Age? Occupation? Why/when did you buy your fb?
 

I know there's one of these threads in the fd section but I just want to see the difference in owners between the two generations.

I'm 16, full time student. I got my first car/rx7 about a year ago. It's a 85 gsl se. I bought it for $500 from a neighbor.

17: Student/Valvoline: $1,200 84 GS museum quality that got TII swapped and is YouTube famous
18: Student/Valvoline: $100 83 GS garbage parts car
19: Student/Valvoline: $2,300 87 TII donor for the first TII swap
20: Student: Traded Audi UrS4 for 83 GS
21: Student: Traded Audi C4 A6 Avant for 84 GS getting a TII swap now
21: Student: $1,000 83 GS bastard child GSL-SE suspension, Pacifica widebody kit, 3-piece Epsilon Wheels getting parted out and recycled into the TII swap

31, project manager, bought it when I was 31. My wife has a boosted SA and I enjoyed driving it and I wanted my own 1st gen.

52, Technology Manager/Engineer.
Bought my SA when I was 27 (it was 9 years old) to use as a daily driver. Paid $1700 for it at the time. DD'd it for the better part of 16 years.

just turned 40. this year is fun, we're racing 2 miatas, i've got a pair of movie scripts to do something with, and i work at a garden. in a former life i was a parts manager at a Mazda dealership.

i've had my current FB since i think 2006? my first Rx7 was an 86 base model, purchased in 1993 for something like $5500. i've had enough Rx7's to loose count, but i've had every year and model from 79-93, and 3 Rx8's, and a R100, and an NSU Wankel spider... among a few Mercedes W108/109's (great cars), a few MGB's, and a Triumph Tr3, which is my favorite of the little british sports cars

57 / retired State Trooper

Bought mine in 1978 when I was 21 years old and a newlywed. My wife and I drove it daily until '94 when I took it apart ,restored and modded it. Now it is my main hobby, along with a newly acquired car that is identical to the first one,(same year, model etc,,) but still stock and original.

44 CPA bought the first one in 1988, a 79 GS. Totaled it 6 days later. Bought an 80 in 89 and drive it for 7 years then an 83 for 3 years. 6 months ago bought another 79 GS with 1/2 the miles as the first one at 2x the price. These cars are awesome.

24, retail. Bought my first 7 when I was 22. Lucked out on a FC vert for 1500. Drove perfect, alot of the issues were cosmetic but other than that, no issues. Totalled this past summer. Bought a SA in January for 1700 that I'm trying to get it roadworthy again

55, Software Engineer

Bought my 80 GS in 1983 as my first car out of college. Been with me ever since. Was a daily
driver from 83 thru 89, including 3 years in Pittsburgh. Officially became a toy in 89 when I
swapped on the RB Dellorto 48 DHLA with intake and the Rotary Engineering street
header/exhaust setup.

My only rule to mods is it can't be anything that is seen on the exterior or interior. Under the
hood and under the car has no limits. Oh and has to keep a set of RWL tires on waffles as well.

Sig reflects current mods.

30, Project management for an Insurance Company (legal robbery! lol). Got my first FB, my 83 S in 2001 for $1150. Daily drove it for many years and it's been through a bunch of restorations/builds.

Got my 83 GS in 2002 from a junkyard, also been through several "versions" along it's history with me.

Got my 85 S in 2013, built it last year, the closest thing to a "daily driver" FB that I have at this point, although much of my commuter time is spent in my BRZ :)

Bought my first one at age 21 while still in college in 1988. It was an '84 GSL. Totaled it within a few months. Bought my current one in January of 1989 while an Ensign in the Navy, an '85 GSL-SE. I was at the SWO school in Providence, RI and saw it in a used car lot in Fall River, Mass.

Got an 85 S, beige/brown at 16 for $1500. Daily driver for 3 years. My favorite car of all. I even lost my virginity in that car. :)

Then at 19, I got an 87 base model and then at 21 a 1991 NA. When I was 23 I had to sell them all. Now I'm 37, video producer, and I have a 1985 gslse identical to my first rx7 that I am restoring.

Young.
 

I am 20 years old, full time college student no job at the moment. Bought a 1983 RX7 gsl with a 13b, dellorto 48, oil cooler and some other mods all for $500 cash. Needs title work and a carb cleaning but it runs and I love it. Always wanted a RX7 and now I have one.

55, Geologist.

My first 7 was a 2nd Gen '89 convertible , bought in 1995 for $12,000 ( I have a dealer MSRP that was $40K in 1989 !). Still have it and love it. It was probably the most spontaneous purchase Ive ever made. It was on a used car showcase ramp and I was pissed off at my current vehicle and I just turned in on my lunch hour, test drove it , trade in and bought it two hours later. Knew next to nothing about rotaries at the time.

