diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

i will be 42 in 3 months. i've been a nurse for 9 years now, though i also do some other things (mechanic, write).

got my first Rx-7, an '82 S, when i was 17. i got to drive it for about 7 weeks and it got stolen.

my brother (Afterburner16) got me into rotaries. he had a pretty colorful history of Rx-5s and Rx-3s. the first i remember him with was an Rx-3 Wagon (circa 1987) though, which he traded for a crashed '83 GSL. i totally fell in love with his Rx-7 and had to have one.

i've had 3 FBs since my '82 got stolen in 1991, bought an Rx-8 in 2007 and my FC (which i have yet to drive) in 2010. i'm not done yet though, but i've put myself on a ban from getting any new rotaries until i fry some bigger fish.

mazdaverx713b

iTrader: (91)

I'm 33. I'm a police officer

Bought my FB back in 2008 simply because of the color and did a GSL-SE engine swap. Been a great car. The project took me a little over 4 months. Previously I have owned 34 RX-7's and I'm on my second RX-8. Started buying the 7's when I was 17 and have never looked back since!

FBorDie

18 years old, Currently a Lube Tech at a Volkswagen dealership. I was looking desperately for a cheap S13 (240sx) that wasn't beaten within an inch of its life when I was about 16. Hopped on Craigslist one day and found my soon to be '83 GSL. I managed to coax my dad (hater of japanese cars) into going with me to check out this old Mazda. He figured it was some silly little FWD econobox. He took her for a test drive, fell in love with it, and I bought it. I didn't know a damn thing about RX7s or rotaries then. I bought her about a week after my 17th birthday. I'm 18 now, so I've had the RX7 for about a year and a half. Since then I've had one SE parts car and one FC parts car.

Moral of the story, FB's are way cooler than S13s even if they aren't as good of a platform.

GySgtFrank

iTrader: (4)

55, retired Marine. My father bought a yellow and black '75 REPU in '76 while I was in high school. I was hooked. I eventually bought the truck from him, but was an idiot and sold it many moons ago. Once I had the time again I started looking for a rotary project and ran across a non-running base model '79. I had wanted one bad when they first came out, but couldn't convince the bank that a senior in high school was a good credit risk. So I bought it and have been having a great time with it, even if I can't seem to quit modifying things.

Al Capwned

I'll be 20 this month as a mechanical engineering student and a Lowe's employee. I paid $2150 for my 1981 gsl in November '14. The Saturn my parents had given me was more than on its way out and I needed to pay cash. My mom wanted me to buy a Honda civic or something of that nature but I knew I had to have RWD. A coworker of mine was selling a tII for about 3500 but that was a little steep to also pay for school (especially after my second speeding ticket in 4 months) so I had to pass it up, but I fell in live with the idea of a rotary. I started looking into rx7s and found this one a few weeks later. Been loving it since... Enough to rebuild the engine. I have plans to do crazy things later down the road. Next project will provably be trying to ls1 swap a different FB.

JDuncan

iTrader: (3)

I chuckled when I read this. I will have to look for that book. Given more recent revelations, I am inclined to think it may have been a 84 S3 five letter in Formula White.

George R R Martin's driveway in Santa Fe:

Rusty_Shackleford

Hey there, I'm 34, I run a property/environmental inspection buisness my wife and I started a couple of years ago. Before that I was a manufacturing facility engineer working with large corporations to make plants more productive while also increasing safety and environmental friendliness.

As far as my FB, I do not own one yet! I owned a few fast and an FB in the past before moving to German makes for a while. I've always wanted an FB and I do have plans for the car I do pick up. I've always loved the rotary engine, and I can't wait to dive into another rebuild.

captainbizzaro

Was introduced to RX7's at the age of 21 by a guy called Wendy (you read that right), I bought his S2 pretty much on the spot even though it was pretty rotten and had a lot of fun in her until my garage thought I was taking the **** about trying to MOT such a rusty car. A few years later after after marriage (1st lol) and kids (4) I stumbled across Nev, a Maya Gold S2 that I bought off eBay for a steal and never looked back.

Now the ripe age of 35, an Electrician, happily married (2nd time round) and proud owner of two S1's and Nev the S2.

