Three cars, three stories, Beijing Auto Show in the eyes of a Mazda fan.

At this year's Beijing Auto Show, Mazda brought its own100th anniversary model. On the Mazda booth, what attracted me most were three classic Mazda models-R360? Coupe、Cosmo？ Sport and Luce? Rotary? Coupe. From these three cars, we can see Mazda's past, which can better set off the vicissitudes of Hiroshima, a small Japanese factory for a hundred years. In my memory, there will never be a brand of official website as detailed as Mazda. From the history of the brand, to the display of classic models, to a comprehensive and professional interpretation of the concept of "integration of men and women". Even if you are a parent, you can download the black-and-white graffiti materials of classic models from Mazda official website and print them out for your children to learn painting. Compared with those German brands with a longer history, Mazda is not so great, but its stubbornness has a unique charm. Three cars and three stories represent three periods of Mazda's history.

R360？ Coupe-Mazda's "Initial Heart"

This car is the first car in Mazda history. You can see it on Mazda official website and R360. Before the coupe, Mazda had been producing trucks, from three-wheeled trucks in the 1930s to four-wheeled trucks later. Even though Japan's post-war economy began to recover gradually, it is still an unreachable dream for ordinary families to own a private car.

But Mazda, which mainly produced trucks at that time, introduced R360 for the first time. Coupe, the price is only 300 thousand yen. Ordinary families should be able to own an R360 after saving it for about one year? Coupe, therefore, when this car was at its most brilliant, it occupied 64.8% of the production share of Japanese light vehicles.

R360？ The life cycle of the coupe is between 1960- 1966, belonging to a light coupe with two doors and four seats. In fact, from this car, we can already see Mazda's research on lightweight body. R360？ Coupe's length, width and height are only 2980/ 1290/ 1290mm, and its wheelbase is1760 mm.

Equipped with magnesium alloy engine, frameless light body and light alloy hood, the car weighs only 380kg, which was the lightest car in Japan that year. Such a slim figure makes R360? Coupe can only be driven by a V-type twin-cylinder air-cooled engine with a displacement of 356cc. The lightweight engine and body made R360? The combustion efficiency and driving performance of Coupe have also been further improved.

R360？ Coupe's stylish and practical 2+2 car two-seat shape makes Mazda walk at the forefront of Japanese car design. The suspension system of this car also adopts four-wheel independent suspension, but it is not a spiral spring, but a torsion bar. It can also be seen from this point that Mazda has always placed mobility in an important position since it made its first car 60 years ago.

It is worth mentioning that this R360? Coupe was developed by Kenichi Yamamoto, who later successfully put the rotary engine into mass production and was called "the father of rotary engines" by Mazda.

Cosmo？ Sports-Mazda's "Spirit"

Looking back on Mazda's "road of rotary engine", it was actually more like a helpless move at first. In the early 1960s, competition stimulated Japan's domestic automobile market. At that time, Japan's Ministry of Industry and Trade tried to force Japanese automobile manufacturers (mainly Toyota and Nissan) to merge with small factories without independent research and development technology, thus improving the international competitiveness of Japan's automobile industry. Just use R360? Mazda, which coupe has successfully occupied the Japanese light vehicle market, is definitely unwilling to be merged. There is great pressure from the government, so Mazda has to vigorously promote technology research and development to ensure its independent survival.

From R360? Judging from the success of Coupe, Japan, which is in the period of economic recovery, advocates light vehicles more. So how to build your own unique technology on a small displacement engine? Mazda thought of a small high-power rotary engine. It is said that engine technicians all over the world were studying rotary engines at that time, but in the end they encountered technical barriers in the process of mass production.

"The more people who fail, the more they can show their uniqueness"-this is Mazda's simplest idea of the year. For the rotary engine, Mazda adopted "Wankel rotor technology", but Mazda's technicians are faced with the insurmountable obstacle of "friction marks".

The rotor of Wankel rotary engine is triangular. In order to ensure the tightness, top seals must be installed at the three vertices of the triangular rotor. Because the curved rotor rotates at high speed while rubbing, the inner wall will produce uneven wear marks for many years, which are called "ghost claw" friction marks. If this problem is not solved, the practical application of rotary engine will not be realized.

