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 Aussie az-1s? (currently 637 views) |
| redemigrant |
| Posted on: Sunday, January 9th, 2011, 7:37:59am |
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Anyone in oz with one of these? I've room in my carport alongside my cappa  |
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| ggutnik |
| Posted on: Sunday, January 9th, 2011, 8:34:07am |
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Did a google search and came up with this, from 2007
http://www.shannons.com.au/pages/auctions/lot.jsp?id=C0AE7BHLZWWE09HW
"one of approximately 20 examples in Australia"
So there's got to be more! I was actually looking for one at the time i was looking for my cappo, but i didnt have a clue as to where to search - where as cappuccino's, honda beat's, and wagon r+ etc are even listed on carsales....
Best of luck! |
Last modified Sunday, January 9th, 2011, 8:35:02am by ggutnik |
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| redemigrant |
| Posted on: Sunday, January 9th, 2011, 10:29:38pm |
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Thanks ggutnik. I found that auction lot too; it would even have matched (almost) the colour of my cappo!
If I find some more info I'll make sure to post it here
Andy |
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| soongster |
| Posted on: Monday, January 10th, 2011, 1:51:57am |
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| ive never seen one on the road here in wa.. would like to own one as well |
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| brett |
| Posted on: Monday, January 10th, 2011, 2:53:21am |
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The one in the shannons advert is (now) my one.
Here's a quick pic i posted on this site earlier: (needed a clean)
http://www.clubcappo.co.uk/board/Blah/Blah.cgi?b=AZ1OS,v=download,f=brettsaz1.jpg
The guy who owned mine before was an importer who also did cappo's, beats and az-1's etc. I don't think they sold many az-1's. My understanding was that their import approval was for "up to" 20 cars. Anything's possible though I guess.
I know of one other that is registered in Victoria, a red one. The guy who owns it has done about 300,000+ kms in it (!) He also has a blue parts car. There is a magazine article I have somewhere that profiles an owner of a yellow az-1 here in vic too. He wasn't able to get it complied though.
I've seen photos of another (red) registered in queensland, and there was a red one in south australia that was stolen, I'm unsure if its still around.
I'd love to know if there are any other aussie owners out there. Must be someone that has one in NSW?  |
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| redemigrant |
| Posted on: Monday, January 10th, 2011, 9:42:25am |
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That's a great looking car, Brett. Let me know if you ever want to sell it!
One other thing; why is it VIC seems to have the monopoly of kei class cars?
Andy |
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| soongster |
| Posted on: Monday, January 10th, 2011, 12:49:11pm |
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| Andy |
| Posted on: Monday, January 10th, 2011, 1:54:32pm |
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| fxdlidon |
| Posted on: Monday, January 10th, 2011, 5:53:04pm |
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| It's an AZ-1, or maybe a Cara, with a modified bonnet, headlights and front bumper. There's quite a few in japan with modified bonnets/headlights - pop-ups from the mx5 used to be popular but the current trend seems to be dual HID's. |
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| brett |
Posted on: Monday, January 10th, 2011, 11:40:58pm
 Attachment: redaz1melb.jpg - 61.16 KB (469 views) |
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Thanks Andy!
Yeah there are plenty of modded az-1's in japan.
I found a photo on the web of Braun's az-1 - the other owner I mentioned of one here in melbourne.
I remember hearing that he used honda prelude pop-up lights and a re-made bonnet, in order to get the look closer to the az-550 prototype which the az-1 was based on.
I actually really like this change, I think it looks great. Almost like a lotus from the 80's.  |
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| fxdlidon |
| Posted on: Monday, January 10th, 2011, 11:49:50pm |
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I like that a lot 
...now where do I get hold of another bonnet |
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| brett |
| Posted on: Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011, 2:25:03pm |
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| fxdlidon |
| Posted on: Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011, 2:47:47pm |
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oops  |
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| Andy |
| Posted on: Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011, 5:55:58pm |
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| It looks ok... from the back! |
Drop me a PM if you would like to be added to the ClubCappo Member Map. More details can be found here.
We now have an official Facebook group as well as a page! See here |
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| ggutnik |
| Posted on: Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011, 1:51:22am |
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... with your hand over your eyes!