1986rx7se

29, Regional Service Representative for a large fuel cell company.

I bought an 86 se with street port when I was 16, then a 10ae project, then an 87 na, then a 79 base model, then an 87 turbo2, and now I have an 85 gslse with a turbo2 swap. I LOVE THESE CARS. I've owned over 80 cars in the past 14 years, and none compare to the fun you can have in an rx7. I started off wanting an FD, but the older I get, the less appealing they are. I love the styling of them, but would hate to maintain one.

Red95FD

iTrader: (3)

I'm 59 and retired. My buddy bought a red 79 in 1979 and I loved driving that car. Then I had a girlfriend that had an 80 or 81 black/red GS I think. I went out with her longer than I would have if she had not had the rx7.
Through the years I've had an 86 gxl, 90 base, 91 vert, 88 AE, 89 GTUs, 95 Fd, and then I bought an 84 GSL-se and fell in love...again. I still have the GTUs and Fd and next week I'm looking at an 84 GSL with low miles silver/red. My wife says I'm only allowed 3 rx7s so the GTUs has got to go. Will be on autotrader and ebay soon. Somebodies going to get a super Fc.
And if I find a super low miles gslse, I will sell my Fd too. That's how much I love the Sa and FB.

mpsmallz

22 years old. 1st job out of college. Working for a chemical company at a high pressure low density polyethylene plant. Just got 1st rx7 about 2 weeks ago.... 1985 GSL-SE turned ocer 77,777.7 miles on my way home from biying her!

ray green

iTrader: (14)

Wow, 77,777.7.

The Rotary Gods must be smiling MP, nice work! Got pics?

mpsmallz

Duh!!! Like a thousand pictures! Had ti make sure I got the ".7" once in a lifetime!! Pic is on my computer, I'll throw it up soon!

Starfox07

I'm 26 and I'm an architect. Got my FB just a few weeks before starting undergrad in 2008 (as you can see from my join date, I had wanted one for a while) and it saw me through my first degree. Bought a brand new Mazda 2 for going out of state and that got me through grad school and across the country exactly 6 times. Just when I start my new career Mazda unveils the RX-Vision concept. Thanks, Mazda. Now I just have to find room for all three. In San Francisco. Ugh.

t_g_farrell

iTrader: (1)

I heard folks are living in box trucks out there, is that you?

cshaw07

iTrader: (14)

26, biomedical equipment director, I got my first fb at age 19, then another, and another, and another. sold my last one 1.5 years ago, and then just bought a super nice 9/78 SA that I have big plans for.

mpsmallz

The Magic Number!!




Hit 77,777.7 miles on the drive home!

FirebirdSlayer666

iTrader: (3)

I'm 27 now and I'm a correctional officer.
My journey into this disease started in 2005. I was on the hunt for a vehicle since I totaled my Neon. I saved up all summer and started looking. I had narrowed my choices down to an SVO Mustang(which I knew nothing about at the time) and an RX-7(which I knew next to nothing about at the time). I just happened to call the guy about the RX-7 first and struck a deal. It was a 1983 S model. Sunbeam Silver metallic with black interior. It had the steel wheels with the factory hub caps still on it! To this day I've never seen another FB with the hub caps. I paid $750 for it and it wasn't running. I picked up another Nikki and frankensteined the two carbs together to make one decent running one. I daily drove it and even moved across the country in it. While living in Boise, ID in 2007, the motor blew. I blew an apex seal on the front rotor and didn't know what happened at the time. I had no other choice than to drive it like that until I could move back home and get another vehicle. The FB would sit in my yard, I eventually pulled the motor to find the apex seal broke.

So summer of 2007 and I move back home with my girlfriend at the time and bought a 1989 GXL off of my buddy for $1200. It was Harbor Blue with the blue interior. It had a myriad of issues that I slowly fixed. Just as one thing would be fixed, another issue would pop up. Eventually I had enough and decided to get out of the FC and back into an FB.