As I learned the true joy of the wankel engine, I was on the hunt for a first gen and wanted a early one and fairly cheap. Bought a running ( barely) '79 Limited in 2005 for $800 , restored it, drove it for a few summers and then sold it for $3000 in 2010. Even though I did some body work , it had some pretty bad rust in its core and figured it wouldnt last a long time.

I liked the first gen body so much I wanted to get another one that I could do whatever I wanted to it ( felt guilty modifying the LIMITED) so I bought another (non running) '79 in 2009 for $600 , but in good structural shape and have been customizing it very slowly ever since. No real timetable to get it finished and plan to keep it for as long as they let me drive a car. 3rd Gen might be considered after its done.

& won't the new owner be shocked when he finds it in there, under the passenger seat, along with 5 pennies and 13 petrified french fries! :egrin:

lol!

LOL. :lol:

21, working private equity, drive a 1985 GSLSE, original red has been repainted.

Was 18 when I got the car running after it sat for 7-8 years, been an evolution from DD (or daily stopped on the side of the road-er), to really focusing on a track dedicated vehicle.

I have always pictured having a beautifully restored SE like some of the old guys and having a track monster for the weekends. Will get there eventually. Something tells me the restored vehicle will take far more work and patience.

57, Retired Aerospace Engineer. I guess I'm one of those "old guys with a restored SE" mentioned above LOL. When I was in College, I lusted after the FB's at the local Mazda dealership. Finally got one about two years ago. Better late than never!

Interesting thread!

44 / Train Driver

Bought my FB four years back, but owned two FDs before (still have one) going back eight years.

Always wanted an FB ever since I read George R R Martin's (yeah, him latterly of Game of Thrones fame) The Armageddon Rag back when I was in hospital after an operation about twenty years back. The "hero" drives what I now know must have been a Mayan Gold S2, but it's long been one of my favourite books, a fascinating take on American subculture and music but also a jolly good story... bear in mind I'm a foreigner and it probably all looks very different from here... and knew if it starred an RX-7 then it must be one hella cool car, lol

First encountered an FB back in school when I used to walk to school past a Citroen dealership. One of the mechanics there clearly had no faith at all in their nasty French product because he owned (funnily enough) a Mayan Gold S2. Amongst 2CVs and BXs and wretched Euro-tat like that, the Rex looked like the Starship Enterprise had landed to my 13-year old eyes! Wanted one ever since

I'll have to read that one! My fiance and I are in the beginning of season two of the Game of Thrones TV series now. I plan on reading the books as well, since the show is pretty good. He still drives his white GSL-SE I believe, and has a castle mailbox (it's a thread on here somewhere).

62, professor of cell and molecular biology.

I bought my first FB, a light beige 84 GSL with the brown leather interior, from my brother-in-law in 2000. I paid a bit too much, but it was all I needed to realize the FB is the best car on earth.

The "Tan One" was rearended out on the interstate in about 2004, so I used the insurance money to buy a brown 85 GSL, also brown leather interior. I did the daily 100 mile commute in the Brown One for a couple more years until it got in a fender bender with a buick in 2006.

In the mean time I picked up another 84 GSL, white this time with red leather interior, which I put on the road when the Brown One got decommissioned.

In the mean time I found another 85 GSL, silver this time with the red leather interior, and when the White One threw an apex seal at 180,000 miles I switched to the Silver One in 2010.

Then I found a white 84 GS in 2012 and sold the Silver One in 2013, planning to restore the white 84 GS. But the GS turned out to be a parts car because I found an even nicer white 83 GSL, red leather interior, which is my current project.

So yes, 5 84/85 FBs in 15 years, 4 driven heavily as daily drivers for a total of more than 300,000 miles, plus a very sweet white 83 GSL currently undergoing total restoration.

And a shed full of parts.

This is a really cool thread!
I'm lovin all the stories!

Yeah it's interesting to see how wide an age/demographic range we're all in, yet we all love these silly cars :)

Seems like many of us kinda stumbled upon the FB, only to fall in love with it immediately. Like the car searched us out :D

52, Web Developer (C#, MVC, JavaScript, etc)

First RX-7 1980 GS Gold bought in 1984 while in the Navy.

