’83 RX7 Convertible

I recently saw this RX7 convertible on ebay. The owner knows nothing about the car. I know many of you are experts when it comes to the Pacific Avatar convertibles, but I have not seen any traffic on the convertibles by Global Coach on this website. Do any of you know the Global Coach conversions? How can you or I tell if this car on ebay was built by P.A. or Global? Thanks for your input.

Herer is the ebay car:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...TQ:MOTORS:1123

 

what i know about Pacific Avatar conversions is that they used a trunk lid from a Mazda 626, they had an optional turbocharged 12A, and used a Mercedes style top. the interior was also fitted with a wooden steering wheel and a lot of extra bracing under the carpet.

 

^^ What he said.

Pacific Avatars made trunks on the cars.

 

this is Pacific avatar

 

That... Looks more like an early Mariah body kit molded on to a chopped 1st gen.

Pacific Avatar's widebodies were sleeker, not as wide (and my personal favorites).

 

hi guys,
that Ebay car is puzzling. I'm pretty up on the pacific avatars i am learning about the global cars - not much idea. they were well known for their toyota Corolla conversions circa 1982. More to say on them.
The PA cars did come w the mariah body kit. U can see my car on the mariah website under 1st gen projects: a wide body PA car w the mariah conversion. Zach's old car, now owned by Dave is a narrow body PA car.
My car does not have a trunk, as it twisted violently when under turbo boost so the trunk was deleted. Dave's car has a 626 based trunk.
They all had a wing window reinforcement on the door . The key feature is the under body reinforcement that runs under the car. No reinforcement no convertible
As soon as the tuner gets done w my car i will post.
i contacted dave to see how he is doing w his car. Hopefully he will be well and be able to post as he is military and moves around as he is stationed.

 

Lots of info on the PA, Mariah, Global and other custom coach cars is inaccurate. Meditz and I have had many, many discussions about these cars over the years, and have compared notes, records and known facts, and still new info comes to light every year or so, as more cars come to light. Info on Wikipedia is incorrect as well, one incorrect fact was that PA operated from 1979 until only 1985. The last known 'official' PA car was built in 1989, though there are uncomfirmed rumors of former PA employees having their hands in conversions into the early '90s.

Not all PA cars had decklids, though most did. They did not all have wood steering wheels, nor all have the same tops or drivetrains. Most of the convertible RX-7s (no matter who made them) started with a basic package, and were then custom ordered from there based on what the coachbuilder was willing to offer or could do to the car, and of course, what the owner could afford to pay. We have yet to come across two converted cars that are the exact same. Zach's car is an example of one way they were done.

I spoke with the seller of the eBay car a few years ago when it was for sale in Ft. Wayne. When I contacted the seller in NJ to verify if it was the same car, instead of being honest and saying he didn't know, he said simply "no". It is. All info I gathered at the time led to it technically being a Global car, though with caveats.

Neal.

 

hi guys,

I contacted the owner, Jose after he took this car off of ebay and I bought the car.
It joins my wide body first gen PA car, Ultima. I always liked the lines on the non wide body car better so i plan to keep the narrow body stock looking and mod up the wide body car. Two first gen convertibles are better than one

After I spoke to Dave (who has a PA car) and Neil - into PA cars - and we all hoped that the car wouldn't disappear, I worked on the deal for a long time, to get it right. We will see when it gets here.

It is on a transport truck for New Jersey to California as I write this.
Arrival time is not for awhile. Pics tomorrow.

One note is that there was a snowstorm and the area has been locked down this whole weekend! They couldn't get the car to the transport. Tense moments as the transport would have to leave without the car and who knows if it ever would have made it to me, if things got too complicated.

This time, I will get pics posted. Thanks to Dave and Neil. Now we wait cliff

 

Those look awesomely dangerous

 

nice find! what are your plans for the car?

 

The car arrived.
Lots of small goofy things to take care of but straight and a good car.
Waiting for the signed title to arrive so i can register it.
I have a thing about registering a car in my name before doing too much work on it
I have had it turn out badly before.
Fixed a flat tire. Charged the battery. Side windows don't work.
It was covered in a black paint overspray so i am using a clay bar to remove it. Into that about 8 hours total so far.
I put it up on a hoist and took pictures. looks like Pacific Avatar undercarriage. Sweet !!
Only one small prior rust repair and one small new spot in the undercarriage.
Lots of cleaning.
I have been driving it around Los Angeles and put a few hundred miles on it: it runs well.
Robert at Rotary Shack is doing custom work on my Ultima - wide body pacific avatar convertible - i plan to let him look at the car.
I stored all my pictures on Picaso - but can't figure out how to post from there. Working on it. When i get it figured out i will open a build thread.

 

lol just past url to picaso

I am sure I am not the only seriously curious how it looks

 

 

Ahahaha ^^^ Bump that