Spannerhead

iTrader: (1)

Follow-up question: Which has been your favorite?

I've owned three:

- Black '85 GSL I bought sight-unseen on eBay for $500 up in PA.
- Red '85 S that became the recipient for the GSL's engine
- Maroon '85 GSL-SE: Current project

I feel like I need to experience an S1 or S2, haha.

So far the S still stands as my favorite. I bought it off eBay with a blown engine for $300. The seller worked at a bodyshop and had really done a bang-up job repainting the car:





I sold it after the engine ate an apex seal in mid-corner. Wish I hadn't...

...but it's the whole reason I bought the current SE. The SE has the potential to become my new favorite, but it needs more work to get there...

JDuncan

iTrader: (3)

1979 GS in Sunrise Red
1979 GS in Spark Yellow
1979 GS in Daytona Blue Metallic
1980 GS in Sunrise Red
1980 GS in Aurora White
1984 GSL in Light Beige
1984 GSL-SE in Dover White
1984 GSL-SE in Sunbeam Silver Metallic
1984 GLS-SE in Sparkling Black Metallic


The 80 in Sunrise Red was the one that I never should have let get away. The 80 in Aurora White is the one I never will let go of, though it has a long way to go to be on the level my red 80 was.

What is that? A preference for SAs and SEs? I don't know what you are talking about.

dougingraham

My favorite is the 85 GSL with Leather interior. This is the one I converted to a plug in EV and that made it even better. The 85 GSL-SE is certainly a fun car but at this point in my life the stiffer suspension makes it less appealing although a good car for driving hard on twisty roads. But it is not reliable enough to be a daily driver. And I don't think anything but swapping the Wankel for an electric drive system will ever make it so again. The 82 GSL was my first sports car and I remember it fondly. I saw it years after I sold it and the kid who owned it after me just trashed it. I look at the 84 and 85's and the interior still looks modern.

DivinDriver

iTrader: (15)

I've only ever needed the one.

twinkletoes

iTrader: (17)

Same here DD. My one and only 83 GSL.

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

i've had 4 of them over the years. in order, i've had:

1. '82 S (stolen)
2. '81 S (sold)
3. '83 S (scrapped)
4. '84 GS (damaged, but still have it and plan to repair)

saying which one is my favorite is tough, but i'll try.

my '82 was my first car, so it holds that special distinction, but i only owned it for about 5 months or so - and out of that 5, i only drove it for about a total of one before someone took it. no real time with it ... ELIMINATED!

my '81 was a rust bucket, but it kept me high until i could find another supply ... ELIMINATED!

that leaves my '83 and my '84. i got to do a lot of learning, REAL driving and racing with my '83, but i was young and at times, dumb! i did have A LOT of fun though. a lot of big moments, a lot of backyard and yes, ghetto ingenuity, but some failures as well.

my '84 got a much more mature and methodical owner/father in me and i got to take much of it apart and replace it bolt-by-bolt. i got to really understand what it means to TUNE a car. my record-keeping started with this car. nothing but progress until ... a tire blew out on the highway.

looking back at things, and looking at what i just wrote, i think i would lean toward my '84 as favorite.




as an aside ... i've got way too much going on to realistically be looking for any more projects, but i truly believe i have a sickness because as i said, i plan to fix my '84. however, i still want to get an SA, a S3 GSL or GSL-SE and, yes, i would like another '83 S.

ray green

iTrader: (14)

I've had 6, and the Rotary Gods aren't done with me yet.

RotaryJones

- '79 SA
- '84 GSL-SE (my current summer daily driver)

other previously owned rotaries:

- '73 RX-2 2dr
- '73 RX-2 4dr
- '87 TurboII seven

borinquen7

iTrader: (1)

In the 23 years of messing with these cars i have owned, registered and insured 17 1st gen rx7's.
My favorite had to be an 85 I bought in Maryland it was a gsl-se. In awesome awesome condition, she still had these little clear plasric film over some of the control in the dash. I loved everyone some more than others. But loved them all.

Siraniko

iTrader: (13)

I lost count after 2 dozens. Currently have a SA, FB and 2 RX-3s + 2 more old school RXs parked off-site.

Qingdao

iTrader: (3)

I've have 3. And each addition has been the "Last one I'll buy I SWEAR!!"

Spannerhead

iTrader: (1)

Wow! I think you win. You're either single or have the most patient, understanding SO in the history of the world.

Siraniko

iTrader: (13)

flipping cars started in mid-80s; bought old school RX and SA/FB with blown motor for dirt cheap and sell then within 6mos by installig used but good motors from boneyards and jap importers. But good used motors dried out in the mid-90s.

