Great Little Car Now Great Little Source of Scrap Steel
Not many folks remember Mazda’s Chevette competitor, the rear-drive Mazda GLC. OK, it was more of a Toyota Starlet competitor, but there’s a certain Chevette-ness about its lines. I spotted this super-rare machine at a Denver self-service wrecking yard yesterday.
A Great Little Car! We have to wonder what marketing genius came up with that name for the Mazda Familia.
More shots for my collection of Little Trees In Junked Cars photographs!
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
More by Murilee Martin
Comments
Join the conversation
This was Mazda's Hail Mary. It was Mazda's 1958 Rambler American. Faced with collapsing sales, Mazda sent to the US a car that was an anti-Mazda at that time. The GLC had nothing distinguishing to recommend it over the better Honda Civic, VW Rabbit, Ford Fiesta, and Omni/Horizon. But the GLC didn't have to be perfect. It had to be cheap and dependable. Mazda didn't have time or ability to spend millions to launch a new US model at this time. The GLC let Mazda dealers show buyers something other than a Wankel and buy time. Like the Rambler American's good timing, the Mazda GLC arrived in time to catch a break with the Carter Recession, exploding gas prices, high inflation rates, high bank loans and sold enough to pay the bills to keep the brand alive. The GLC is easily forgotten. The new 323 arrived with an outstanding design, excellence in engineering and front wheel drive. By 1982, the GLC was forgotten. It did it's job, and did it well, but it was a Hail Mary pass that while caught, didn't win the game. The GLC tied the score to keep Mazda in the game. It was better than a Chevette, because, well, nearly everything was better than a Chevette.
This was my first car. A 1978 Sport model in this very color. The 78's still had the round headlights. The sport trim package added a tach & orange (!) striping. It was not faster than the base model. Of course, being in High School at the time, holes were hacked in the back seat walls & 6x9 speakers installed.