Japanese Car Spotters Guide - 1972

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Japanese Car Spotters Guide - 1972


New Models For Japan in 1972



The big question people were asking in 1972 was what would power the US Savanna RX3? Would it be powered by the bigger Capella RX2 twin rotor Wankel, suitably de-toxined with air-pump and thermal-reactor? Or would the Capella be powered by the Mazda SOHC 1800 four-cylinder engine, called the Mazda 618? The piston engine Savanna (the Mazda 808 for America and Europe and the Grand Familia for Japan) boasted the aggressive Mustang nose of the rotary Savanna. The Wankel took rather kindly to add-on emission control devices like thermal reactor and air pump - a virtue that attracted many more licensees to the basic NSU-Wankel patent, including here in Australia with Toyota and Nissan.

The US Capella was pleasant and smooth. Its suspension setting was quite similar to the domestic version, making it both soft and comfortable. The European version had stiffer suspension to suit particular conditions and driving habits. Emission control did, however, claim its toll in somehow less lively performance than that of the home market Capella, and in occasional backfires due to higher exhaust back pressures.

Capella GSII



The Capella GSII well a balanced and extremely fast package. And it was obvious you could make it faster and handle better with some minor modifications and tuning. Add an extra cog in the gearbox. Lower and stiffen suspension. Add five more horses to the ultra smooth and powerful twin rotor Wankel. That's the specifications of a dream-come-true package, especially when you could get one at something like A$150 more than the price of the four-speed coupe. The actual execution was, however, less than perfect, although nobody could argue Mazda had the suspension tuning well sorted. The GSII was about 1.6 inches lower than the normal coupe. It has stiffer springs and firmer dampers, as well as a smaller diameter front anti-roll bar, which reduced the understeering characteristics that were, at the time, expected almost automatically with the car.

Yet the GSII rode extremely well. It was a good a compromise as you could expect between excellent handling and comfortable ride. The GSII could, however, have used fatter tyres on wider rims – the stock Bridgestone RD20 165SR13 radials on 4and a half inch rims were not quite up to the job. The tyres would scream a lot on take-offs and in spirited cornering. In fact, five extra horsepower and a lower final ratio made them squeal loudly on change-ups including second to third.

Lowered and stiffened suspension did not impair the Capella's excellent ride. The GSII understeered noticeably less than the normal coupe. Its steering still had familiar Japanese vagueness, and Mazda retained that horrible mock-wood steering wheel. Brakes are unchanged, and did the job quite well. The biggest letdown on the GSII was its new five-speed gearbox. Judged against the standards of the day, and more specifically what was being fitted to the wonderful Datsun 240Z and Toyota’s  Corona Mark II GSS twin-cam coupe, the Mazda gear-box left much to be desired, especially in its syncromesh and shift-linkage.

Upshift from direct fourth to overdrive fifth was awkward, and the uninitiated could easily drop by accident from fifth to second, sending the rev counter needle dangerously into the red. The best Mazda transmission was still the fabulous RE-matic automatic!

Mazda 808 1500cc



Mazda also released the 1500 cc version of the type 808 - the piston-engined Savanna coupe. The GFll as the car was called shared the same suspension setting with the Wankel Savanna GSII coupe, which was rather stiff. Mazda offered new Bridgestone Z78-13 cross ply tyres in the package, which made the ride even stiffer. The Z78 rubber was as good as many Japanese radials, and even better than a few. The SOHC 1.5 litre four was straight from the happy family sedan, the Mazda 1500. In typical Mazda tradition, it was tuned to sip low lead, regular grade petrol through a single two-barrel downdraft carburettor.

The engine was rated at 92 bhp at 5800 rpm. Up to about 50 mph, the 1500 was almost as quiet as the rotary Savanna. The good old reciprocal piston motor packed a lot of low speed torque, and was quite flexible. It wasn't quite as peppy as the junior 1300 version. Fuel consumption was almost par with the 1300, returning a respectable 28 mpg in a day's outing.

Subaru Leone 1400 Sedan



New from Subaru was the Leone 1400 sedan - a well-mannered front-wheel-drive sedan with little of the Mini-like handling peculiarities. Thanks to a taller body which now accommodated four useful doors, the interior dimensions were quite reasonable. The release of the new model signalled the end of the Subaru 1100/1300G range, which was destined for extinction, however during 1972 Subaru added an economy 1100cc version of the Leone. Subaru also added a Super Touring Leone sedan with more powerful twin carb 1400 motor. Subaru engineers had at last realized the importance of proper chassis tuning to handle bigger power, and had deliberately delayed the debut of the Super Touring.

After the announcement of the new models, home market sales of 360cc cars plunged down, partly due to a general economic recession which hit the low motoring echelon, and partly to new legislation which subjected the 360cc vehicle to mandatory mechanical inspections at certain intervals (previously the 360 car was exempted from this costly requirement).

Mazda Chante 360



Not every Japanese carmaker had given up on the 360cc class. After several years virtual absence from the market, Mazda was staging a grand comeback to the class with the new Chante 360, a front-engined and rear-wheel-drive sedan powered by a water-cooled two-stroke two-cylinder engine. Chief Engineer and Director Watanabe of Toyo Kogyo confided that his new baby was such a good handling car and that it could comfortably take a more powerful Wankel engine, when and if such a powerplant was needed.