Of course, everyone knows the result. "Father of rotary engine" Kenichi Yamamoto gathered 47 technical elites from Mazda. They worked hard on the shape and strength of the "vertex seal" and tried to change the frequency characteristics of the seal by punching holes in the top of the seal. And in cooperation with Japan Carbon Company, carbon-aluminum composite materials are adopted to enhance the strength of "Apex seal".

From 196 1 to1,the world's first sports car Cosmo was equipped with a rotary engine. Mazda was famous for a while when the movement was born. And Cosmao? Sport, the "originator" of Mazda rotor sports car, does have the strength to make the world sit up and take notice.

Cosmo？ Sport adopts two triangular rotors, with displacement of 49 1cc, maximum power10 horsepower, maximum speed 185km/h and 0-400m acceleration time 16.3 seconds. Its low and smooth appearance, as well as the technical advantages of rotary engine with small volume and high output power, have also been fully exerted. In 1968, Cosmo? Sport also participated in the 84-hour marathon rally held in Germany for the first time, and successfully completed the three-and-a-half-day race, ranking fourth overall, which brought great impact to the European racing industry.

Twenty-three years later, Mazda 787B with a four-rotor engine won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Racing fans all over the world remember the glory of Mazda 787B, and the thorny road Mazda encountered on the road of rotary engine is also dusty in the championship trophy.

Ruth? Rotary? Coupe-Mazda's "Dream"

Like Toyota, Nissan and Honda, Mazda actually wants to take the "high-end road". I don't know if my opinion is completely correct, but thirty years ago, Mazda did launch a high-end car series "EUNOS", and the first model of this car series was a coupe with a rotor engine-Eunos? Cosmao. Can you tell from the name that the car is going to Cosmo? Sports tribute.

Tracing back to the source, as early as 1969, Mazda came up with a product called "Luce? Rotary? Coupe coupe, and the price of the car is as high as145-1750 thousand yen. How exaggerated is this price? At that time, the top model of Toyota's third-generation Crown was priced at 6.5438+0.2 million yen, while the salary of Japanese university graduates was only about 30,000 yen. Where's luce? Rotary? Coupe's propaganda word, translated into Chinese, is called "Road Son"

In my opinion, Ruth? Rotary? Coupe proved two things. First of all, Mazda is indeed using the spirit of artisans to make rotary engines. Second, Mazda's brain circuit is really unusual. In luce? Rotary? On Coupe, Mazda produced the latest research and development achievement of rotary engine at that time-a twin-rotor engine with a displacement of 1.3L, with a maximum power of 126 horsepower, a maximum torque of 172 Nm and a maximum speed of190km/h. This model

The title of "Son of Expressway" is not Mazda's arrogance, but its elegant appearance and excellent high-speed driving performance really left a deep impression on young Japanese fans in the 1960s and 1970s. However, perhaps Mazda spent most of the cost on engine and body design, so Luce? Rotary? Coupe is expensive, but it is in the form of FF front-wheel drive.

In addition to cruising at the speed limit of 140km/h in Japan, the reputation of the car was actually not good. Due to the disadvantage of FF front-wheel drive, Luce? Rotary? A coupe can easily understeer. Moreover, its steering adjustment is too sensitive, and its comprehensive handling performance is far less than that of Cosmo? FR rotor sports car like sport. So, between 1969-1972, Luce? Rotary? Coupe only produced 976 cars in Japan, and the number sold abroad was very small. At present, Coupe has become a "god-class model" in the hearts of car collectors.

Peng You said:

When I was young, I was fascinated by the handsome mazda 6 coupe in car magazines, so I still had a MZR in my heart. 2.3+6 handbrake mazda 6 coupe's dream. It just backfired. Handwave mazda 6 coupe on the market now is either "Iraqi color" or is regarded as a family heirloom by the seller at a very exaggerated "sentimental price". I used to think that I could play with my feelings at low cost and get a ZM? Mazda 323 is equipped with 1.6L engine, but due to the limitation of emission regulations, I still have some "fate" behind playing "feelings". So, strictly speaking, I am not a real Mazda fan. After all, so far, I have never owned any Mazda. I tried to see this year's Beijing Auto Show from the perspective of Mazda fans. Before I see these classic Mazda models, I must go to the Mazda Museum in Hiroshima. R360？ Coupe? Cosmo？ Sport and Luce? Rotary? The coupe is Mazda's dream and persistence. Mazda is not a particularly successful car brand, even being mercilessly ridiculed in Hong Kong films. However, many of our fans appreciate Mazda's true and unflagging persistence.

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.