Ravi, Enchanté: 1974 Mazda Chantez
This next car will need some kind of introduction, because unless you are the curator of a Mazda museum…you probably don’t know what this next car is…because I was totally completely unaware of the existence of the kei-sized, JDM only, ’72-’76 Chantez…wait…we’ve featured one of these Chantezes (Chantee?? Chanteux?) before…and here it is. The exact…identical, same Chantez offered for $6000 in PA back in 2016. Yup, and four years later and it still has the same skuzzy mummy skin steering wheel wrap…find this 1974 Mazda Chantez offered for $5,900 in Tampa Bay, FL via craigslist. Tip from Rock On!
I don’t mean to be a know-it-all about steering wheel covers…but I can’t imagine trying to grab that sticky mess of deteriorating goat skin on a hot humid day in Florida…so I pray that’s just an old photo and the owner has re-wrapped the wheel with any number of custom wheel wraps that would be an upgrade (and I don’t normally say that) over the current state of affairs. One more thing to note — look how alien the hatch is on this thing with the flaps on the side…wait that’s not a hatch…that’s more a vertical trunk…what is this thing!?!?
From the seller:
1974 mazda chantez
VIN: KMAA177613
condition: good
cylinders: other
drive: rwd
fuel: gas
odometer: 46425
paint color: green
size: compact
title status: clean
transmission: manual
type: coupe
This is a very rare 1974 mazda chantez, right hand drive, imported from Japan. Has a curb weight of 1080 pounds, a 359 c.c., two stroke, oil injected, parallel twin engine, which sends it’s 39 h.p. to a solid rear end through a 4 speed manual gearbox. Car also has very rare Hitachi air condition, which is complete, but not working at this time. This is a micro car, street legal, great for a local trip to the beach, would be great at the Villages. Asking $5,900.00, possible a trade accepted.
See a better way to drive something slow? tips@dailyturismo.com
I want this. It’s like a 2-stroke rear wheel drive Honda Z600. And what could be more sensible than that?
And I want to say this was some sort of roadside assistance vehicle. From my limited Japanese skills combined with the magic of Google Translate, I can say that the writing on the door says something like:
Na yama
(Yes) Auto Service Kazu
オートサービス is one of those neat phonetic phrases that has been taken from English and Japonicized. It is literally “Ōtosābisu” = oto sabisu = auto service.