User blog:1steditionman/Mazda RX-3

I always had a special affinity with Mazda's rotary cars. When I was a kid back in the early 70's it was a statement of coolness to have an RX-2, 3 or 4 in your garage. Eventually Mazda perfected the rotary engine in the RX-7 models, of which we have one or two castings in the Hot Wheels assortment. I wish Mattel paused a bit with the Datsun/Nissan cars for a while and focused for a year or two on the fabulous and quite rare pre-RX-7 Mazda rotary cars. This example first came out in the Japan Historics Set of 2016, but I foolishly resold the case I got at Walmart on one of those rare days you strike gold by being at the right place and time. But then Mattel released it again in the 2017 Premium Race Day Series and this time I grabbed me a couple. This model is a left-side driver. For 2017 Mattel released the rotary-engined Mazda Repu pickup. So it looks like they will continue to pay attention to Mazda's rotary cars, from the Cosmo, the beautiful RX-4 wagon, to the Le Mans-winning 787-B.