In the fall of 2007 I came across someone here on the forums looking to trade his SA for an FC. I thought it was a perfect deal. I drove down to VA to look at it and we made the trade. Enter a 1979 S model that was mostly Spark Yellow with a few different colored body panels and a brown interior. This one had the 4-speed manual in it and came with a bunch of extra parts(GSL rear end, Kamei air dam, etc). It had 69K original miles on it and it ran like such. The choke even worked correctly(My FBs choke would never stay out on it's own)! Towards the end of 2008, I get a crazy *** idea. I decided to take the motor, radiator, and oil cooler out of the SA and put them into my FB that's been sitting in my back yard. So one unusually warm and quite rainy December day, my dad and I set out to do as such. We had everything swapped over and it running in under 12 hours.

At that point I put the SA up for sale as a roller and included the torn down FB 12A. In early 2009, I made the mistake of agreeing to move back to Idaho to help start my girlfriends career. Not too long after that, the relationship fell apart and I once again, moved back home. This time, the wiper linkage decided to seize on the only day it decided to rain when we left. The clutch hydraulics started to fail which left me stuck for a bit on a one lane road(due to road work) in the middle of the painted desert in Arizona. The plus side is at one point I got 29mpg out of it! The day after I got back, I had to be at work and the starter failed on me. At this point I was done. I went out and purchased my first vehicle that I financed which was a 2005 Kia Spectra. The FB sat for a few months until I had some money to work on it. I eventually replaced the starter, replaced the wiper linkage, replaced all the clutch hydraulics, swapped that GSL rear end I had and got her back on the road as a weekend warrior.

Towards the end of 2009, I came across a 1987 Turbo II roller that was too good to pass up. I drove down to NC and picked it up. I ultimately sold the FB in early 2010 to a forum member here to help fund the Turbo II project. The project was supposed to be easy because a buddy of mine had everything I needed to make it run. Ultimately, I ended up being screwed over and the whole project was a nightmare. I finally called it quits and sold it in 2012. I've been without a rotary ever since. I've been without a driving rotary since 2010.

Now I drive a 2001 Focus wagon with a manual. Next year I plan to get a 3rd Gen Mercury Mountaineer to handle daily driving duties and then I'm gonna look into another fun vehicle. I just don't know what I want to get yet. I've been kicking around the idea of a Miata for a while. I'd also love to get another RX-7, whether it be an SA/FB, or another FC. I've also thought about maybe an old school rotary like another Repu(owned one the first time I lived in Idaho but it was in poor shape and couldn't bring it home with me), or an RX-4.

jvg

61, retired school teacher. Bought my '81 GS new on February 20, 1981. A '73 RX-3 wagon which I also bought new was my daily driver at the time. My GS has always been a Sunday/fair weather only car and at 65K miles is an unrestored original car except for wheels and tires and is now only driven to shows.

Mazdax605

iTrader: (5)

41 Electrician/Telecom tech Bought my current 78 production SA 10+ years ago. My first RX-7 was an 83 LE that I bought in 1998 for $800. Probably over paid for the car that needed loads of work including a new clutch, and eventually an engine. The current 79 SA I bought from the original owner, and it didn't need much aside from some TLC to get it back to running/driving condition.

Mazdax605

iTrader: (5)

Took this picture back in 2006.

kutukutu1

iTrader: (5)

25, mechanical engineer, bought my fb back in 2007 for $1000 and a whole bunch of issues. I would not trade it for any other car. I love my 1st gen.

RLM55

60, structural engineer. Bought my 1981 RX-7 new for $13,000. I was considering buying the Datsun 280ZX, Triumph TR7, and the Mazda RX-7. Definitely made the right decision! Over the years I have replaced 2 engines, replaced most of the interior twice, and had it repainted a few years ago. I plan to turn the car over to my daughter someday (in the distant future) since she loves the car and learned to drive in it.

ray green

iTrader: (14)

"60, structural engineer. Bought my 1981 RX-7 new for $13,000. I was considering buying the Datsun 280ZX, Triumph TR7, and the Mazda RX-7. Definitely made the right decision! Over the years I have replaced 2 engines, replaced most of the interior twice, and had it repainted a few years ago. I plan to turn the car over to my daughter someday (in the distant future) since she loves the car and learned to drive in it."

Wow.