1998 Mazda Bongo Dump Bed on 2040-cars

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Junkyard Gem: 1988 Mazda 323 GTX

Back in early 2007, when the late Davey G. Johnson got me my first job writing for an automotive publication (well, unless you count writing for the Year One catalogs back in the mid-1990s) and I took on this goofy pen name for real, I didn't quite grasp that any readers might be interested in the stuff I saw during my frequent junkyard trips. So, when I took my crappy Nikon Coolpix 2500 to the now-defunct Pick Your Part in Hayward, California, and saw a super-rare Mazda 323 GTX among all the Tercels and Rabbits in the IMPORTS section, I just took a few shots of this interesting car for my own enjoyment. These days, I'll take more than 100 photographs of a junkyard car of such great historical significance, editing them down to the best couple of dozen, but in March of 2007 I got just three of the 323 GTX. Robert Capa had his Magnificent Eleven at D-Day, and I've got the Magnificent Three of the GTX. Here they are. Any Mazda 323 of the immediate post-GLC era is a real junkyard rarity today, but Mazda sold very few of the all-wheel-drive, turbocharged homologation-special 323s over here during the 1988 and 1989 model years. A mere 1,243 of these cars made it to North American streets. Back in 2007, they weren't worth much (in fact, they still aren't incredibly valuable, if we go by Bring a Trailer real-world sale prices), and so this one showed up in El Pulpo's yard. These cars wouldn't be considered particularly fast by 21st-century standards, now that we've had decades of street-legal Mitsubishi Lancer Evos and Subaru WRXs flinging snow and mud around, and they tended to grind their powertrain components into a costly oil-and-metal-shaving slurry. But they were maniacally cool in the late 1980s, and that's enough. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. "Even with the sun and heavy rain, I made it here faster with my car!"

Mazda Recalling Cars Due To Spider Webs In Engines

It seems that Yellow Sac spiders really, really love Mazda. Three years after Mazda recalled 52,000 Mazda6 sedans over spider webs obstructing the evaporative canister vent lines of 2009 and 2010 Mazda6 models, another recall has been issued for 42,000 more of the models built between 2010 and 2012 and equipped with the 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine. According to the automaker, there have been nine confirmed sightings of spiders in vent lines since the original recall. It seems that covers were applied at the factory to keep the arachnids from entering, but it hasn't quite exterminated the problem. A reflash of the ECU is required that "[changes] the logic behind how the car purges the charcoal canister during normal operation," says Jeremy Barnes, Director, Public Relations & Brand Experience at Mazda North American Operations. So far, Mazda has not recorded any fires, accidents or injuries due to this tangled mess of webs. Recall notices will be mailed out to owners later this month. This story original appeared on Autoblog. Related Gallery Utter Driving Delight: The 2014 Mazda MX-5 Miata Recalls Mazda Mazda6

Electric Miata smokes Tesla Model S at the track

Yes, folks, you read that headline right. A souped up battery-electric version of a Mazda Miata took down a Tesla Model S on a quarter-mile drag strip. And it wasn't even close. Road Test TV was kind enough to post a video of a forest-green Miata (and its very stoked driver) doing a quarter-mile run in a rather brisk 9.27 seconds, beating the Model S sedan by a whopping 3.5 seconds in the process. And the Mazda crossed the finish line moving at 142 miles per hour, or 40 miles per hour faster than the Tesla was going when it finished the race. It's a good thing for the Tesla owner that they weren't racing for pink slips. Granted, the comparison is probably an unfair one because the Tesla was a stock, production vehicle (the P85 Performance model, but still), whereas who knows how the Miata was juiced up and how much cash it took to do the job. It's sort of like putting, say, an automotive writer against Usain Bolt because we ate the same breakfast and share 99 percent of our DNA. Still, the video does lend a certain credence to the idea that a battery-electric, super-light, rear-wheel-drive Miata would be a lot of fun, or at least a heck of lot more fun than any other Mazda out there. We're just sayin'. Check out the 100-second video below, and remember not to blink. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.