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So there I was...

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Old 03-14-2006, 06:27 PM
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Glitchy Rotary Madness
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So there I was...

...walking out to get the mail, and I spy a flatbed with a blue, old Japanese coupe on it.. they're rolling the blue thing back and onto the road.

My eyes saw it and said "Another old Toyota for the guy in the complex.."

Only my soul was saying "Psst.. wrong rear end... that looks like a Mazda."

So's I walks over to them, and yup.. Mazda allright.. a relatively intact Rx-2. Bad paintjob, dash needs replacing, headliner all slashed up, seats have foam showing, shift boot missing, smells like hell, vinyl all cracked up, weatherstripping completely gone.. but it has most of the trim, four original steelies with the little hubcaps with the rotors on 'em, and their trim rings.. little thing is ripe for restoring.

Then he lifts the hood, and I wanna cry.. the wiring's a complete basket-case, some shadetree mechanic's attempt to "fix" the car... to make it worse, it's an Rx-7 lump, a 12A, with an Rx-7 gearbox.. 4-speed at that. Thing's got a Racing Beat 2-barrel Holley, and barely runs.. smells like a refinery. Pig-rich. Get off the gas, and *KABOOM*, a good solid rotary coronary-inducing backfire.. more like a fusilade of 'em. brapp-rap-rrap-BAM.

I was thinking.. find a wrecked 8.. pull the renesis out of it... major zoom, and it would make one HELL of a sleeper. Then I got to thinking "What about the computers, sensors, etc?"

I want such a car. I liked 'em from when I was little. A 2, a 3, a 4... but mostly a 2, 'cause it was the smallest and lightest. HOwever, I lack the facilities to restore such a car... and the rare times I've seen one out on the road, they're in dire need of work.

Any 2 owners in here?
Old 03-14-2006, 06:52 PM
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U-Stink-But-I-♥-U
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Saw a perfectly restored RX-2 running around old san juan in the "vuelta bendejo". Absolutely beautiful car. 'Course cant say what was under the hood so I dont know if it was a match to the frame. What I would give for an RX2 or a 240z.
Old 03-15-2006, 11:00 AM
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La Vuelta del Pendejo still exists?! Awesome! (yeah, I grew up in PR, and did that route jsut about every weekend )

Part of my love for the rotary is from PR... all of it, actually. I've seen some FIERCE cars there.. little Rx-2s blowing the doors off heavy-metal muscle in the 1/4.. salinas was a hoot, especially if Papito would bring out his 3... his 9 second 3. There was also this old early 70's Corolla with a buick V-6 in it... that thing went like hell.
Old 03-15-2006, 12:04 PM
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Cool! Yeah, amazing that so many peeps would come down into that little pennisula of Old San Juan to spend 3 hours on cobble stone roads at 1.1 mph. Man, that is an awesome place. I so what to go back.

I saw lots of great cars down there. Such a different outlook on autos than in the DC area. Cars are something there, not just symbols of opulance. Next time I am down there I am going to try to go to a strip. Maybe even try to find some rotorheads before and meet up with them.

Weird, I had a feeling that your eye for old rotaries came from PR. Dont know why.
Old 03-15-2006, 05:17 PM
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I may have mentioned it in other threads over the years.

Yeah, we got an unhealthy addiction to the rotary back home. Dunno why, it just is.

Maybe part of it was that in the bad old days, any old Rx-4 with mild porting would blow the doors off a yank tank.. the yank tank was the preffered car back then in PR, imports had a tarrif.

Seeing a little 3 or 4 go WHeeeeeEEEE*BRAPPARRAPA*weeeeEEHHH! at a stoplight was fun, especially if the yanktank in the other lane was strugglign to catch up

There's also a large contingent of Toyota diehards down there.. today, here, the Civic is the 'tuner' car of choice.. when I was a teenager, it was the old RWD 1.8 Corolla that was hawt.

Curb feelers, "marcianitas" (car horns that sorta sound like the bweep-bweep of an arming car alarm), of course, the springs are cut and the thing bounces like a rabbit... slatted rear window louvers.. "Baja Panty Automatico" stickers... "No te rias, aqui puede ir tu hija" stickers..

I miss it. I miss PR.
Old 03-16-2006, 08:08 AM
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I love those older rotaries too. A friend of mine here in the states had an old toyota starlet w/ a bridge-ported 12a in it, and a ford rear end. That was one badass little car.
Old 03-16-2006, 09:13 AM
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Originally Posted by missinmahseven
...walking out to get the mail, and I spy a flatbed with a blue, old Japanese coupe on it.. they're rolling the blue thing back and onto the road.

