GTPNewsWire
Contributing Writer
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This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:
This article was published by Andrew Evans (@Famine) on September 24th, 2020 in the Car Culture category.
Mazda's Frey Museum is a Celebration of the World's Weirdest Car Brand
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Joey D
Premium
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- GTP_Joey
- GTP Joey
How would a rotary engine tow truck work? Unless I'm mistaken, doesn't the REPU use a 13B which has like zero low-end torque? I've never been in a REPU so I don't know, but that just seems like a weird combination.
Also, someone please call about Pickles, I really need to know the story.
Also, someone please call about Pickles, I really need to know the story.
- 9,700
- Marin County
According to JNC, the 13b-powered bus had a 5.37:1 first gear and an incredible 6.67:1 final drive ratio. That's a 35:1 total reduction (a brief google search tells me that 10-15:1 is fairly typical of a first gear combined ratio in most cars). So while the 13b has very little low-end torque, it does have "decent" power and some RPM to work with.
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- GTP_TheCracker
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- South Auckland, New Zealand
- Nismonath5
How can they call it a museum when they're missing the most iconic of all the Mazdas? 
- 78,112
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- GTP_Famine
I still do. Three, in factAn mx3! I used to have one!
There are roughly 140 cars in the collection and 50 in the exhibit. I don't actually remember seeing a Demio on either visit or the super secret downstairs room; there may be one in the warehouse - there's not many modern Mazdas in the Frey collection (the NB Coupe was the newest the first time I was there, but they have a 6 MPS and a 3 MPS now too) - but I don't know for sure.How can they call it a museum when they're missing the most iconic of all the Mazdas?
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I also should elaborate on the story about Jujiro Matsuda surviving the nuclear strike on Hiroshima. A rarely mentioned story states that Matsuda was going to his favorite barber on his birthday for a traditional birthday haircut, and seeing someone about to get there before him he sped up to nip in first for the 7.30am opening appointment - during an air raid warning, no less.
He'd finished and got a car back to Toyo Kogyo (Mazda) in Fuchu three miles away when the bomb detonated just before 8.16am, 1,900ft above Shima Hospital - off-target from the Aloi Bridge. Little Boy wasn't actually that big a device, and the area of total devastation was around a mile radius, but three miles is still well within a overpressure region. By sheer fluke, a small mountain called Hijiyama sits between the hypocentre and what's now the Mazda main factory, and this shielded the factory from the worst of it - though Matsuda and his driver were both knocked off their feet, the factory was essentially unscathed.
Matsuda's barber was 50 yards from the hypocentre and obliterated. Fine margins.
- 119
- Canada
- Stoop_Solo
The MX-5 NB Coupe looks surprisingly contemporary.
- 16,783
- Maryland
- GranTurismo0517
- RandomCarGuy17
There's some pretty neat and excellent cars on display in that exhibit. A few of my favorite ones include the RX-7 Rally Car, the 323 Rally Car, that Luce R130, Savanna RX-3, and that NB MX-5 Coupe.
Also, one random thing from me to point out:
The 121 here reminds me of the Suzuki X90 for some reason.
Also, one random thing from me to point out:
The 121 here reminds me of the Suzuki X90 for some reason.
- 176
- Greece
Ahem.How can they call it a museum when they're missing the most iconic of all the Mazdas?
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- ScottPye20
I wouldn't say that Mazda is a weird car brand. They are quite mainstream to be honest.
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These will be at a different museum
https://mzracing.jp/en/news/6560
https://mzracing.jp/en/news/6560