Jay Leno, CNBC: Mazda Cosmo, Datsun 1600, Petersen Museum

[Jesda]

If you have adblock running, you can watch the episode here:
http://streamonline.me/jay-lenos-garage ... a-cruisin/

Best part is when Jay checks out the Petersen vault, closed to the public.

And the Cosmo may be the most underrated Japanese sports car ever.

[Bubba1]

I've watched the first two shows. I liked them both. As far as the Cosmo being the most underrated, I dunno if underrated is the best word to describe it. Perhaps "ignored" or "unknown" by the US market is better. In the mid-late 60's American car folks were more interested in big cubic inch V8's than tiny, overpriced, 2 seaters with a unique engine that could only be repaired by a handful of people. It's not until many years later AFTER several successful versions of the RX7 series did the original Cosmos even appear on the American car guy radar. Heck I doubt many people even heard of the dang thing until Jay Leno featured his on My Classic Car a couple years ago.

If we're talking underrated Japanese sports cars, I'd nominate the ol' Datsun Roadster looong before the Cosmo. The Datsun was a small, light weight, durable, nimble, more affordable sports car, much like a stubby Miata. Once the bigger, sexier, more powerful 240Z came out, the little Roadster quickly became the Rodney Dangerfield of Japanese sports cars. It's only in the last few years, that more people have begun to discover/rediscover how pleasant and underrated they were.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Every time I go to Greg's house, and he says "take whatever car you want", I always end up pulling the keys for his roadster off the wall. I effin love that car.