Talk:Mazda R100

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[edit] Picture

It should be noted that the black bonnet/hood was not a standard feature of the car. Also, I´m not sure at all if this really is a R100 (and not a Mazda 1000/1300), as it features square headlights (at least the US-R100s had round units). --328cia (talk) 14:32, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Can't prove it one way or the other thirty years later: and certainly I never looked under the hood / bonnet. But certainly it was badged as a R100! Back then, virtually all cars exported to the US had round headlights even though square (well, mostly as in this case quasi-rectangular) headlights had been increasingly fashionable in Europe since the mid 1960s. So you get Mercedes Benz and Honda (and, and , and) having to remove elegant fancy shaped lights and substitute individual - initially round but subsequently more squarish) ones purely for cars exported to the US market. This was simply a function of the US regulatory environment. I imagine Mazda were driven by the same fashions / regulations as everyone else.

Regards Charles01 (talk) 15:48, 10 April 2008 (UTC) (The photographer...)

Further thoughts: Thinking it through, I cannot be sure that I would have looked at the badge! I might simply have assumed that (as in England) the coupe version (as opposed to the four door sedan version) of this car was ONLY available with the rotary engine - rather as NSU did with the Spyder bodied version of their (otherwise mechanically dull) coupe.

But it did and does sometimes happen that the Belgian and Dutch markets get (got) a wider range of models than the British. So IF a coupe version with a reciprocating motor of the car was offered in Belgium, then I guess this could be that. BUT I've no reason to believe that a reciprocating motor was ever offered in the coupe version in any market. Then again, I wasn't living in Japan nor the US in the 1970s. And I'm not a particular Mazda specialist! Does anyone reading this know more?

As for the black bonnet / hood, I think even in the mid 1970s this car must have been fairly old, so there is every chance that a younger owner had personalized the color scheme a little. Seems to happen quite a bit in Belgium....

I guess I'll google round to see if I can find any evidence of the car having been sold without the rotary engine anywhere like .. Belgium!

Regards Charles01 (talk) 16:42, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Hello Charles! My above remark was made lest anyone might think that the black h/b was a feature of this model...you will remember the matte black hood fad of the early 70s. -- As for the headlight question, you´re probably right that round vs. square is a matter of US vs other markets, although it might be that the units were model specific - I just don´t know, but will do some further research on that. -- I do have a 1973 Mazda 1000/1300 brochure somewhere around (retrieved in Luzern in 1982 at a dealer!) and seem to remember that the Coupé could be had with the piston engines. The 1000/1300 was never sold here in Germany, let alone the R100. Regards and i miei più distinti saluti, Michael --328cia (talk) 15:42, 11 April 2008 (UTC)