Holy clean, yellow, '79 with 13k miles on eBay!
 

This is a truly amazingly well preserved 1979 Mazda RX-7. The vehicle currently has only 13,000 miles. The vehicle is yellow exterior, and finished in its original paint, with black leather seats, with no tears or rips. The interior still has that new car smell. The car is all original except for new tires and battery. The car has never ever been in an accident, or damaged in any way. The car has never seen rain, or snow, or even a cloudy day. The car has never been smoked in and everything works as the day it left the factory. Truly the ideal vehicle for that discerning collectors dream;

This car has a unique history, it sat on a dealers showroom floor for over 20 years as a display. Duuing this time the car hardly moved, only attending the occasional show, for advertising purposes. The car was then sold to a mazda collector, who kept the car for seven years. The car was then sold to me. I am the third owner.

In 1978 Mazda made the decision to ship 1 yellow RX7 to each Mazda dealership in the United States for a total of 356 yellow cars which this is one of the original cars. This makes this car truly unique. These cars were meant for display purposes only and were not to be sold for one year after delivery. . The car spends it's life under a cover in an environmentally controlled garage. This car is being sold AS IS.No warranty, or guarantee is being given in any way. Any questions you may have please E-mail me, and I will be pleased to do my best and answer them for you.

NOT MINE! However, someone should buy this thing!


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1979-...item4aa31bb48b

All original 79GS with leather seats? :scratch:

Nice car. Bids nearing $6k without meeting reserve yet.

Strange... we're treated to pictures of only the passenger-side interior.

No underhood shots, no clear shots of the driver's seat, driver's carpet, driver's pedals, steering wheel, - - all of which would be the most likely visible confirmation of this car's actual usage.

I know, I'm a suspicious cuss.

Back glass looks tinted, too. Not something usually done to cars that have spent their entire lives in a climate-controlled garage.

I agree. There are some small things that are just not right for a 13,000 mile car. The front lip has too many chips in my opionion for that many miles.

definatly look like vinyl seats. also an other thing that sparks my interest is the passenger side mirror. i didnt think they were available in 79. perhaps it was an option. also based on the vin it was not a very early build. very nie car though.

Yeah, I certainly wouldn't stop the owner from accidentally leaving it at my house.

Hour and 20 left, and the bids ain't moved... I'm betting this one doesn't clear the reserve hurdle this time around.

we have a guy in our local group that has a super clean 79 that his Dad had since about 6k on the odometer, it has a passeneger side mirror. perhaps it is production date/vin number related. We went to open the hood on his I was on the p/s side looking for the prop rod for the hood because thats where mine is, kinda of trippy the things that changed over that first year.

But the one on ebay does almost seem too clean

And climate controlled garage?? I wanna know what else is in that garage!?!?

I was curious about ALL this as well. Why no motor or drivers side pics what so ever OTHER than the cluster? Why does the back window seem to be tinted and the chips?

Yeah, the dent under the front airdam is disconcerting.

i'll be you're right. every tiem i list my 80 LS on ebay, it comes just shy of my reserve..which was only $3500. people dont want to pay anyting for a nice RX-7.

Anyone also notice there was not a clear pic of the dash where it cracks? I didn't notice one

^There were no clear pics of the entire dash or drivers side the car looks to have been well cared for BUT, something don't feel right and those are vinyl seats not leather.

Perhaps it is the lighting, but the spark seems to be missing from the spark yellow. I would have expected better from a car stored as claimed.

The other part of the story that seems odd to me is that they claim these were allocated to dealers as show room cars. If so, you think this would have been done early in the model year. The RX7 was already a smash success with waiting lists and prices soaring over sticker price.

My .02

US $7,825.00
Reserve pricenot met .... WTF???
SA22C-538014

some thing is just not right here and yeah 20 years on showroom floor?

:D
have a look at this ad I pulled from Hemmings about 3 yrs ago.... look familiar??
TOO coincidental NOT to be the same one IMHO. Based on this, I'm not surprised it didn't meet the reserve!
kooky....
Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

^^^ good call Stu!! both cars are suprisingly from Conneticut... *rolls eyes at the $38K price* and i thought i was asking too much for my 80 LS. this guys is out of his mind.

