i’ve scoured over thread after thread trying to figure this out to no avail, finally said screw it and just made an account.

i have a 1985 fb with no power windows or steering and rear drums. i’ve been trying to figure out what model i have, because it’s just been bugging me not knowing exactly.

i know for sure i have either an s(?), gs, or gsl. just not sure which. i can provide any info or pictures upon request, but id really like to figure this out. any help is greatly appreciated!

 

You can tell by the vin.All GSL models came with limited slip differential and rear disc brakes. Easy enough to look thru rear wheels for a rotor or brake drum. Rear disc=GSL Drum=GS
P/steering was an option on GSL and GSL-SE,not a high percentage of cars have it. I have seen manual windows on a GSL before,majority of them are power as are sunroofs.

Look at it this way,if your car is a GS,it's lighter than a GSL that has these options,so it's faster...

 

basically if you're looking at the bare shell;

the S will have no sunroof. manual mirrors (they have a different footprint, so it leaves a different witness mark on the paint) and A/C was optional so the holes the system used will be painted/unused

the GS will most likely have a sunroof, but no hole for the washer, as it didn't get that. its tricky because some years the sunroof was an option, although a lot of them have it.

the GSL/GSL-SE will have the sunroof and a hole for the rear washer nozzle

the non sunroof GS and the S are the most tricky to tell apart, but its fairly rare to have a non sunroof GS

 

So it is either an S or a GS (the lower trim levels with rear drum brakes). My VIN shows mine as a GS, but I don't have a sunroof or any power options besides power brakes. I do (did) have AC. Is that what sets the GS apart from the S? Hmmmmmm

 

The S model will not have a light in the hatch along with no swiveling map light, no dead pedal, no illumination for the ignition cylinder, no light in the glove box, no sunshade on the windshield, and no automatic transmission was available on the S model. So if you have the features above, sans the auto trans, and you have manual windows and a drum brake rear end, you have a GS.

 

Perfectly covered here

S's are more rare than GS's in my opinion. The most common S3's that I've seen are GS's, then GSL's, then GSL-SE's, S's are the hardest to find in my opinion. Does anyone have production numbers for the trim levels, or am I just talking outta my *** as usual?

 

I would intuitively agree that S’s are very rare. However, I would also opine that nobody really wants one.

 

I looked for a long time for a non-sunroof car, passing up many "better" cars with them.

 

i think that is right, the GS is the most popular, although for the production day i looked at, the gsl-se was about even with the gsl.

so, getting production numbers for the trim levels is possible, but it is a LOT of work, unless one was able to get Mazda to show you the database. if not each vin has to be queried individually, and they made 300+ Rx7's a day, so its a LOT of cars. it would take years.

the good news is that Mazda actually has the information, for the most part.

 

It would be nice if Mazda recorded and released the information. Would be even better if they broke it down into production numbers of colors as well.

 

they actually have the data, although i'm not sure how searchable it is. If i run into anyone at sevenstock its worth asking i suppose