Been pining about the good old days of nifty little Japanese wagons? CC reader Matt Z. sent me the link to Timber Ford in Hayward, WI, which has the answer: this like-new 1986 Mazda 323 wagon. It’s in practically like-new shape. if it weren’t for the odometer, one might think they just discovered it hiding since 1986 in a storage building. It’s a perfect time capsule; not exactly cheap, but think of all the miles this baby still has in it.
Well, maybe there’s just a teeny tiny bit of wear on the edge of that passenger seat, but its upholstered in that indestructuble fabric the Japanese were weaving on hand looms back then.
The carpets look terrific from this shot.
And even the original floor mats are in great shape.
Here’s the proof.
Loo k at the shine on this baby. And this is a Northern Wisconsin car. Matt thinks it quite likely was a summer vacation car, as lots of folks have cabins up here. That would explain a few things. Or it might have been some old folks’ car that never took it out except on dry sunny days.
No cracks on this dash.
You could probably count the times someone sat on the back seat with one hand.
Who’s going to call first?
At the end of the 1988 model year I bought a brand new Mercury Tracer 4-door hatchback – the first cousin to this car. The interior is very similar and at the time seemed more upscale than what was available from Nissan and Toyota. It was a great car until about 75,000 miles when one thing after another started to fail. By that time the value of the car was too low justify the cost of repairs.
I got a $1,000 trade-in allowance and put it toward a 1993 Toyota Corolla. It was not as nicely trimmed but was a great car. I drove it well over 100,000 miles and sold it to my niece who drove it another five years.
A friend of mine similarly bought an ’88 Mercury Tracer which as you mention were similar to this car. He told me he made a big gain on some Japanese stocks (which were big deal in the 80’s) and traded his 1983 Dodge Challenger (yes, the Mitsubishi one) on it….the Challenger had started cupping rear tires, and he couldn’t seem to get anyone to align it right, so his solution was just to get rid of it. I liked the Challenger a lot, it had a very roomy rear seat for a 2 door sporty car (I had a Scirocco at the time which had tighter rear seat…seemed like back then most of my friends had 2 door cars, at least for a few years after we got our undergraduate studies done..
I lost track of him, so I don’t know what became of the Tracer…it seemed like a nice car, but had very stiff front seats (at least compared to the Challenger). I remember the orange dash lighting also…
1986 was a pretty big year for me too…I bought lots of stuff (my ’86 GTi) and my house (bought it the same day I started looking…and still live in it 33 years later)….in December my Grandfather passed away, I finished up my graduate studies…..relive it, no….lots of changes for me that year, especially compared to nowdays when I’m admittedly more stuck in my ways and it seems hardly anything changes from year to year (but changes are normally more frequent when one is younger).
Wow, wow, wow. If this were a 626 I think TBM3Fan would be on the way to Wisconsin as we read this.
$6k may not be cheap, but I’ll bet you won’t find anything else near this nice in a Wisconsin dealer lot for this price. If this were only a stick instead of an automatic I could be talked into this myself.
This reminds me a lot of the condition of the 66 Fury III I bought in 1987 with a touch over 20k on the odo. This car is another decade older with another 10k to show for it. I paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $3k for mine (give or take, depending on the value of the Ford pickup that was part of a trade) so $6k for something similar 30 years later does not sound unreasonable to me.
I second that. If it was a manual instead of an automatic I would be very tempted to buy this little wagon. It hits a few of my targets dead on but misses a few as well. I had to run it through my quick mental check list.
On the plus side:
1. It’s a station wagon
2. It’s in like new original condition
3. Low mileage
On the negative side:
1. It’s not a full sized V8 rwd American wagon*
*note, this can be offset if the vehicle has a manual transmission, OR if the vehicle is a Buick Century, Olds Cierra, Pontiac 6000, Chevy Celebrity wagon, or a really nice K car wagon.
The automatic might be fine if you’re never in a hurry to get anywhere, but that little 1600 cc engine definitely benefited from the extra gears in the manual transmission.