53, CNC machinist. see sig. bought it for 50 bucks minus engine several yrs back after wrecking a 75 808 in '05. swapped everything out of the 808 and been driving it ever since. bought a wrecked 85 SE few yrs back for parts. engine will find its way into something one day. also got an early 79(right side hood prop) several months back not running. already had it running but an issue with the tank has it at a stand still at the moment.

got started in rotaries back in my late 20s early 30s with '73 rx3. got it from a junk yard for 200 back when they were still plentiful. put engine in it and drove it for quite some time before trading to a friend for his 74 rx4. wouldn't have gotten rid of any of these had i known then what would become of them now.

and still looking for another decently priced rx3/808 that's not all rusted out.

Ray green, you are my hero. Clearly the most a$$ in chair miles of any RX7 owner I know. Very cool.

How awesome!

My first RX-7 was a tired '81 GS that I bought when I was 18 in 1999. I needed a car to get to work (which was a remote fishing camp about 400 miles north on some very dodgy roads. When I bought it, I didn't:
- Know how to drive stick
- Know anything about cars whatsoever.
- Have any mechanical inclinations at all

I fell in love with that old car and it's funny little engine. It was a heap, though, with 200K hard miles and a very rusty body. I wasted quite a few dollars on bodywork and paint before I dropped it like a bad habit for my beloved '79 GS jalopy.

That car was cosmetically challenged to the extreme but very solid mechanically. I picked it up in 2001 at age 20. That car taught me how to drive because I started my foray into Solo II the summer after I bought her. Over the next seven years, I went through two engines, three exhaust systems (until I got the sound just right) and raced the pants off that beautiful old heap. While I had the '79, I bought another '79 in Spark Yellow that looked very pretty but turned out to be a pile of rust held together by a decent paintjob. It was flipped to a young guy who wanted to try his hand at fixing a rust bucket. I sold the jalopy in 2008 which was probably the second-worst decision I've ever made.

For the next six years, I was in an RX-7 drought. I stopped racing and got rid of all my spares, manuals and cool RX-7 stuff that I'd accumulated over the years.

Until...

October, 2013. My wife called me over and handed me her iPad. "Take a look at this," she said.

It was a gorgeous Stardust Blue '81 GS with (what I found out later) were some very rare Enkei EK94 rims and a glass sunroof (which I'd always wanted in an RX-7)

"I can't look at it," I said and handed the iPad back to her. "It's too pretty."

"You should go buy it," she replied.

So I did. Turns out she'd been plotting with my father to get me back into RX-7s because "I needed a hobby." ;) So at 32, I sat in the driver's seat of an RX-7 for the first time in six years and it felt oh-so-right.

So, I'm on my fifth RX-7 and, hopefully, my last. :D

You sir have an awesome wife. I get the stink eye any time I even mention working on my car.

My fiance was like that with my current one after only 12 months of me being without a rotary. She couldn't stand 72 months :lol:

29 ASE Mechanic/chemical engineering student

Why? Dunno, I wanted a RWD older car and I liked my MX3 so figured I'd stick in the family. I guess it just snowballed from there. Here I am now and I've got three of these things.

40 / Electrican. My then girlfriend helped buy me my first RX7. It was summer of 1991 and I was about to become a senior in HS. I wanted it bad especially since it was black and being sold by an older kid from up the block who I looked up to. It was an 83 and I was $200 short of the $800 price tag. She came over about an hr later w the $$ so I could get my first car. :) as I'm reading the stories I can remember how awesome and destinct the rotary felt starting up and driving slowly every morning until the choke kicked in on the way to school. All that car needed from me was oil changes. I remember the selling point was "look how smooth the idle is after the choke kicks in". It was @ a perfect & quiet 1000. That car was all orginal, clean and a blast to drive. Thinking back it was a total score.:icon_tup:

58 Auto,cycle technician. Have owned Four FBs over the years. Bought the 85 SE in 1993 from original owner with 59,000 miles. Has been garage kept all it's life. First them and then me. Car is in very good condition,interior perfect,no rust,everything works, runs great. Has been maintained by me and kept original with as many Mazda parts as possible, just got it's first clutch at 137,00 miles. Currently going through the suspension, new Tokico blues, RB springs, urethane bushings. When these cars were new i worked as a flate rate tech in the local Mazda dealer, had a hard on for an SE but couldn't afford one. Had a couple GSs and one GSL. One day was talking to a guy who said he knew where one was for sale, went and looked at it-it was near perfect. Turns out the car belonged to the wife of the man selling it. She had passed away three years before, he couldn't drive a stick, so it sat in the garage since the last time she drove it. Adult owned, it was CLEAN. Bought it immediately for 3000.00. Had to wait almost ten years to get one, this was as close to new as i'd ever get. Turned the engine over by hand, checked the fluids,aired up the tires and jumped the battery and drove it home. Like someone else said, i'll own it til i can't drive anymore.