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| Inigo |
Posted on: Sunday, April 24th, 2011, 2:55:44am
Attachment: img_0121.jpg - 64.32 KB (531 views) |
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Hi guys,
David here, owner of (I think) SA's only AZ-1. AFAIK it was never stolen, has been owned for 13 odd years by one guy who sold it last year to me (right place, right time.... I happened to be browsing Carsales just as he put it up, got straight on the phone, saw it the next day and bought it. He said his phone rang hot all day from people wanting it )
He told me there used to be another in SA, either blue or black, but it got wrecked in a crash  . So now just this one.
Brett, great to hear that Shannons one went to a good home. I have also heard of 1 other in VIC, but none in NSW or QLD. If any of you know of John Verban, he used to import kei cars in SA, and he drove past a couple of months ago, saw the AZ-1 in the driveway, slammed on the brakes and came and asked me how much to sell it!
Anyway, great to find the Aussie owners, it's an exclusive club! I'll be posting now and again with project stuff, just trying to bring mine back to showroom prettiness. In two minds whether to use it as a daily driver, I don't drive far but kilometres is kilometres on such a rare beast (has already done 138K but mechanically fine).
Also wanted to pass on a recommendation - if any of you want to get gear off the Jap Yahoo forums, a gent called Rupewrecht from the Astina GT forum site runs a small business doing on demand imports. Lives in Melbourne and is a bang-up guy, handles all the niggly stuff and gets the parts over, will also look out for things if you ask.
Cheers all. |
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| brett |
| Posted on: Sunday, April 24th, 2011, 5:14:11am |
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Wow another aussie az-1 owner
Welcome to clubcappo David! Great to have you aboard!
Looks like it's in really nice condition. Well done
So I'm interested to know... was it listed on carsales as a mazda or an autozam?
I look forward to reading any posts you make about it! |
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| Inigo |
| Posted on: Sunday, April 24th, 2011, 6:06:39am |
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Hiya Brett, good to hear from you.
It was listed as a Mazda, the owner (bless his heart) didn't really know a whole lot about the car except that he loved it.... so I think he got a shock when he went to research it to sell it and found out how rare it was! But he had never got on the net, never found Yahoo Japan etc etc. He used to get it serviced by Suzuki and quite frankly they took him for a ride, getting him to pay for custom parts to be made (hoses, air filter, window) rather than 10 mins on Yahoo.
They also did a cr@p job of looking after it. Several little pieces of internal trim are missing, which is just unforgivable from people who imported then maintained this car every year. The window is the only thing not right, it got broken a few years back and the owner had a perspex replacement made, which over time is pushing all the seals out. So I have a replacement door coming over on a boat
Other than that it's nice, just a bit tired inside, you can see the driver's seat is a bit stained with use and the seat bolsters need redoing, so I will get the seats rebuilt and reupholstered. Did you know the B-spec NA6 MX-5 had the same seats? Useful if you ever need a replacement.
Presently it's in the garage with the interior stripped, I'm trying to get at the heinous alarm install behind the dash which wasn't secured so it rattles all the time. At some point I will redo the alarm, probably try to get central remote locking going, which won't be trivial as there is no power to the doors presently. I just got new gear and handbrake boots made as the originals were ripped, have traced dead cluster bulbs and will replace with LEDs, and generally trying to reverse 10 years of not being cleaned. Some jerk (probably in Japan prior to import) put horrid 3-way speakers where the factory speakers should go, with massive MDF spacers, so they are coming out and I will put nice low-profile speakers back in. No amps or subs for me, though I have found wires under the carpet that I think was an old amp setup.
Exterior is pretty much fine, I would like to get one of the silver AZ-1 stickers for the back as mine doesn't have one, there's a little fatigue crack on the wing but nothing to worry about. The only thing that's been troublesome so far is the radiator fan motor tends to jam/seize so I need to get that replaced, but it looks like a standard part, probably the same as a 121 or something. Door struts are OK, very stiff on passenger side, OK on drivers side. I've read about people struggling to get them regassed or replaced but I'll cross that bridge when i come to it.
