Mention Mazda GLC to the average auto enthusiast and it’s likely they’ll think of the rear-wheel-drive GLC of the late 1970s. Mention GLC to the average Joe on the street and you are likely to get a blank stare. However, both iterations of the “Great Little Car” were massively important to Mazda. In the 1970s, the first generation certainly helped rescue Mazda from its then rotary-heavy image, but it wasn’t really a car that could continue into the 1980s. What was needed was a modern car in the Volkswagen Rabbit vein. The second-generation GLC was that car.
The rear-drive GLC (or 323 / Familia in other markets), introduced in 1977, was far from a clean sheet design. While Europe was leading the way with front-wheel-drive, “two-box” cars, Japanese manufacturers other than Honda were being much more conservative. Thus were the GLC’s important mechanical bits carried over from the earlier 808/818/Grand Familia/Mizer. It followed the contemporary general concept of a small, OHC four cylinder engine, old-school steering box and live rear axle, but its rear suspension was updated from leaf springs to a four-link setup very similar to the Rx-7. It also returned excellent fuel economy. Actually, you might think of it as a well-built Chevette. The blue GLC pictured above is the only one I’ve seen in years.
Paul had covered the GLC once before, but I think this mostly forgotten but important car deserves a second look. Mazda moved into the 1980s with second-generation GLC hatches and sedans. The wagon version stayed with the first-generation RWD body. What Mazda cooked up with the new GLC was a front-wheel-drive car whose MacPherson front struts were now accompanied by rack-and-pinion steering. Finally, the GLC had steering feel to match Mazda’s trademark sporty handling. (Something that would be appreciated by anyone who has driven a first generation Rx-7 , an otherwise fine car saddled with a rather industrial steering box.)
The new GLC’s independent rear suspension with struts was the class norm. Ford provided input for the design. It’s hard to imagine they didn’t borrow an idea or two from the Fiesta that had been introduced a few years earlier. Also, Ford marketed their own version of the car as the Laser/Meteor in other markets; often, it outsold the GLC donor.
The GLC/323/Familia was not Mazda’s first front-drive car; however, it was the first such Mazda produced in significant volume. The Luce R130 of 1969-1972 was their first front-driver, but its compact, rotary engine sat longitudinally. It was the transverse- engine 323 that set the mold for most of the volume Mazdas that followed.
This generation of GLC was a fantastic success, and for a time outsold even the Corolla in its home market. The sedans were never as popular as the hatchbacks, due to their hefty price premium over the far more common five-doors. The North American engine was a 1.5L four with a two-barrel carburetor that put out all of 68 hp; that figure sounds pathetic today, but was then pretty much average for the class. These days GLCs are a rare sight, as many of them were likely scrapped when a minor issue or rust arose. I consider them victims of pleasant but unremarkable styling, and of being overshadowed by the more well-known Civic and Corolla.
Our example today is a GLC in Sport trim, which I’m going to guess consists of alloy wheels and upgraded seat fabric. There certainly wasn’t any extra performance on board, at least in North America. The car’s front plate indicates long-term ownership, since these models were phased out here in the late 80s.
It looked pretty solid with no apparent rust but a bit of faded paint. Pretty good for a relatively inexpensive-when-new subcompact. Hopefully it can survive many more years.
One last shot of the GLC, parked next to its spiritual descendant, the current Mazda2.
We got all the derivitives but we had the Laser sport with twin carbs in the first KA series and these cars are still a common sight in NZ with some incredible mileages being clocked up cheap to buy cheap to run easy to fix except for the injected Familia many of the 323 cars around here,I live near a tertiary college which may explain why
These were pretty common in the midwestern US. Most of them were red. I like your final shot – I think I like the old one better. It would be fun to drive one of these from an era when small tossable cars were lightweight and very connected to the road and the driver.
I had a 2nd gen (85) GLC hatch, many fond memories. Despite its puny power stats it felt peppy and tossable. Basic and a little crude by today’s standards, but eminently practical, inexpensive and reliable.
I followed it with a 3rd gen GLC, more refined but less reliable and somehow less fun.
Where are the basic hatchbacks today? No, I don’t want to buy a %$&# crossover or mini-SUV just to be able to carry my bike in the back.
I never realized just how much the front end of the Canadian-spec Hyundai Pony looks like the GLC.
My SIL still drives a blue four door w/ the alloy wheels every day. It has faded paint and the interior has some serious dry rot, but these won’t stop it.
These were good little cars, in my opinion better than the other Japanese competition. Ford did have a big hand in their development and supplied some of the parts. Deep down you’ll find miscellaneous parts with the Ford oval and/or Ford style part numbers on them. I never understood why they didn’t have more crossover with the Escort until the next generation of both.
Good little cars? They were GREAT little cars!
