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Introduction
I want to start this off by saying that I am actually a pretty new fan of the Mazda Cosmo. I saw a picture of it the other day while scrolling through Instagram and was instantly hooked. I went right to my computer and read all about it, looked for ones on sale, read about the history, you get the just of it. Overall, I though that the Mazda Cosmo is a pretty cool little car and since it is pretty vintage, I thought I would tell you guys about it. First I will do a little bit of a history on Mazda and then we will talk about the car, the cool stuff about the car, and the weird stuff about the car. So, without further ado, let’s get started with the article!
The Company
Everyone probably already knows of the Mazda car company as they are a fairly popular car brand. They sell hundreds of thousands of cars yearly and sell their cars all around the world. However, it is less known that they actually started in 1920 as a cork manufacturing company. In the 1920s, they had some financial problems and, after be saved by a bank and some of the local investors and business men, they decided to start manufacturing machine tools. This however did not work out as well as they had thought either and so finally they switched into making motor vehicles.
In 1931, they released their first motor vehicle, the Mazda-Go Auto-Rickshaw. This was an open three wheels carriage that could carry both people and supplies. They, of course, manufactured weapons and vehicles for the Japanese military during the second World War but then quickly switched back to making motor vehicles for the public after the end of the war. They continued making motor vehicles with a focus on the rotary engine that they were able to develop. This rotary engine was able to help them differentiate themselves from the other car-makers and with this, they designed and manufactured the Mazda Cosmo.
The Car
The first Mazda Cosmo was originally released in 1967 and produced all the way until 1995. However, the model that I will be talking about in this article is the first version of the Cosmo. The first version was, of course, the model that was released in 1967. It was the top of the line sports car for Mazda. A two-seater, two-door coupe that was front-engined and was the first car to feature a rotary engine, but we will talk more about that later. The first version of the car, dubbed the 110s for international markets, was only produced until 1972. Only a little more than 1,100 of these beauties were ever made, which means that this car is extremely rare.
This was the car that, in all honesty, really put Mazda on the map for many people around the world. The car looked great and was built well, which meant that it already had a lot going for it. Mazda also took the car racing at multiple circuits and in multiple races, which just added to the allure. Mix in a bit of rarity along with the new rotary engine that could not be found in any other car and boom! You now have a halo car perfect for putting a small Japanese company on the map. They made more models after the 1972 but in my personal opinion, they are not as cool. Though I may at some point do an article on those, for now though, let’s talk about the coolest parts of the 1967 Mazda Cosmo.
The Cool
Let’s start with the looks. The car was a direct competitor to the Toyota 2000GT, however, the styling was completely different. While Toyota went for the long coupe style with the cockpit at the back, Mazda did something very different, especially for sports cars of the time. Mazda based their looks off of a mid-positioned cockpit with a longer sweeping rear end. This design makes it extremely cool looking! But wait, there’s more! Let’s talk a little bit more in detail about the great design of this car now.
Starting at the front, we are welcomed with a good bit of that good old ’60s chrome! The front bumper is chrome along with the outlines for the head lights. The headlights are big and create the outline for the first body flare that swoops over the front tire. Below this, Mazda put a nice little design features in the form of a design line that flows nicely off the front wheels and right over the side vent. I will say as well, these side vents are placed perfectly! The rest of the body flows back to a rear slope that ends the car. The read wheel arches have that nice cut over the tires that adds a certain sleekness to the car as well. Finally, the rear of the car also has a great design. It has large rear lights that are cut in half by a sweeping chrome bumper to create a certain space-age design aspect.
The interior of the car is also worth noting in this section because it it one of the first cars to actually feature a driver focused, cockpit like interior. All the dials and buttons are organized in a panel that is pointed toward the driver so that when you are driving, it feels as though you are in the cockpit of an airplane. In my opinion, this can make the driving experience 10 times better because it makes it feel different from other cars. I think that this is really neat because this car was made in 1967 and we are still doing this in cars today!
The Cosmo’s engine is actually one of the most important parts of the car and also the coolest. In 1967, Mazda released this car with their perfected 2-rotor engine. This was one of the first production cars ever to feature the Rotary Wankel Engine design. The difference between a rotary engine and a normal engine is that a rotary engine does not use pistons but instead uses rotors to create power. These engines are usually lighter and more powerful than their piston competitors which has made them rather famous, even till this day. The rotor cars that Mazda makes today still sell very well. This specific model had a 2-rotor engine that created 110hp and was mated to a 4-speed manual. If you are like me, then you know that that sounds amazing to drive!
The Bad
So, I want to start this off by saying that I don’t really have too many problems with this car. However, there are still a few. The first trouble is that, while the engine is very cool, finding parts for a one of a kind engine in a rare car is expensive and sometimes impossible. If you want some of the parts that were used in this car today, then you may need to have those parts made! This is because when the rotary engine was released in the Cosmo, it was the only car with a rotary engine. On top of this, I also will say that I don’t like how they did not make a convertible version. I know it is a silly complaint but this is a car that would look so good as a convertible!
Finally, the only other complaint I have is that the price of the car is a bit high. Sine only a little over 1,100 original models were made, they are quite rare. This means that finding one for under $100,000 is going to be a big challenge, especially in the United States. However, that being said, the car is definitely worth the crazy price that you will have to pay for it. I don’t really have any other bad things to say about this car so now we talk about the listing that I have for you and the price that you will have to pay for that specific one.
Outro
I hope you guys enjoyed this article and learned a little more about the Mazda Cosmo. If you would like to look into the car, a simple search will bring you even more information. As for the listing, the only model I could find that is currently on the market is going for a small sum of $130,000. It is selling on the Classic Cars listing site and can be found here: 1970 Mazda Cosmo Sport 110s. If you liked this article, please help the blog out by following, subscribing, or sharing this article with your friends! Have a great day!