I had an ’88 323 with the five speed, and, at least by the standards of the day, it was more than adequately quick. A friend of mine bought a base model hatchback (probably an ’89) that came with a four-speed manual. If I remember right, the first four ratios were the same, but the four-speed lacked overdrive in the top gear. His car was definitely noisier than mine on the highway. I can’t imagine living with that car with a three-speed automatic.
Add me to this drool-fest. Absolutely epitomizes the function-over-form tidy Japanese compact car in wagon form. (Stylish) steel wheels, functional unpainted plastic bumpers, straightforward but handsome styling, excellent sightlines, simple but high quality interior, should I keep going?
Our own family owned the Honda version of this: 1990 Civic wagon FWD, likewise with a power and fun sucking automatic. I literally still have dreams about driving that old Civic, like I find it in a shed in our back yard perfectly preserved and ready to drive, etc.
There is no rush as there are several things working against the car. One, it is a 1986. Two, it is an 80s Mazda. Three, it is a 323. Four, it is an automatic which is a big deal. A manual is worth more yet less than this over the top asking price. Not being a manual is a very big deal. So while the car is rare this is not the “good” rare definition but the rare so what definition.
I’m a big 80s Mazda fan but also know I am in the extremely small minority in the country now. There is like three of us left in our 626 forum while 323 has been long dead. So how many 80s Mazda fans in Wisconsin as it is certainly not an all season daily driver. If it became one it wouldn’t last long. Here in Northern CA it would languish unless a 50% price cut went into effect.
Now if it were a 1986 Volvo 240 wagon with similar mileage at that price how long would it last? Gone, as there are tons of Volvo lovers out there.
Maybe a 87 or newer 240. I think the 1986 models still had that biodegradable wire harness that if you looked at it too hard the casings would disintegrate.
Look at that roomy cargo area. Practical design like that is so rare today.
Looks an awful lot like your typical compact CUV.
It looks notably roomier (in terms of depth) to me.
Not anymore, most these days have hatches that are so raked they barely have more usable space than a sedan.
Daddy likes! The 323 of this generation was a very attractive shape, even more so in wagon form. I’ve driven a few with automatics and while not the most exciting thing, it’s on par with a Corolla of the day at a lower price and with possibly a couple more features as part of the standard price. A good find, I wonder how much (ok, how little) the dealer paid for it?
Very interesting find!
Someone must really love this car in order to pay $6K for it. It’s actual value is somewhere in the $100s.
Brendan, methinks you have spent too much time in the land of cars in the upper five figures. 🙂
You are probably right as to what the dealership has in it – probably not over $750. So someone with 35 $100 bills ought to be able to drive it home.
Stuff like this is both hard to find and hard to sell. On the one hand most buyers won’t buy because they are afraid of its age. *But* it is also almost impossible to find anything this nice for under $3k unless you happen to stumble into it by chance. There’s lots on CL for $1k. 97 % of it is crap.
Agreed with Jim. Most shoppers will thing “ew old boxy station wagon,” a few weirdos like us will lust after it, and finally perhaps some shopper will give the dealer an offer at half of what they’re asking and get themselves an excellent little car, albeit finding parts for it might prove to be challenging, even something as generic as tires these days!
I’ve seen its cousin around here.
I had a girlfriend who had a 1986 Mazda 323 hatchback, a base model. It was great little car. The motor was willing and the five speed just perfect. The seats, the same as the car featured, were really comfortable. Mazda obviously cared a lot about the driving dynamics of these cars as they were fitted with Michelin tires from the factory. They even had a real IRS, not a twist beam.
323s are my favorite 1980s economy car, and the wagon is my favorite variant (well, except for the GT/GTX..). These wagons were all-around great cars, and I can definitely see this one being a summer car at someone’s cabin. I’d love to know the real story behind it!
That said, I can’t see even a dedicated old-wagon enthusiast paying more than $2,500 for it. But for this wagon’s sake, I hope someone does!
