What? Wait! The Eunos 100, Mazda Familia Astina and Mazda 323F aren’t an AE86! So why is this entry part of the AE86 Wall of Shame? Well, hear me out! I found this 323F for sale on the German classifieds site Kleinanzeichen with the text “JDM, no AE86”. Yet if you squint your eyes, you will recognize it as the Fujiwara Tofu-ten. But does it deserve an entry in the AE86 Wall of Shame then?
323F or Familia Astina or Eunos 100?
The Mazda Familia Astina is a Japanese Domestic Market car that was also sold as the Eunos 100. Outside of Japan, the Mazda Familia was sold as the Mazda 323. Naturally, the Familia Astina was sold as the 323F to make it stand out and yet still hold ties to the 323 family name. Yes, that’s confusing yet clear at the same time!
This car is a 323F
The car in the classified ad is clearly a Mazda 323F as it’s a left-hand drive car. All Familia Astinas and Eunos 100s were right-hand drive. That didn’t stop the owner of this Mazda 323F from rebadging it. In one photo, it has been rebadged as a Familia Astina and in another the tail lights and centre garnish have been replaced by the Eunos 100 items.
Swapping parts
You can tell the difference between the 323F/Astina and the Eunos 100 as the Eunos items have a much deeper red hue. And that’s not the only JDM part that has been swapped on this 323F. The spoiler is an exclusive Eunos 100-only part. Edit: the spoiler is not the Eunos item as it is smaller and misses the third brake light. Thanks to Stefan for pointing this out! Also, an optional JDM digital dashboard made its way into the dashboard. From what I have found, the digital dashboard is a drop-in replacement for the RHD 323F. But I can’t say how much effort it was to replace it with a LHD car.
Under the blacked-out bonnet, we can see the original Mazda B6 1.3 1.6 litre 16 valve SOHC engine. According to the ad, it is rated at 88 hp, so don’t expect a lot of tire-shredding to happen with this car.
Finally, it sits on a set of Japan Racing JR5 wheels. The JR5 are basically copies of the Rays Volk CE28n wheels.
Verdict
My verdict on this car is that it definitely deserves a place in the AE86 Wall of Shame. It is clearly mimicking the Fujiwara Tofu-ten AE86 with its Fujiwara Tofu-ten sticker, panda paint scheme and blacked-out bonnet.
However, I must say it doesn’t offend me that much. The owner clearly is an Initial D fan and loves the JDM-only cars. He/she did a great job transforming a European-spec 323F into a JDM-spec car by replacing the necessary parts. If only this car would have had the more upmarket Mazda 1.8 litre DOHC BP engine.
Cool article about a pretty special car! :)
I enjoyed reading it, although there are two errors in the article:
1. Thie Spoiler on this car is not the original Eunos one. This would have more volume and features a third braking light.
2. The engine is the 1.6 B6. Although the B3 was available for other 323 models, the 323F started with the B6.
Thank you very much for these corrections! I have corrected both of them! Are you by any chance the (ex) owner of this car?
About the B6 engine: I guess I should have searched a bit better on the Wikipedia page of the Mazda B Engine:
In Japan, the United Kingdom, and Australia a fuel-injected version called the B6F was available. In Europe, the B6 also came in a 16-valve DOHC version, mostly found in the Mazda 323 BG and 323F BG models from 1989 to 1994. This engine was the same 1.6 liter fuel-injected, but with two camshafts and 88 hp.