My eyes saw it and said "Another old Toyota for the guy in the complex.."

Only my soul was saying "Psst.. wrong rear end... that looks like a Mazda."

So's I walks over to them, and yup.. Mazda allright.. a relatively intact Rx-2. Bad paintjob, dash needs replacing, headliner all slashed up, seats have foam showing, shift boot missing, smells like hell, vinyl all cracked up, weatherstripping completely gone.. but it has most of the trim, four original steelies with the little hubcaps with the rotors on 'em, and their trim rings.. little thing is ripe for restoring.

Then he lifts the hood, and I wanna cry.. the wiring's a complete basket-case, some shadetree mechanic's attempt to "fix" the car... to make it worse, it's an Rx-7 lump, a 12A, with an Rx-7 gearbox.. 4-speed at that. Thing's got a Racing Beat 2-barrel Holley, and barely runs.. smells like a refinery. Pig-rich. Get off the gas, and *KABOOM*, a good solid rotary coronary-inducing backfire.. more like a fusilade of 'em. brapp-rap-rrap-BAM.

I was thinking.. find a wrecked 8.. pull the renesis out of it... major zoom, and it would make one HELL of a sleeper. Then I got to thinking "What about the computers, sensors, etc?"

I want such a car. I liked 'em from when I was little. A 2, a 3, a 4... but mostly a 2, 'cause it was the smallest and lightest. HOwever, I lack the facilities to restore such a car... and the rare times I've seen one out on the road, they're in dire need of work.

Any 2 owners in here?
isnt the rx-3 supposed to be the smaller sportier version of the RX-2???
Old 03-16-2006, 09:27 AM
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horay for PR
I still live here. "La buelta del pendejo" or the *******'s route, given its colorfull name because soo many people wold go spend 2 to 3 hours in bumper to bumper trafic to travel the 1.1 miles that it takes around old san juan, is still verry much alive. You will see some of the most amazing cars arround making the tour almost every weekend.
Also the fact that the road is lined with restaurants, pubs and some of the nicest scenery around the San Juan area make this a verry popular and nice way to spend a couple of hours an any given weekend.
If I have time I'll post some pictures this weekend for the nostalgia boricuas living among the RX-8 club.
Old 03-16-2006, 09:43 AM
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Originally Posted by MazdaspeedFeras
isnt the rx-3 supposed to be the smaller sportier version of the RX-2???
Y'know, I just looked it up at mazda's history site.. the 3 is indeed a li'l bit smaller than the 2... but somehow, to me, the 2 *looks* smaller.
Old 03-16-2006, 09:47 AM
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Originally Posted by oreo
horay for PR
I still live here. "La buelta del pendejo" or the *******'s route, given its colorfull name because soo many people wold go spend 2 to 3 hours in bumper to bumper trafic to travel the 1.1 miles that it takes around old san juan, is still verry much alive. You will see some of the most amazing cars arround making the tour almost every weekend.
Also the fact that the road is lined with restaurants, pubs and some of the nicest scenery around the San Juan area make this a verry popular and nice way to spend a couple of hours an any given weekend.
If I have time I'll post some pictures this weekend for the nostalgia boricuas living among the RX-8 club.


Please do.. haven't been there since 1989.

La Tortuga still around? That was one of my favorite dives.

I dunno if in this context "pendejo" translates to "*******." More like.. "Loser" or "idiot"

Such is the spanish language... that one word can mean many different insults.

Now, there's always "Cabron" or 'hijo de puta" if you really wanna say someone is an *******..

Last edited by missinmahseven; 03-16-2006 at 09:54 AM.
Old 03-16-2006, 10:03 AM
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which one is la tortuga? Laguna tortuguero?
Some of the routes have changed dramatically, others are still the same, the drive through Isla Verde has changed incredibly for the better. after you pass the balneario (public beach) they have added a board walk that crosses zig zag stile from the beach through the mangle trees over la posita "boca de cangrejo" almost 5 miles going to Loiza.
Old 03-16-2006, 10:21 AM
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Glitchy Rotary Madness
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Originally Posted by oreo
which one is la tortuga? Laguna tortuguero?
Some of the routes have changed dramatically, others are still the same, the drive through Isla Verde has changed incredibly for the better. after you pass the balneario (public beach) they have added a board walk that crosses zig zag stile from the beach through the mangle trees over la posita "boca de cangrejo" almost 5 miles going to Loiza.
La Tortuga was this little dive of a bar with pool tables in Old San Juan proper... you couldn't drive to it, you had to walk (at least, back then.) Can't remember the street names, but it was on a corner. One of the roads led to the Christopher Columbus statue and park.
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