the dealer's showroom floor.
    As I was a Mazda employee at the time my pre-selected car was shipped from the regional distribution center to the dealer who did nothing more than handle the delivery paperwork as the distribution center was not a licensed retail dealer. The dealer offered to trade me the new RX2 that had just arrived for the Toyota if I cared to.
    I really enjoyed the Mazda but wish I had chosen(and kept)that homely little roadster.

    Lots of now desirable muscle cars passed through my hands and those of my friends. Big block Darts, LS6 Chevelle, L88 Corvette, Shelby Mustang*. I could build a very nice house with the proceeds of those cars today.


    * If you have the Revell/ Monogram model kit of a '69 GT500 convert it is modeled after the one my friend owned in the mid seventies. He was pinching himself the day he sold it for $10k. Same as I was after selling my '67 GTO for the same price. The LS6 sold for a bit more than $2k in '74 or '75 when it only had about 25k miles.
    Last edited by ross1; 02-17-2018 at 09:58 AM.

    If you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the braking zone of the next, you have enough horsepower. - Mark Donohue

  2. #2
    moroza's Avatar
    moroza is offline MORΩN ΛABIA BMW CCA Member
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    I was under the impression that even back in its day the 2000GT was a halo car, in a different league than an RX2? One of the prettier things on four wheels IMO:



    And you passed it up for this?
    Last edited by moroza; 02-18-2018 at 04:21 PM.

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    Yeah, well, I didn't find it very appealing, still don't really.
    The Mazda you posted looks like a home market Capella, US RX2s had four round headlights. The RX2's style has aged well, IMHO, and I would buy another but there are few good, unmodified survivors out there.
    All is well that ends well, that Toyota was very lucky not to have fallen into my abusive hands back then, it certainly wouldn't have survived the beatings that little RX2 did.

    If you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the braking zone of the next, you have enough horsepower. - Mark Donohue

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    My wife had an RX-2 in the late '70s when she lived near the Twin Cities. She still speaks lovingly of that car, even though it was apparently burning oil pretty badly when she got rid of it.

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    Quote Originally Posted by mrgraybeard View Post
    My wife had an RX-2 in the late '70s when she lived near the Twin Cities. She still speaks lovingly of that car, even though it was apparently burning oil pretty badly when she got rid of it.
    They were supposed to consume a bit of oil and some driver's weren't properly educated about this. Sealing the rotaries was a troublesome affair, engines run low on oil made this situation worse.
    Mine, which routinely had the living daylights beaten out of it didn't use an abnormal amount but many others did. I think Quixotic Mazda finally got the sealing right but fuel consumption and emissions were still a problem. I wonder if they'll ever try rotaries again.
    Still a few believers out there like this local guy; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3pCLjHZmhM
    Last edited by ross1; 03-12-2018 at 08:55 AM.

    If you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the braking zone of the next, you have enough horsepower. - Mark Donohue

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    At this point I can't imagine we'd ever really see any sort of fundamental ICE do-over. At least I hope people aren't still trying to invent new ways to make smoke ha. We're f'd enough.

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