Voting was completed, and the much anticipated November RotM is obviously MazdaMadness. MazdaMadness brought a tear to all of our eyes with his heart felt story of his "Mrs. Robinson" and all of the hardships that she went through. Many of you felt that alone was enough to grant MazdaMadness with the November 2005 ClubProtege Ride of the Month. Congratulation's man, you deserve it!
1990 Mazda 323 Sedan
My parents ordered it in Zagreb somewhere in May, 1990 and the car arrived on train from Amsterdam in December! I was 3 years old then and i remember every moment of the first family new car drive!
Modifications:
GTX Steering Wheel
Cone Filter
Kayaba Gas Struts
About the car and it's owner:
My name is Marijan, im 19 and cant imagine myself driving something that isnt mazda, or driving slow
The engine is a B6, which runs like hell compared to other engines here in Europe that are similar by ccm and hp. And of course, its in perfect shape, no mather what you do to it and how you drive it... (once I had to brake hard and with braking I downshifted from third to second gear at ~120kmh, engine screamed, tach needle hit 8000rpm and got stuck there. I had to turn off the engine and start it up again to get the needle back to normal again LOL). So, the engine stays untill it dies, or if it becomes boring, I`ll try to kill it by making the first B6 SOHC turbo mod hehe.
I came up with a name for the car 3 years ago. The idea came up after watching the movie "The Graduate". Mrs. Robinson is older woman who tought a young boy "some stuff". I figured out that everything I learned about cars, I learend on my Mazda, and she was bought via "Autohaus Robinson" in Graz, Austria.
So, its a 1990 323 sedan, what you call Protege. It's powered with a B6-E engine, 1.6 8v injection, some say 82 hp, 84hp, 86...whatever, what I know that it is faster than most of cars which are around 110hp or so. My parents ordered it in Zagreb somewhere in May, 1990 and the car arrived on train from Amsterdam in December! I was 3 years old then and I remember every moment of first the family new car drive! War in Croatia came when the Mazda was 6 months old. My dad was driving from a far part of town and the sirens around the town were on telling that air strike on Zagreb was in progress. Everybody was running home. A bus oversteered on a road and started spinning towards my dad, to avoid a direct crash (and they were both around 50-60mph) my Dad turned hard and hit a military road block, went trough it and stopped. The car was totaled. The hood was rolled on the roof and both sides were torn open. My Dad managed to start the car and he drove home for 5 miles without a radiator and a lemon size hole on oil pan. The engine survived, without coolant or any oil, impressive. After that, My folks fixed the car.
When i was around 9 my mom tought me how to start a car since I was showing a lot of interest. When I turned 13, I drove it up and down our 50 meter long street.
The ugly part...
For 15 years my mom was driving it... nobody acutally cared about the car (struts weren`t replaced for 200 000km!!!) She`s full of dents, suspension is a disaster because everything is still first parts on her and croatian roads are sh*t!
Now, this is where I fit in. My strongest wish came true when I turned 18. I got my license and the 323 was all mine (mom and dad wanted to buy a Citroen Xsara diesel but i said that i will move out if they do it so they bought a 323 sedan BJ)! The car, full of dents, squeaking, on crappy michelin 175/70/13, and I didnt spare the car one bit. I drove it hard all the time, and the car was just faster and faster. Made me sooo happy many many times, after killing some guys in new cars which say "GTI" and such, asking me: "What the hell is that"? Most always a simple answer with a smile was enough: "Its a Mazda"
Of course, we have our local automotive forum here and many many of us meet every Sunday. At first nobody could understand why im i so interested about old boxy, a bit rusted, Japanese thing. A few Sundays later many of them realized. Hehe
Im a student and everything related to cars in Croatia is extremely expensive (gas is 5,60$ per gallon). I worked during summer this year, didnt go to any kind of vacation to earn money for new struts, engine mounts, ball joints and bushings. And so I did. I installed new KYB gas struts, I had eibachs planned, but I didnt have enough money for rims and tires so I gave up on that idea for a while. I did all kinds of stuff with this car. Some say that Im crazy, but what the hell, if its fun, I`ll do it!
