Craigslist: 1988 Mazda 323 GTX

By Kamil Kaluski Jun 15, 2015

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One of 1243, as per our pal Brendan McAleer. And now this turbocharged, all-wheel-drive rally goodness can be all yours for only $1500!
I won’t deny it, it looks like roadkill a little unused like it’s in need of some TLC, but this will soon be a proper Japanese classic!

00K0K_fPJUYbTPzBJ_600x450 From the ad:

1988 Mazda GTX, 1.6 liter turbo, full time 4wd. – $1500 (Macon Ga.)

(No Text! No Text! No Text! my phone won’t text, Call contact number, Thanks!)
Super Rare Mazda GTX Rally car, only 2000 imported to America and only 5000 made in 1988 and 1989. Full Time Four wheel drive, with a locking center differential, Turbocharged 1.6 dohc motor.
The perfect car to restore or convert to a genuine Rally-Cross racer. radiator and inter-cooler were stolen when the rear window was broken by vandals.
I drove this car just over 50,000 miles in three years, and it is the the best handling, driving, riding car I have ever owned, period.
Thanks, Ben.

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Tags expired ten years ago. It’s missing a window, radiator, and an intercooler. Best car ever driven, parked.

Source: Macon Craigslist via Facebook Future $500 race cars! Even if the owner doesn’t know it yet.

By Kamil Kaluski

East Coast Editor. Races crappy cars and has an unhealthy obsession with Eastern Bloc cars. Current fleet: Ford Bronco, Lexus GX 470, and a Buick Regal crapcan racecar.

17 thoughts on “Craigslist: 1988 Mazda 323 GTX”
    1. Ditto. The tiniest of efforts would’ve prevented a world of damage. I watched a neighbor’s 300d go to hell during one summer of torrential rains with a rear window open. I bought it from him for $200. All it needed was a window motor and a massive cleaning.

    2. Luckily, it’s the deep south, so rust isn’t much an issue. But mold and mildew on all soft surfaces will most certainly be.
      However, it’s gonna be a race car, right? So all soft surfaces will be tossed into the dumpster anyway.
      Lastly, I feel a need to express a bit of personal pride, as I went to college in Macon, so the town holds a special place in me innards.

        1. … which is no big deal, because as I stated — racecar = all interior gets tossed anyway.

      1. …and here I thought you’d like to open it up more for better airflow, thus less mildew.

  1. Even with the rarity of it – usually hardly affecting common Japanese classics – isn’t 1500$ quite an ambitious target? Without the broken window and a little less loud “NEGLECT” shout by every part it might have been the right price.

      1. Nobody’s buying it? If you can tape the windows and lights and carefully dip the whole thing in Mercasol/Tectyl, it would make a great beater.
        A friend of mine had this generation 323 wagon. We drove cross country with it being students. Very tossable, light car, great visibility. But it also did rust like nothing else. If I didn’t see him driving for a month, it felt like I could see the wheel arches disintegrate next time we met.

  2. Soooo close I came to buying one of these 15 years ago. But I worked at a GM dealers and couldn’t get my head around owning Japanese (duh). I often wonder if people’s lives take a turn when they step out of their automotive comfort-zone and buy that Jaguar or SAAB, or Mustang they’ve always wanted. Anybody got stories?

    1. After dealing with some economic misery, my father decided to buy a car on looks: an Alfa Romeo alfsud Sprint. On day one, all warninglights performed a discoshow, within three months, front tires were were totally worn and keep doing so every three months afterwards, within half a year, doorlock felt three tines off, inwards. Within a year, he suddenly could no longer shift down from fith gear. It was on the highway, so he decided to drive on for an hour to get as near to home as possible.
      After that he only drove BMW’s.

    2. I did exactly as you stated, and went out of my comfort zone (which was malaise era, RWD American cars) and bought a ’92 SAAB 900S in ’09. It was everything that I thought I didn’t like: fairly new, foreign, FWD, four cylinder powered. But there was just something about this car that piped my interest just enough to pop in and ask the guy about it.
      A quick test drive, coupled with a price that less than a month’s rent, (I figured at the very least I could flip it for double what I paid for it) I was hooked. To me, it was perfection. It was fast and handled amazingly, had superb seats and nice interior materials, and it could haul just about what ever you needed while getting 30+ mpg.
      It completely changed my few on what was a good car.

  3. Just to point out a few more obvious points:
    The nose is primer black, which just shouts “Car Crash!”
    The radiator and intercooler were being stored inside the car, meaning it doesn’t even qualify for “ran when parked” status.
    HE drove it 50K miles in 3 years, since it’s a 1988, it probably has 200K total miles on it.
    Another minor but not so minor thing: Parked under a Georgia Pine for 10 years? Hell, I’d pay money to watch somebody try to clean off 10 years of pine pitch
    Finally: he says, “it is the the best handling, driving, riding car I have ever owned, period.”
    Well, the value of that statement can vary depending on what other vehicles he has owned….
    TL/DR: I’d like some of whatever he’s smoking to ask $1500

  4. I used to have one that was black. I sold it for about $700 back in 2000 in Birmingham Alabama. It was falling apart. I drive a Nissan LEAF now, a lot quicker and tougher car than the old 323 GTX. The LEAF out corners it too. The GTX was really good driving in a downpour though. I had put 205/50s on it, HKS cat back, and some sort of green breather unit. For the time it was pretty quick, but nothing compared to my Nissan LEAF. My 323 had really cheap two tone grey black seats. Almost every single thing in the car rattled. It wasn’t worth trying to keep it going, but it was fun before it tore up.

  5. Funny I sold mine in almost mint condition for $700. I just got tired of pouring money in it.

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