GTP Cool Wall: 1974-1977 Mazda Rotary Engine Pickup

  • Thread starter Jahgee
  • 39 comments
  • 2,997 views

1974-1977 Mazda Rotary Engine Pickup

  • Total voters
    107
  • Poll closed .
Jahgee

Jahgee

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Jahgee1124
1974-1977 Mazda Rotary Engine Pickup nominated by @ilikewaffles11
image-jpg.165873

Body: 2 Door Pickup
Engine: 1.3L 13B (Rotary)
Power: 110 HP
Transmission: 4 Speed Manual
Drivetrain: Front Engine, Rear Wheel Drive
 
It's a pick-up, so uncool. It has a notoriously low-torque, low fuel milage engine in a utility vehicle, so uncool. I'll grant you it's a different concept, but in this case it just seems to be different for different's sake.
 
It's pretty tough for pickups to be cool, but small Japanese ones pull it off.

Nobody will know that this truck has a Wankel until it fails to pull a load of styrofoam up a small hill, so I don't consider the engine relevant to coolness.
 
Plus points for not being a typical pick-up with a rattly diesel, but then a rattly diesel is usually a better engine for pick-ups than a rotary in terms of torque and towing capacity.

It's still a work vehicle and work vehicles are not cool.
 
The absurdity of the concept gains it a cool.

Why is it that many cool cars are cool because they are utterly absurd?
 
Take the rotary out of the equation and you end up with a fairly generic 70s pickup. Which are about as cool as Djibouti is in July.

Bumped up to Uncool because it has at least one characterful attribute. Even if it proves to be a handicap when it comes to load carrying.
 
Normally trucks would be at least a cool.

This one looks bland. Also lacks the size, power, and rampant waste that makes trucks cool.

Uncool it is.
 
As stated in F-150 thread. With blurred purpose a car is automatically uncool. Then the absurdaty of putting a rotary to pull loads is at least naive thinking. So Uncool
 
A pick up to make people who like pick ups say "Underpowered blah blah blah should have a V8 blah blah blah 'Murica blah blah blah" And that makes it cool in my books.
 
Meh. The power output is laughable for any real hauling in a truck.


Roflwaffle
A pick up to make people who like pick ups say "Underpowered blah blah blah should have a V8 blah blah blah 'Murica blah blah blah" And that makes it cool in my books.
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Lets see you tow a bed full of rocks. It's only going to take you an hour to get to 55mph and you'd have to floor it the entire time.
 
It's cool. I think rotary engines are cool, and despite this truck's failure, the fact that Mazda attempted to put one in a pickup makes it cool. Sure, it's not great looking, but neither were other trucks from the mid-seventies.

Cool.
 
Slash
Lets see you tow a bed full of rocks. It's only going to take you an hour to get to 55mph and you'd have to floor it the entire time.
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But I don't fun towing a bed full of rocks as "Cool" by any definition.
 
Roflwaffle
But I don't fun towing a bed full of rocks as "Cool" by any definition.
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No one said towing rocks was cool.

The point is, if you're going to buy a truck, even a small truck, you need at least some kind of balls to pull weight uphill on some back road somewhere, at least in the States.

I'd be scared to load this thing down in fear of getting stranded. Same thing with the old Couriers.

Topping that off, it's rotary powered, which means you probably are going to have to get that engine screaming just to get moving with a load and there's probably hardly any major torque being provided. I'm sorry, but I don't see the usefulness in that.
 
Needs a 20B (just don't forget the brap brap brap) and a 5-speed, and you've got yourself a street terror.

I see potential in these things.
 
This thing is a little monster! 110 hp is a lot better than one would think considering two things: 74-77 is heavy smog years, and, well... it's a mini truck. Awesome!
 
Not sure why all pickup trucks need to be massive grunting V8s when millions of people around the world will need to carry easier loads than a ton of granite for 100 miles uphill. This is more for much smaller loads in most likely built-up metropolitan areas, much like kei/micro vans and the like. It also oozes charm, the rotary makes it remarkable (in the literal sense) and heck I'm just a sucker for that smart but slightly generic 70s Japanese styling. An easy, solid cool.
 
My gut reaction was Sub Zero but I agree with what @Tyger said, it certainly deserves a Cool vote. Coolness doesn't always depend upon aptitude for a task.

I, too, am a sucker for '60s-'70s Japanese automobiles. :lol: This cute little '70s pickup is awesome even with its option of a normal 4-cylinder.
 
Not sure what to think here, it's a Mazda and has a rotary, both of which aren't cool but it's a classic Japanese vehicle. I suppose it's a really low cool almost boarding on uncool.
 

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