Here are the 10 most interesting things about the Mazda RX-3

If someone had sat us down as a kid and told us that adulthood was basically lurching from one astounding price tag to another, reeling in wide-eyed disbelief like a drunk trying to walk through a closed door... well, we might have tried another line of work. Either that or ingratiating ourselves a little more with some rich kids so we could get in on some of that sweet, sweet nepotism.

Unfortunately, the point is moot. More unfortunately, even fairly unassuming Mazda coupes from the 1970s command prices that require some form of severe embezzlement to avoid severe pain in the hip pocket. And chest. And brain. Really, just most places.

How much really depends on where you live, how original the RX-3 in question is and how artfully shot the pictures that go with the listing are, but we’ve seen RX-3s for sale in Australia asking six-figure sums. Convert that into real money and you’re still hurting.

This is one of those facts that’s obvious when you hear it, but not all that intuitive. We’ve seen Japanese carmakers call their creations all sorts of names to suit the market in question – such as Mitsubishi calling their big 4x4 the Pajero in Australia, but – funnily enough – not in Spain. Search us as to why that is.

But Mazda might be the king of location-sensitive naming – remember playing Gran Turismo and wondering what on earth a Mazda Demio was, only to see it’s just a Mazda 121? Well, that’s just one in a litany of nom de plumes that Mazda’s range has taken on in export markets.

In its local market... sorry, in the JDM, the RX-3 was called the Savanna. Unless it didn’t have a rotary engine. Then it was the Grand Familia. Or the 818. Or the 808. Or Mizer. Because... um. Reasons.

Remember NSU? It went bankrupt trying – and repeatedly failing – to get rotary technology to work in the real world, as opposed to the imagination of a Nazi. But it’s not just NSU that couldn’t work it out – other companies, from Mercedes to General Motors, tried and failed to solve the inherent issues of the unique layout.

But then Mazda managed to solve the failing apex seals – at least temporarily, right guys? – and get the spinning dorito to the point where you would actually consider the most revolutionary (sorry) engine to come out since the first one.

And it was the venerable RX-3 that really sold the world on rotaries. And, even with its 10A and 12A engines (i.e. the ones that are immediately junked for 13Bs in every custom build), Mazda sold more than 280,000 RX-3s worldwide – more than every other rotary-powered car Mazda had sold before it.

What Australia used to have is touring car races. Not the V8 SUPAHCAHS YEAH MATE GEDDITINDOYAH, but actual touring cars from all over the world, not just places Australians have heard of. And perched at the tippety-top of Australia’s touring car calendar was Bathurst, and its genuinely fearsome Mount Panorama circuit. Basically, imagine an Antipodean Spa-Francorchamps, with 40ºC days, out-of-nowhere thunderstorms and the distinct possibility of hitting Whoopsy, Skippy the bush kangaroo’s unlucky cousin.

Now add in a melee of thundering race cars, each fitted with the latest in 1970s brakes and drivers with bravery the size of their handlebar moustaches, and you see what sort of spectacle a classic Bathurst 1000 would have been. This was in the days before they put a kink in Conrod Straight, too, which was excellent for top speed but less excellent for life expectancy.

In among this maelstrom of noise, spent hydrocarbons and cigarette sponsorship, the Mazda RX-3 took a class win in 1975, beating absolutely everything except for the four Holden Torana SL/R 5000s – literal race cars with long-range fuel tanks and engines that were basically the Repco units from Formula 5000.

If you’re anything like us (and you’re on a car website, most likely procrastinating, so you’re a lot like us), you probably remember the RX-3 coupe, with its American-friendly coupe styling, as the only RX-3 Mazda ever made.

But no! As the heading likely gave away, there was an estate version that combined the individualistic awesomeness of the rotary engine and the ‘I don’t care how many times you call it a dad wagon’ bravery of the estate body type. Why did we not know about this earlier? Did everyone else? Are there just ridiculously content people, cockles warmed by the knowledge that they have a rotary-powered estate car sitting in their garage? Do you know their address? And do they have a guard dog, do you know?

Ever heard of a little-known sports car called the Nissan Skyline? Yeah, us neither. But apparently it was quite the competitor in Japanese touring car racing, racking up nearly 50 consecutive wins. And the reason that there’s a ‘nearly’ in the last sentence is down to the RX-3. Yup, after the RX-3’s racing debut in 1971, the vaunted Hakosuka’s grip on the podium started to slip.

The 1972 Touring Car Grand Prix at Fuji was probably the best indication that slip was about to turn to a slide down the rankings, when RX-3s (powered by the 12A engine) took first, second and third place. From there on, the RX-3 was the one to beat, with championship titles in 1972, 1973 and 1975.

The 10A that powered the RX-3 in most markets had more than 100bhp, in the Seventies, from a one-litre engine. Just take stock of that number for a second. Just for a little comparison, in the Seventies, a Ford 4.2-litre V8 eked out 120bhp. Is it possible to be embarrassed for people you’ve never met from a time period you weren’t even alive for? Yes, as it turns out.

Racing versions of the RX-3 could easily double the power of the street-going versions, thanks to various modifications and the fact that rebuilding race engines after a few thousand miles is much more OK than rebuilding road car engines after the same distance. Especially if you’re the one handling the warranty claims. Isn’t that right, NSU?

But for true, ‘wait, what?’ levels of power, look no further than Sydney Motorsports Park in Australia. The Antipodeans got in on Japanese cars to a much larger extent than the Poms or Pilgrims, recognising – and realising – the untapped potential in these conservatively constrained engines. Mazda worked beyond hard to make the rotary reliable enough to do 75,000 miles without concern – and offered a warranty that’d guarantee that – which made its rotary engines robust enough to take some serious tuning.

Like we said earlier, most tuned RX-3s aren’t sporting the 10A or 12A they came with. Instead, it’s a much-modified and bewilderingly turbocharged 13B-REW or 20B-REW converting petrol into wide eyes and white knuckles. But they’re still RX-3s. Just ones that have 1100bhp.

Ever had one of those bottles of whisky that’s branded with ‘Founder’s Reserve’ or something like that? The gist is that while the hoi polloi can get by with a dram of the regular fare, the people responsible for the whisky keep the very best for themselves.

Obviously, it’s complete marketing dross, as the Founder’s Reserve is sold to the public at a markup that’d bring as big a tear to your eye as a shot of the cheap stuff. But what if they really did hold the best back for themselves? And what if they were a car company instead?

Such oddly specific hypotheticals are answered by the Savanna GT coupe, which got a five-speed manual instead of the regular four-on-the-floor, the USA export 12A engine with about 125bhp, lowered suspension and a tarted-up interior. Consider it the greatest hits version of the RX-3 and you wouldn’t be too far off.

To some, cars are like a religion. Just like parishioners, these supplicants to speed will congregate on weekends to give praise and thanks to the reason they’re here on earth.

But to some, Mazda isn’t a purveyor of rotary-engined goodness, or SUVs good enough that you’re not embarrassed if your parents own them. To the Zoroastrians, Ahura Mazda is literally the name of their hosanna in excelsis. So, the supreme god of a religion spanning thousands of years, from Darius the Great and Xerxes to Freddie Mercury, and a Japanese car company share the same name. Why, you might wonder? Well, Ahura translates to ‘Lord’ and Mazda translates to ‘wisdom’. Basically, what we’re taking away from this is that buying a rotary-powered Mazda is a wise choice.