Mazda Roadpacer

anyone heard of one of these?

i just remembered reading about it in a mag a few years back. and thought id post a thread for those of you who dont know what it is.

basically in the 70s Mazda and GM had a bit of a relationship going. GM needed help cleaning up its engine emissions and wanted to exchange technical ideas to assist the development of a GM rotary. there was no financial transaction so GM returned the favour by builng a car called the "Roadpacer" (a 13b rotary powered HJ Holden Premier).

it had basically the same power as the 3.3 litre (202ci) but only had one third of the torque... and had to pull the same 1575kg sedan, it was pretty sluggish compared to the 6!!!.

the roadpacer was destined only to be sold in Japan where it was to go up against the V8 powered Nissan president and toyota century. it cost $10,000AUS where as the HJ premier only cost $6300!!!.

The outright performance of the car took a back seat to the smooth and quite engine. with all the pollution gear and big mufflers to choke out all the sound the fuel economy suffered and at best you would get 15L/100km.

its production life was from 75-78 and only 840 units where made which makes it one of the rarest rotary cars to date. most of them have been crushed and only a handfull are left in Australia. THANK GOD!

Mazda Roadpacer :-x :\ :grin2 :ohno :cross :lol :hu

13B rotary :smokin with 4 barrel Niki:-x carb (100kw and 186nm):-x
Jatco:-x 3 speed Auto
speed warning alarm came on at 90km/h:cross
185x14 tyres:lol still couldnt smoke em up!
power steering (one finger could turn it from lock to lock)8o
high quality cloth interior
the boot contained a fridge!:notworthy

i found a pic...

members2.easyspace.com/ho...pacer.html

some of the info on the page is different to mine, but who carse... its still a sh*t box

I've seen pictures of this also. I think they could still sell it as that looks positively space age next to the Century which just looks like arse.

Quote:

as that looks positively space age next to the Century which just looks like arse.

ahahahaha yeah!:lol

man i reckon its a good example of how to ruin a good old Aussie car! ya have to admit although its a holden, it still looked pretty good compared to a lot of the crap out there!

look at those bloody mirrors they put on the poor old girl!

too heavy for a 13B...should have used a 20B...or turboed it...

[wazza]

Mazda did some silly things in the mid-late 70's to try to prove that the rotary was the new way to go and would eventually replace the piston engine. They even threw a 13B into a bus. Can't remember the model designation, but it was similar in size to a Toyota Coaster & had the same tail-lights as R100's & Rx-2's. Imagine that poor sucker going up a hill!