83 gsl at 17 and i paid $1200 i was actually looking for a car for my mom she didn't want it but i did. That was a really bad deal i had no idea what i was doing at the time and the car was rusted so bad i ended up scraping it.

79 sa for $3000 at 19. I got this one for a steal completely rust free and all original the guy i bought it from was very nice he should of been asking 5k. This probably the only rust free 1st gen in Minnesota it is a keeper for sure.

Bought mine at the age of 21. . .(an 84 GS) from an Air Force Chief. Said his family was growing and obviously could not fit them all in this 2-seater! Car was in great shape too! Could not pass up buying it for 8k. Did not know a damn thing about the RX-7 but after reading a repair manual on how to do minor maintenance on it, read up on how the engine works, learned it's handling characteristics, and would occasionally race a friend (he owned a 300ZX) when cruising to the beach, I had no idea how attached I would become to it! Heck, when I had to do an overseas tour, I "sold" it to my brother with the agreement that when he was ready to sell it, I would be the buyer!

He drove it for 4 years and blew a rotor. . .he "sold" it back to me afterwards! :icon_tup:

Once repaired, I had it running for a while until work (and family) kept me from enjoying it, so she sits mothballed. . .FOR NOW!

Every year, I open the hood and (with determination) say to myself "this is the year I'll get her running again". . .and she sits idle. . .again! :(

2015: Haven't opened the hood yet!

28, deli clerk, got her in 2010 as a project/ rescue, the other prospective buyer was in the words of the previous owner a Mexican kid who wanted to make it a low rider. I had always thought that the gen ones were cool and $500 later she was mine, and not a low rider, a fate worse than the shredder.

59, Network Analyst (Whatever that means). I bought my first 7 in 1985, I was 29. It was an 82 GSL. I was a programmer at that time and had a run of good luck with some software. I had seen them around but had never driven one. Fell in love on the test drive. I lowered that car and put an ArKay turbo in it and eventually blew up the motor. It was a much better car as a daily driver without the "upgrades".

Still driving my 2nd FB as my daily.

I bought my first and only Rx-7 in 1980, I was a Design Engineer working on high pressure reactors. I bought a 1980 LS off the lot and still have the same car today. I sold an 1973 Roadrunner to buy the car seemed like the thing to do based on the rust and maintenance issues with the Roadrunner. Attached are two pictures of then and now. The older picture shows the car the day I brought it home, you can see the Roadrunner in the background. The current picture was taken last year before I put the car up for winter storage.

What else is there to say?

https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...p;d=1427500220

Im much younger than most old guys. Im a commercial loan banker (aka special assets manager) for a nationwide bank for the past 25 years. Im a hands on guy and my real job is totally the opposite as Im also a residential/light commercial hvacr tech & installer as well as a mechanic (operating out of my garage). Funny that i go to work on Mondays with black stain on my finger nails as I hate using gloves.

Rotarywise, i was exposed to them at age 15 and bought my first RX-3 in 1985 as my 2tg corolla was not fast enough against a rotary at LA street race (stadium way).

Im looking forward to being a grandpa so i can teach my grandson tricks of the trade lol.

Yup. Agree Ray. THAT is my perfect SA: yr/model/color. And an original owner. kudos-

Stu Aull (60, TV cameraman, 4th SA, prob last)
80GS
Alaska

I'm 48, a dentist and a writer and have never bought an Rx7 in my life. And I probably never will.

In highschool, we all admired the cool English teacher with the 1983 GSL complete with Aviator sunglasses and leather driving gloves.

I finally convinced my Dad he should get one and after dithering for years, he grabbed one of the last ones. Around that time I had also just got my driver's license so I likely put more miles on it than he ever did. When he passed, it officially became mine although I suspect it had been mine much earlier. It didn't need restoration, just a rejuvenation. Unfortunately the original engine now sits on my desk after less than 70k miles due to severe chrome flaking. It has a Mazda remanufactured engine now and I have 82transam's 12a keg ready to crack open for a rebuild as a future backup. Likely my son will need it when he assumes guardianship.

46, Building Maintenance tech.
I have owned 6 Rx-7s over the years, I bought my first Rx7 (a black '83 gs bought in '92 for $500) to protect my 85 Honda Civic S(also bought in '92) that I was daily driving and using for an auto-x car, the Civic was a FL. car all its life and was owned by a retired navy guy who moved to Ohio. He also had a right hand drive turbo fb from Japan that he brought with him when he was over there. He had to sell one of the cars for a mini van because he was having his second child. I went over to look at the Honda but asked about the RX-7 when I saw it but it was NFS.