Suzuki Fronte Coupe



Suzuki added a two plus two version to the Fronte coupe. The "plus two" was in the “midget size” category. Japan was not a mass market for pure two-seaters (for example, Datsun exports a couple of hundred 240Z's every month, while its vast dealer network could only clinch only a few hundred for home sales.) The Fronte coupe was propelled by a two-stroke three-cylinder engine mounted behind the rear axle, and was designed as a strictly two-seat petit turismo. Commercial considerations forced it to swallow a very occasional rear seat.

Daihatsu also facelifted its Fellow Max 360cc range in 1972. The 40 bhp SS Max discarded one of its two carburettors, and now got along with single carb setup. Subaru and Mitsubishi were also said to be preparing new micro cars to replace the current R2 and Minica models.

Honda Life 360



It was in 1972 that Honda released the “Life” 360 cc sedan with Honda's own automatic. The perfect city car and very economical too. Its four doors provided easy entry and exit. Its water-cooled SOHC two-cylinder engine with ingenious vibration damping counter-crankwise revolving balancing shaft made it arguably the smoothest in-line two-cylinder engine in the world at that time. Its performance was predictably unexciting, but totally adequate for its limited use as a town runabout. And it was very, very economical.

Then there was the Honda 1300 coupe. The car served the family well for 20,000 miles, apart from a few mishaps including a broken driveshaft. I like the old man Honda-san and his products. So I quickly got another Honda, an SL125 single cylinder motorcycle, which now supplements my new Savanna sedan.
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1972 Daihatsu Microcar
Japan

Daihatsu Microcar

  Also see: Daihatsu Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Datsun 1200 Coupe
Japan

Datsun 1200 Coupe

  Also see: Datsun Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Datsun 240Z
Japan

Datsun 240Z

  Also see: Datsun Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Datsun 510
Japan

Datsun 510

  Also see: Datsun Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Datsun 510
Japan

Datsun 510

  Also see: Datsun Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Datsun Bluebird 1600 GL
Japan

Datsun Bluebird 1600 GL

  Also see: Datsun Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Datsun Bluebird 1800 S S SE
Japan

Datsun Bluebird 1800 S S SE

  Also see: Datsun Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Honda 7 Coupe
Japan

Honda 7 Coupe

  Also see: Honda Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Honda 77 Deluxe Sedan
Japan

Honda 77 Deluxe Sedan

  Also see: Honda Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Honda N
Japan

Honda N

  Also see: Honda Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Honda Vamos
Japan

Honda Vamos

  Also see: Honda Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Honda Z GT Coupe
Japan

Honda Z GT Coupe

  Also see: Honda Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Isuzu Bellett 1600 Special
Japan

Isuzu Bellett 1600 Special

  Also see: Isuzu Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Isuzu Bellett 1800 GT Coupe
Japan

Isuzu Bellett 1800 GT Coupe

  Also see: Isuzu Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Isuzu Unicab KR85
Japan

Isuzu Unicab KR85

  Also see: Isuzu Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Mazda 618
Japan

Mazda 618

  Also see: Mazda Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Mazda 808
Japan

Mazda 808

  Also see: Mazda Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Mazda B1800 Pickup
Japan

Mazda B1800 Pickup

  Also see: Mazda Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Mazda Luce
Japan

Mazda Luce

  Also see: Mazda Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Mazda Luce
Japan

Mazda Luce

  Also see: Mazda Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Mazda RX3
Japan

Mazda RX3

  Also see: Mazda Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Mazda RX3
Japan

Mazda RX3

  Also see: Mazda Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Mitsubishi Minica
Japan

Mitsubishi Minica

  Also see: Mitsubishi Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Nissan Cedric 2600 GX
Japan

Nissan Cedric 2600 GX

  Also see: Nissan Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Nissan Cedric GX Hardtop
Japan

Nissan Cedric GX Hardtop

  Also see: Nissan Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Nissan Gloria GL
Japan

Nissan Gloria GL

  Also see: Nissan Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Nissan Skyline 1500
Japan

Nissan Skyline 1500

  Also see: Nissan Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Nissan Skyline 2000 GTX
Japan

Nissan Skyline 2000 GTX

  Also see: Nissan Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Nissan Skyline GT-R Coupe
Japan

Nissan Skyline GT-R Coupe

  Also see: Nissan Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Toyota Corolla 1200 Estate
Japan

Toyota Corolla 1200 Estate

  Also see: Toyota Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Toyota Corona
Japan

Toyota Corona

  Also see: Toyota Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Toyota Corona
Japan

Toyota Corona

  Also see: Toyota Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Toyota Corona 200
Japan

Toyota Corona 200

  Also see: Toyota Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Toyota Corona Mark II Wagon
Japan

Toyota Corona Mark II Wagon

  Also see: Toyota Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Toyota Crown 2600
Japan

Toyota Crown 2600

  Also see: Toyota Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1972 Toyota Crown 2600 Estate
Japan

Toyota Crown 2600 Estate

  Also see: Toyota Road Tests and Reviews
   
1972 Datsun 1200
1972 Datsun 1200.
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