At a glance, it looks like any other 3-door Familia of the era; even the listing title doesn’t really give away the fact that it’s a front-drive turbo model. I would have skipped right over it, had my caffeine-deprived brain not caught up at the last minute and realized what it actually was.
Steelies? Yawn, boring. Probably a SOHC carb model. Wait, what does that decal say down the side?
Sure enough, one closer look and the details became more obvious:
Unique patterned Recaro interior, and almost virtually stock B6T... what have we here?
turns out it’s one of the supremely rare ‘facelift’ Familia Infinis. Similar to the Savanna RX-7 Infini models of the same era, these were a lightweight version with strengthened chassis, better suspension and a limited edition Recaro interior. With the ’87 facelift Mazda added a viscous LSD gearbox to sharpen up the handling even further, which is now worth moonbeams due to its scarcity. (I spent a lot of time and money sourcing one for my track car a few years back).
Proof of concept... viscous LSD, and you can just see those Recaros
For $2500 it’s almost worth buying just for the ‘box to keep as a spare. The rest of the car, well, I’m sure I could flick it on easily enough. From the way the listing’s been written, the seller obviously doesn’t even realize the significance of what they’ve got… it’s a pity the car’s in the South Island and getting it back to Auckland would cost an arm and a leg on top of the purchase price (oh well, at least it’s drivable, and the drive back would be fun).
But damn, do I really need a seventh car?
Mazda Familia Infini for sale on trademe »
i think you should save it ed
Undersover rally car.
You should buy it!
(and then buy the Mazda 323 BF Mintex brakepads I’ve got laying around!)