This car would meet the needs of 95% of Americans, at lower cost, and with less impact on the environment than what 95% of them drive now.
The power-sucking automatic is probably a big reason it was driven so little and is in such good shape.
Great car!
Worthy of sharing with us, thanks.
Not to mention, less safety equipment than 95% of cars on the road now.
But better outward visibility than 95% of cars on the road now. Seriously — look at all that glass area! You can even see through it from one side to the other!
What was the list price new, and what would that be in today’s dollars?
The Michigan secretary of state’s office keeps a list of car prices from 1984 to 2014. A Mazda 323 wagon from 1987 (no 1986 prices) brand new would have a base price of $8,799 with the 1988 model with a base price of $7,999. $8,799 in 1987 would be $20,114.42 in 2019.
https://www.michigan.gov/documents/1987combca_19791_7.pdf
That reminds me that iirc the wagon only came in this (relatively) high trim level in 1986-87; it was decontented for ’88 which explains the price drop.
Good link George, thanks!
Look at the curb weights
Actually, this wagon appears to be an ’87 (I checked the dealer’s website). I’m not entirely sure that the wagons were sold as ’86 models, since they were late introductions to the range… when the 323 was first introduced, at least in the US, it was only the sedan and hatchback. I think the wagon came a few months later.
Ancestor to my old 97 escort wagon , small car with a lot of cargo room with the seats folded . I don’t know why people hate wagons as sport utility vehicles are just tall station wagons
It’s in terrific shape, but way too much money. For $2,500 I’d drive up there and buy it this weekend.
+1. It’s at a dealer so they probably gave some poor slob $500 for it on a trade and are trying to flip it for a big payday. Dealers are scum.
For $2500, it’d be a nice, drivable CC. But $6k? Nah.
CC effect strikes again – this was for sale at my Vienna Mazda dealer…
… and for not too much either.
I had the previous RWD 323 van/wagon, tough reliable little beast not fast or anything but good on gas, it could carry far more weight than Mazda ever dreamed possible but Ive driven a automatic 323 like this one so no thanks.
Wow, that’s an amazing Mazda wagon! And for a classic like that the price is very reasonable. With just 32,000 miles that’s not even broken in yet! Mazda’s of that vintage are good for 300K with simple maintanence. I remember driving a 1987 323 sedan back in the day and found it much more comfortable than a 2016 Mazda 3 I rented a couple years ago. What the heck has gone wrong with seat comfort in modern cars?
Both the Ford Laser version and Mazda version were very popular in NZ but are hard to find unmolested as most are sort after by youths.
I knew a young guy who spent thousands on getting a T3 turbo fitted to the original 1600cc sohc, which at the time I thought stupid as I’d swapped out a SOHC injected(Familia hatch) for a DOHC Turbo running gear in a day, not a single bracket or crossmember is the same but all threaded holes are there, plug engine loom in, swap computers and turn the key.
Forgot to mention Turbos have equal length drive shafts, I we think we swapped everything over, struts/hubs/brakes with shafts still attach to gearbox.
If I’d lived in North American I’d buy this in an instant and and order a B6T or BPT front cut from Japan or source Mercury Capri XR2 donor car locally.
If Canadian I’d be looking for Mazda MX-3 K8 V6 donor.
Another option is the Ford Probe V6
Also heard of rotary powered versions locally, I think FWD and RWD conversions.
From a Kiwi point of view a Northern Californian choosing a Volvo wagon over this has been smoking far too much meth as well as too many skunk blunts.
(I’ve just watched Murder Mountain on Netflix!)
Apologies if this is a stupid question, but what are the odds a bunch of parts have either shrunk, cracked or dried out to the point that anyone using this for anything other than occasional transportation, will quickly spring for a bunch of maintenance? I know 80’s Jap cars were well built and are known for longevity, but isn’t this pushing it?
Frankly, I’d feel better if it had 120K on the clock – at least then I’d know it was driven enough such that things wearing out have been replaced.