So how about yours? From memory yours had done very low kms, looked fantastic. Do you drive it often? Any work in mind for it? |
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| fxdlidon |
| Posted on: Sunday, April 24th, 2011, 9:36:15am |
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Hi again David, nice looking AZ-1. Full mazda speed body kit (front bumper, bonnet and rear spoiler) but still two-tone - I rather like that look
Central locking isn't too bad to do. When I did mine I put the control box in the roof (just enough space) and powered it from the interior light feed. Drilled holes just behind the rear hinge and ran the wiring down the rear of the door. The bit that had me fooled first off was that you don't get at the locks from the inside, like most cars, you take the exterior panel off |
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| Andy |
| Posted on: Sunday, April 24th, 2011, 9:46:52am |
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Hi David and welcome. Looking forward to seeing more pics of your AZ-1  |
Drop me a PM if you would like to be added to the ClubCappo Member Map. More details can be found here.
We now have an official Facebook group as well as a page! See here |
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| brett |
| Posted on: Sunday, April 24th, 2011, 12:27:31pm |
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Mate that's really interesting about the mx-5 seats. I had read somewhere that reclinable mx-5 mazdaspeed items can be fitted, didn't think to check what a normal mx5 seat was like.
I could imagine being taken for a ride if I visited a dealer to get my servicing done. From the sounds of things it won't take much to put things right though.
Do you have a parts manual? I found it invaluable when working out what goes where. The hardest part of working on the car myself is physically getting in the right position to be able to work on it. I Usually have to take the drivers seat and steering wheel out if I want to access the engine panel
I had been driving mine quite regularly over the last couple of years, all up it's done just over 50,000km. Cosmetically the interior is fine but the grey fabric on the seats is a little faded, and some plastic and rubber exterior parts are showing signs of UV aging. It drives nicely although the suspension dampers have seen better days, and I suspect replacing some rubber bushes might tighten things up also. I haven't had to replace much except brake pads, I've done an oil and filter change every 3000km and I've changed the coolant and brake fluid every 2 years.
Performance mods I have done include an aftermarket ecu, injectors and larger exhaust / downpipe and turbo. The previous owner had hi-flowed the heads and had bigger valves fitted.
As I'm 6ft tall I've also repositioned the centre air-con console and removed the foot rest to liberate some knee and leg room. Oh yeah I re-profiled the drivers seat cushion into something much shallower, plus also lowered the steering wheel position by about an inch. It's relatively comfy for me now, even though I'm a big b*gger.
Right now it's off the road as I fitted an exhaust from japan which is honestly way too loud (98db lol) and I don't want to attract the wrong attention. Probably something to do with the twin 2" exits. When I have some time I should be able to get it quietened down though, and I'll be damned if I go back to stock
On my wish list are new adjustable springs and dampers (preferably something not jap-hard), adjustable camber plates, recaro spgs, maybe larger (but still light) wheels and brake discs and calipers. Oh and I'd like to make a subwoofer box in carbon, but as they say, all in good time.
If you need any help or advice I'm only too happy to help or try to find out what I can so don't be afraid to ask
Oh I spotted this on yahoo japan if you're interested.
http://page19.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/x174729787 |
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| Ricou |
| Posted on: Sunday, April 24th, 2011, 4:10:26pm |
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| Brett, can I ask you if you know where the bigger valves come from ? |
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| brett |
| Posted on: Monday, April 25th, 2011, 2:55:09am |
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| Ricou, I'm sorry I never thought to ask that question when I bought the car. I might have the previous owner's details somewhere, if I can find them i'll ask. |
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| Ricou |
| Posted on: Monday, April 25th, 2011, 12:07:31pm |
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| Thanks brett. I'm getting my engine modified and I'd love to get bigger valves, but I have almost no idea about where to look for them. |
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| Chernoby1 |
| Posted on: Wednesday, December 28th, 2011, 6:38:36am |
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“ |
Quoted from brett, posted Monday, January 10th, 2011, 11:40:58pm at here |
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Thanks Andy!
Yeah there are plenty of modded az-1's in japan.
I found a photo on the web of Braun's az-1 - the other owner I mentioned of one here in melbourne.
I remember hearing that he used honda prelude pop-up lights and a re-made bonnet, in order to get the look closer to the az-550 prototype which the az-1 was based on.
I actually really like this change, I think it looks great. Almost like a lotus from the 80's.
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Digging up an old thread BUT im here to confirm that Braun told me they were Honda Accord flip up lights and not prelude ones
Im still actively bugging him to sell me his one ...
HOWEVER, if at any point any of you guys decide its time to move on, id be more than happy to take one off your hands 
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Cappuccino Owners Club › Specific Discussion Boards › AZ-1 Owners Section › Aussie az-1s? (Moderators: )