Probably provenance-seeking for insurance valuation or something.

granted it has low miles but really?

I'll give him $5k, fix any small dings and defects, disassemble it, and store it for another 30 years.

Ok of topic for a sec, but this appears to be a knowledable group. How would I find out how many 79 Daytona Blue's were made?

There is no answer for how many of any one specific color or model were made mazda did not keep records on that with the exception of Limited edition cars. As for this story of one yellow per dealer that would be bunk I have it on very good authority from one of the original and still in exsistance mazda dealer. As for the passenger mirror it was an option later in 79 but the early 78 cars didn't have them... Stu you are more than welcome to chime in with more of this info as well

Dave, you have it covered, as usual :)

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

I can't believe Stu had that ad saved from Hemmings, incredible!
I noticed the AC/fan knob doesn't look stock either. It needs a button to turn the AC on/off regardless of the fan.
Beautiful car anyway, even with the the wrong AC knob and all. Like, if I had a few thousand's sitting around....

That car may not have had AC... it was an option, not part of the GS package.

the auction did not list a/c as an option that the car had.

So you guys have seen that style knob on a 7 before?
Interesting it still says air conditioning on the vent selector .

Alot of cars from the 70's and early 80's are like that on the vent selector, and saw one once but it was on a car in the bone yard so not really a good reference but pretty sure it's stock.

Early cars had a different switch without a seperate push button for the A/C. I think Stu knows the S/N break. If the car had air, you just turned up the fan speed for more or less. Not sure if it was always on, or if it activated at the same time you turned it up.

Like the hood prop rod locations, speakers in the dash, door map pockets and dash vents, these details changed during that first model years production. These subtle evolutions between March 78-May 79 created an early, mid and late production versions of the 79 production year.

Well put banzai, makes some things unique to THAT year only.

my/NODE's SA has that knob too. car did not leave hiroshima with A/C. mine did get a really horrible aftermarket POS a/c system somewhere along the line.

i was thinking about going thru the parts fish, and making a list of all the changes. its common for the english cars, and mazda made it much simpler. some cars need to be looked at to tell what was changed in some parts but that's kind of the fun part

One of local guys have I believe what would fall into the late 79 group and the a/c button is in the middle of the fan switch.

Fish sounds interesting as I intend to add a/c to mine, any idea where the early 79 switch would be?

FWIW, 80 SA switch was likewise in the middle of the fan knob.

Per the parts fiche, the small AC button in the middle of the fan switch (Knob, Air Con) first appeared with Serial #541117, and then changed again on Serial #588207. Pretty sure change was to have the button light up in the center when active.

The original fan switch knob (Serials 500001-540410) was strictly a one-piece deal.

The actual switch also went through only one change, at 540410. Probably (diagrams are not clear) to accommodate the push-on AC function.


Apparently, if they didn't have the button in the middle of the fan switch, the AC was turned on when you pushed the entire knob in, if you had AC. The button-in-center design came later.

79 wiring diagram B shows the AC relay (controls the compressor clutch) being under the control of the ECU, but shows no reference at all to what would switch the AC on... which means it was in a different document, most likely. The diagram shows a lead going to the "Air Con Harness" which likewise gets no further reference.

80 diagram, same thing.

The 1979 product information book states:
(Note)
Air conditioner made in the US will be installed on the vehicle in the US.

Which explains the factory manuals not providing details.

wow great info, so as my SA is 504000 I would be looking for a fan switch that push in as well as twisted if I am following correctly.

Talk about a treasure hunt lol

That's my guess, based on what little I could glean from the docs I have.

Real answer would come from someone with an early 79 owner's manual. Or an early 79 with AC.

Guess that answers my question :)

I would think that even if your car didn't get the A/C installed once ashore, it would have left the factory with a fan switch that was configured to operate it. Does your fan controll knob have a push feature to it?:scratch:

Either that, or AC fitted prior to 540410 had a completely separate switch installed, but none of the Mazda factory documents show it, or where it would have mounted.