The big problem with the newer compact Mazda is that eventually, some hugely expensive thing like the auto transmission or an impossible to find in the aftermarket computer will break and render it undriveable – or worse just unable to pass emissions testing. The expense of the repair will exceed the owners keep/sell tolerance and then it’s off to the dealer for another ride and the same cycle happens anew. I don’t know how much the 6 speed Aisin costs to rebuild and install, but I’ll betcha it’ll be damned close to whatever the resale value of my Five Hundred is when it goes! We won’t see many curbside classics from the 2000s or beyond in ten years, they’ll have all been scrapped because the cost of fixing them will be 1/2 the cost of buying a low mileage three year old one.
And this is something new?
If this is a problem, it has nothing to do with Mazda. I had a 3, there was nothing in it that I saw as particularly odd or difficult to get, no strange engineering or components, if that is what you are referring to. And it was actually very reliable. I bet its engine would have gone forever if I’d kept it.
If you want a problem with Mazda, I’ll be happy to give you one.
Rust.
That green 2 is actually mine. I bought it because it was the most simple new car around. Like an updated 90s car really. Reasonable size (15″ as opposed 18″ on others in its class) rims, lots of room in the engine bay, etc. Still electical issues are a potential nightmare even on a basic car. At least mine is a 5spd manual.
That’s a sharp looking car, David. Zoom zoom.
Drove a 1st gen rwd in Guam. Liked it quite a bit but not as lively as the 70 VW I bought soon after. I would love to have that car today and can’t think of anything quite like it. I saw a number of them that were hopped up with SBC and the like but now don’t see them at all.
I spent my childhood in one of these (exactly as pictured, actually), it was a good car…my mother absolutely adored it. It was reliable of course, and decent in the backwoods of Ontario due to its narrow tires, although it was so light that you dare not get snow underneath for fear it ride up and end up on top of a snowbank without any traction. It also survived a wheel falling off once, an injury caused by an inattentive mechanic. Luckily that incident occurred at low speed.
In the summer of 1978, Louisville Mazda dealers were hanging fuzzy dice from the rear view mirror of the first-gen GLC and selling them as Greased Lightning Coupes.
Is it me or does that Luce 130 look like a 2nd gen Corvair with a grille?
I cant recall the last time I saw an early GLC/323 in the wild, good catch.
Precisely what I was going to say, but you beat me to it
Cribvair styling
Funny, some deeply dormant neuronal connection fired on that “Sport” badge, and said NSU Prinz. After filing my guess I went looking and found proof. Or so I thought. Check out this crop, from an NSU Sport Prinz at Wikipedia. (Darling little car, don’t you think?)
Remarkably close. Separated at birth? NSU and Mazda are the two makes that put Wankel engines into serious production. Which had nothing to do with this GLC. Somehow the same Kool-Aid got into both companies’ water coolers. Weird.
Strangely, photos of the GLC Sport on the web have a different badge. Did Canadian versions have their own? Weird. This means something.
Your picture is an earlier version. The badge was script at an angle…later changed to the one in the article
Hawaii and Guam got the five door hatches (1981-85); the U.S. Mainland did not. Two friends bought these in the day – very reliable. In Guam and Hawaii back then you HAD to get aftermarket rustproofing (Ziebart or Quaker State) otherwise you’d have drip rails, hatchback/trunk lips, window moulding and door edges rotting in a matter or 2-3 years.
A friend of mine had a Familia XG Turbo version of this, with the B5 turbo engine. His had the boost turned up, and given the factory output of about 85kW, and that they weighted less than a 1000kg it actually went quite well. That said the 175 tyres did make things a little hairy at times……
$6295.00 Bought one of the BASE GLC manual with the 300$ cassette player FM/AM no Presets radio…new in Mauy 1981. Red , Tan, White were base colors. No Carpet.
of course No AC ETC…
I had it for 6 years, replaced it with a used Grand Am…had test Driven a Le Car before deciding on GLC.
Roommate had a Maroon sport or LX with Power Windows in the Hatchback model.
The GLC you are depicting is one of the later models. Introduced in 1981 the original had more and tighter louvers in the grille. The tailights were different and the sport badge was in script and at an angle. The original sport interior was very nice for the time with a tweed seat fabric and the rear seat backs flowed into the side panels and into the front doors…very upscale when compared to its contemporaries. The steering wheel was a thick 4 spoke wheel directly out of the RX 7. Alas the engine was the same no matter what version you purchased…a 1,5 liter 68 hp mill. They stickered for $6995
I seriously considered buying one when these were new in 1981…Instead I found a brand new 1980 Scirocco….I think I made the right choice!
In actually the Mazda 323/GLC had significantly grown in size in what is now known as Maxda 3. So it went from being a Mini-Compact to a large Compact almost Mid-Sized much like its competitors with the likes of the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic and Volkswagen Jetta had gone through over the years as well.
Just posted a shot of a couple of later model 323s to the Cohort Pool. Ok, one is actually a Ford Laser (sold in North America as a Mercury?) but basically the same thing.