According to everyone’s favorite online encyclopedia, this automaker’s name is derived from Ahura Mazda, the name of God for those of the Persian Zoroastrian faith, as well as the last name of the founder, Jujiro Matsuda. And while you might not have any heavenly experiences behind the wheel (or anywhere else) in this little blue coupe, there’s not much to complain about at the price. For better or worse, the seller’s son used the car to get to high school, and as such, the car should suffer none of the problems of long-term storage, but you’ll want to look closely for signs of hard cornering, braking, and shifting – teenage sons are not known to be gentle on their first cars. You can find this 1981 Mazda 626 coupe for sale for C$1250 ($1144 today) in Lynn Valley, BC.
The CB generation 626, both in coupe and sedan form, shared some design cues with the BMWs of the time, most notably the tall greenhouse and generous window area. That makes for quite an attractive coupe, and the frameless doors help as well – is this a B-pillarless coupe? Performance of these cars, particularly with the malaise-era smog equipment, was not scintillating, but rear-wheel drive should at least provide a little fun in corners. Apparently, much of the CB-generation 626’s suspension is shared with the first-generation RX-7, so if you’re looking to do some suspension and braking upgrades, you know where to look. This is a pretty decent-looking survivor, and you can hardly go wrong for the price – it might just be a good option if you’re looking for a cheap classic driver that’ll get you into the local JCCS show.
Rusty But Trusty 
June 7, 2014 at 9:35 am |
Congrats; you found another one! Or should I say “The other one”. This one is a 2dr. also, nice. Too bad it’s About a million miles away from me.
June 8, 2014 at 6:17 am |
My wife purchased a new 1982 626 Luxury when we were dating. The Luxury package added power windows and locks, a nicer stereo, a sunroof, and the alloys were standard. We had the car for about 6 years, and the only reason we sold it is that the dealer messed up a piston ring recall repair, resulting in a rod knock that they wouldn’t fix.
As noted, the car was a slug – the 2 liter engine was pretty much a tractor motor in terms of revving. But, the car was good looking and practical and was perfect fit for us at the time.
It’s nice to see this one as I have not seen one on the street in years.