And there you have it. The story that won our hearts, lol. Lets all give a big congrats and a pat on the back to Marijan for his relentless dedication to his car.
1990 Mazda 323 Sedan
My parents ordered it in Zagreb somewhere in May, 1990 and the car arrived on train from Amsterdam in December! I was 3 years old then and i remember every moment of the first family new car drive!
Modifications:
GTX Steering Wheel
Cone Filter
Kayaba Gas Struts
About the car and it's owner:
My name is Marijan, im 19 and cant imagine myself driving something that isnt mazda, or driving slow
The engine is a B6, which runs like hell compared to other engines here in Europe that are similar by ccm and hp. And of course, its in perfect shape, no mather what you do to it and how you drive it... (once I had to brake hard and with braking I downshifted from third to second gear at ~120kmh, engine screamed, tach needle hit 8000rpm and got stuck there. I had to turn off the engine and start it up again to get the needle back to normal again LOL). So, the engine stays untill it dies, or if it becomes boring, I`ll try to kill it by making the first B6 SOHC turbo mod hehe.
I came up with a name for the car 3 years ago. The idea came up after watching the movie "The Graduate". Mrs. Robinson is older woman who tought a young boy "some stuff". I figured out that everything I learned about cars, I learend on my Mazda, and she was bought via "Autohaus Robinson" in Graz, Austria.
So, its a 1990 323 sedan, what you call Protege. It's powered with a B6-E engine, 1.6 8v injection, some say 82 hp, 84hp, 86...whatever, what I know that it is faster than most of cars which are around 110hp or so. My parents ordered it in Zagreb somewhere in May, 1990 and the car arrived on train from Amsterdam in December! I was 3 years old then and I remember every moment of first the family new car drive! War in Croatia came when the Mazda was 6 months old. My dad was driving from a far part of town and the sirens around the town were on telling that air strike on Zagreb was in progress. Everybody was running home. A bus oversteered on a road and started spinning towards my dad, to avoid a direct crash (and they were both around 50-60mph) my Dad turned hard and hit a military road block, went trough it and stopped. The car was totaled. The hood was rolled on the roof and both sides were torn open. My Dad managed to start the car and he drove home for 5 miles without a radiator and a lemon size hole on oil pan. The engine survived, without coolant or any oil, impressive. After that, My folks fixed the car.
When i was around 9 my mom tought me how to start a car since I was showing a lot of interest. When I turned 13, I drove it up and down our 50 meter long street.
The ugly part...
For 15 years my mom was driving it... nobody acutally cared about the car (struts weren`t replaced for 200 000km!!!) She`s full of dents, suspension is a disaster because everything is still first parts on her and croatian roads are sh*t!
Now, this is where I fit in. My strongest wish came true when I turned 18. I got my license and the 323 was all mine (mom and dad wanted to buy a Citroen Xsara diesel but i said that i will move out if they do it so they bought a 323 sedan BJ)! The car, full of dents, squeaking, on crappy michelin 175/70/13, and I didnt spare the car one bit. I drove it hard all the time, and the car was just faster and faster. Made me sooo happy many many times, after killing some guys in new cars which say "GTI" and such, asking me: "What the hell is that"? Most always a simple answer with a smile was enough: "Its a Mazda"
Of course, we have our local automotive forum here and many many of us meet every Sunday. At first nobody could understand why im i so interested about old boxy, a bit rusted, Japanese thing. A few Sundays later many of them realized. Hehe
Im a student and everything related to cars in Croatia is extremely expensive (gas is 5,60$ per gallon). I worked during summer this year, didnt go to any kind of vacation to earn money for new struts, engine mounts, ball joints and bushings. And so I did. I installed new KYB gas struts, I had eibachs planned, but I didnt have enough money for rims and tires so I gave up on that idea for a while. I did all kinds of stuff with this car. Some say that Im crazy, but what the hell, if its fun, I`ll do it!
And there you have it. The story that won our hearts, lol. Lets all give a big congrats and a pat on the back to Marijan for his relentless dedication to his car.
and I promise you all that this BG will zoom zoom around for a long long time 
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