Interesting thing is, even with the 80 wiring diagrams, the fan switch appears in the wiring diagrams, but does not show any schematic representation for the AC center-push contacts. They are simply not shown, even though they are physically part of the switch.

Bizarre.

Wow sweet SA find. Bidding closed under the sellers reserve price. I don't blame him this one is worth 25 grand. This car really should be protected let's hope someone takes care of it.

oh yea, forgot what this thread started out as.

Funny thing about the value of things such as these. They are only worth as much as someone is willing to pay. Supply and demand. They are srarce enough, there just doesn't seem to be enough buyers with both the desire and bank accounts, all clammering over them. That's what keeps even the exceptional ones languishing under 10K normally.

DD, that is strange. I have never heard of a seperate off/on switch for the early ones. Stu believes it was just "always on" and you just turned up the volume so to speak. I just wondered if 13K's selector had a push feature. I doubt it but stranger things have happened.

lol I assume you meant 13x, it's a dang good question I will be checking this evening cause in hot vegas I am too damn old to not have a/c when it's 117degrees outside

I really like driving the SA and it would allow me to drive it more :nod:

no 13x yours is early enough it will have the always on type of switch, as posted the a/c units are what is known as port installed and there were 2 or 3 different ones hence you will find different types of compressors at one point in time i had some of the A/C manuals if you are looking for their specific parts and numbers I would suggest looking in the service bulletins from that time that is where mazda published alot of US special part numbers. Also as for the break out of the parts in 79 and 80 or any year for that matter determining if it actually a different part. Look at the part number if the only thing that changed was the last letter the only difference is a price code not part change. This could have happened because of a vendor change or mazda wanting to make money. If the part number itself changed then it is a totally different part.

From reading old articles in the Rotary Rocket and car mags of the day, the early non-push-button, AC-equipped 79s had the AC on _All the Time_ ! ook. Lots of bitching and moaning with owners in the RX7 Club of the day about how to wire around this annoyance. My understanding is this was only finally addressed by Mazda with the push-on, push-off center button.

Stu Aull
80 (non-air-con'd) GS
Alaska

There ya go "X" man. If you had air, it would always be on! Stu, what would you want A/C for in Alaska anyway?

Does anyone know when A/C was no longer port installed? I have a pristine '83 GS with no A/C. If I am not mistaken, I would think that A/C would be an easy install if you could put together the parts that made up the port or dealer install kit. Not so easy if the A/C was factory installed, I would think.

It slows the mosquitoes down.

awesome, thanks guys, so I can move foward without having to find the holy grail/or vin correct switch, but at 101 hp always on err nope lol but there is a replacement for R12 that we are getting really good feedback on so no retro-fit yeah

the US government taxes cars higher with A/c than without, so A/c is still port installed.

however there are cars which did get factory A/c for sure.

the 84-85 GSL-SE's ALL had factory AC.
84-85 GSL's with PS AND AC have factory AC too

everything else generally had port installed. so maybe 80% are port? it does seem like the 83's its more common to find factory air.

Interesting, I have an 83 shell, currently for sale, and it appears to have factory AC. There is a Mazda information plate on the evaporator housing, and the condenser is a little larger than all the others I have seen.

About the AC always being on in the early cars, in most newer vehicles the AC is always on in most of selections on the switch, even on heating/defrost, to remove moisture(prevents windows fogging). On my 03 Ford pu, it's only off on panel, or in the off position. Just sucks on the 7 because it robs so much power.

So the switch w/o the button is still in question, AC on when switched on, or no telling by looking at it? I would think that if it has air conditioning written on the selector, it would have AC. As far as I can recall, all the other makes of cars I've seen w/o AC didn't have it written on the control panel. Maybe as to not remind the owner that they opted not to get it.

There were multiple part numbers for the light-up insert in the console panel that displays the vent modes and temperature; I'd guess they were for AC and non-AC versions. I'll check my owners manual when I get home tonight; it no doubt shows pictures of both panel configs for the 80 year.