Anyways the first Rx-7 was a beat car that already had rust issues when I bought it, I put a set of snow tires on it and a hundred lbs. of weight in the rear hatch and hit the road. It was a great car in the snow, as long as it wasn't to deep. I drove that car for 2 yrs. and then sold it to a friend who daily drove it for another 2 yrs.

2nd rx7 was a silver 85 GSL-SE with maroon cloth that I bought in 95 to replace my Honda as my summer daily driver/ autox/ track day car. That was a great car, I kept it mostly stock except for new adjustable struts/shocks and a Momo steering wheel. I kept that car until 2000 I didn't drive it very often and sold it ,because I had bought a 99 Mazda Miata sport to use as a daily / autox car. anyone see a theme here?
The friend that I sold the 83 gs was looking for another rx-7 to auto x and were sitting around having a couple of beers and decided that we should build a race car and found a lightly modded 79 in copper in 2001. So with hardly any mechanical skills what so ever and the greatest line in the world "how hard could it be" we started taking the car apart, and found some pretty bad rust so... I found another 79 in the news paper for sale I bought it for $500 in 2002 this one was a base model wasted black interior dark purple exterior, yes Purple. We then set about to split the costs of modding this car which became this car with much blood, sweat, head scratching and of course money.

Attachment 627844

The car is now mine completely after "trading" my friend a decent '88 gtu for the title and his half of the SA.
this is his current car

Attachment 627845

After using the SA for many years I still use it for auto-x and some track days but after seeing a few people trash there cars at track days I decided to buy a " real race car" with a roll cage and protect my happy little SA. so I bought this

Attachment 627846

its an 83 that I put a ton of work into to make it look like this it was just a roller without a motor or trans. it has taken me about 5-6 yrs to get this far.

Here's one more of both of the hanging out together

Attachment 627847

38 and am an engineer/integrator.

was looking for a 13b to put into my 1974 BMW 2002 and round a newly rebuilt motor (PO did not hold back on the rebuild as it consisted of brand new housing, large street port, etc)...problem was that it was still attached to an RX7 with a widebody kit that was just started to be installed. PO spent so much money on the car and was selling it for a descent price, it made sense to just buy the whole thing. ended up finishing the 2002 and selling it in order to start building the widebody. funny thing is that i've pretty much upgraded everything the PO owner did before so tossed out the new tokiko blues w/ RB springs for adjustibles and coilover setup, newly rebuilt GSL-SE motor replaced by REW, RB Street exhaust for custom, etc. have pretty much touched every part in the car now. build still in progress and slowly moving forward w/ building vmount.

I'm 25 now,26 in May/warehouse mgr
When I was 19 my girlfriend bought a 85 tender blue gs, which we drove on dates because my 70 cutlass sucks on gas mileage. Her dad then bought a 84 gsl-se Dover white with grey interior, for some reason I didn't know why at the time but I loved driving that car, knowing nothing about rotaries.
After being around them for a while I had to have one. The first one I bought and drove was a red 83 gs which got wrecked.
Then rxtasy3 let me drive his 84 s with its 13b monster, and I've loved the 13b ever since, and realized why I liked driving my girlfriend's dad's se.
Long story short and several 7s later I was lucky enough to buy her dad's se which I'm now restoring, and is the car in my avitar.

The Wankel wins another convert.

Here's some photos of rxtasy and his "13B monster" (on the right) and project7's GF's dad and his very venerable SE (on the left) while attending an OGTA meeting a while ago:

Attachment 626923

Attachment 626924

thanks Ray for posting those pictures, it's been a while since I've seen it all one color lol. Good times
One day I'll get it repainted to its former glory, except now it's carbed and faster:egrin:

I'll be 24 in a week. Valet on the strip. Got my 83 GSL at 15 1/2 when I got my permit. Daily drove it for a few years till I got another daily. Got sucked into the rotary scene when one of my older friends got his 84 GS. I was 13-14 when I got a ride in it and learned more about the rotary. That sold me.

What Else is there to say?
 

I have seen that car in person and it is every bit as lovely and pristine as the photo makes it out to be.

57, Assistant District Attorney, Bought my RX-7 GSL in February of '84, a few months after I passed the bar exam. It was a decision between the RX-7, the Honda Prelude and the Pontiac Fiero, Clearly I made the right choice and have never looked back.

It was my daily driver for 25 years until I bought a 2008 Porsche Cayman S. Now the RX-7 is a garage queen. It will never see snow again and will rarely see rain.