That turned into a hobby, restoring old school RXs as a stress reliever while working full time, part-student and raising my kids. So it kept me at home instead of partying elsewhere and getting into troubles lol

Redliner223

iTrader: (6)

Siraniko is our hero. lol
I've got 2 so far.
'79 GS
'80 GS

I want a early '78 and a convertible, maybe even a 20b swapped first gen.
I'll get them just will take time.

Banzai

iTrader: (13)

79GS Sunrise Red
80GS Tornado Silver
79LE Beat Black
79LE Beat Black

Probablly never sell my orginal 79 that I bought new when I was a tender 19 yrs old. I expect to some day be the last original owner left on the planet!

GySgtFrank

iTrader: (4)

I have to go with DivinDriver and Twinkletoes. My 79 SA is my one and only first gen. It keeps me plenty amused. Although I did have a '75 REPU many moons ago and badly want another.

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

i've lost count.... i think.

5/78 build, GS, sunrise red, probably the nicest one, certainly one of the most fun.

1980 GS. the first project car, bought in 1993, for $300? the engine we found to put in it was a 6 port 12A, so the first project was basically figuring out that the engine we had needed all kinds of weird rare parts which we didn't have AND it was blown. i called japan for parts, i ended up finding the intake from the guy i ended up working for at the dealership later, small world...

1980 GS this one had a targa top, AND the GTU widebody kit. stock engine though, big tease.

1981 GSL, i bought it for something (seats?), and gave it to my friend for his birthhday

1982 S, was built as a pro7 car in the 90's, and then spent the 2000's literally up in the rafters, i got it put a bunch of stickers and a P port engine in it, and its a happy little car, also fun.

1983 limited edition. bought for $300, fixed the vacuum leak, and drove it daily for a couple of years. it was a really nice car to drive

1984? GS white. this one had literally the whole RB catalog on it, some small fender flares, etc, pretty fun, but smoging it was impossible, so

1984 GS white. traded for the other, this one was stock, passed smog, first engine i rebuilt in 1997. it was a DD for something like 40,000miles.

1984 GSL white. this one had leaked so much oil between the dowels that it caught fire. i found a used engine (good one this time) and put it back together, this one was circa 1995.

1984 GSL-SE silver/red leather. traded it for a couple sets of FD turbos. i drove it for a while, before someone wanted it more than me.

1984 GSL-SE T9 brown/brown cloth, i bought this one wrecked, and fixed it. it actually turned out really nice. finished in about 1997, someone hit it in a parking lot.

1984 GSL-SE, the black *****. bought new by a member of the bay area Rx7 club, it got passed around and had the S*%t beaten out of it by everybody who is anybody since it was new. currently in LA, its tempting to buy it back, again.

1984 GSL-SE bought as a project, i had no room, so it hung around the dealership, and then my friends house, until i sold it

1985 GSL-SE maroon/red leather. bought this vandalized, it actually got hit by a door on the freeway, had potential...

1985 GSL-SE the silver bullet, another car that has been passed around, it was prepped to auto-x and then hit, and then i bought it, i pulled out the tail panel, and fixed a couple of little things, but basically didn't do much, it eventually resurfaced with that blackdeath247 guy

i really want another, btw

iowa_hawk1

iTrader: (4)

I have an '84 GSL that I bought new in February of '84. It was all I could afford and figured I probably wouldn't be able to afford another car for a really long time given my student loan payments, rent and the occasional need to eat every now and then. I kept it clean, changed the oil religiously and was lucky enough to have a garage to keep it in most of the time. I drove it for 25 years before buying another car.

MosesX605

'82 GS Maroon/Maroon - My first RX-7 and my first car, period. It had been beaten to death, rather shoddily resurrected and beat back down again before I got my hands on it. I put an RActive muffler on it, had (an extremely bad but still expensive, somehow) paint job and sold it after some kids climbed up on the roof and jumped on the hood until it cracked around the air cleaner.

'79 GS Silver/Black - The race jalopy (and my daily driver for more than a few years.) I loved this car beyond all reason and measure. I drove it for seven years, replaced almost everything mechanical twice and spent almost every weekend in the summer thrashing it around the parking lot courses. She was ugly, rusty, dirty, noisy and ill-tempered but nothing felt quite so good (at the time) as driving her around hairpins and sweepers.

What a noise she made, oh man.

I sold this car (to my eternal regret) to start working on a '90 GX because I wanted 'something newer.' Holy Christ, what a dumb decision. Turns out the GX had a blown motor and the guy who sold it to me knew and lied through his teeth about it. I trusted him because he raced and seemed decent. Huge mistake. I looked around for an engine but I lost interest and it got sold at a garage sale for $200 and my dignity.

'78 Spark Yellow/Black. This car was a looker but it was only skin deep. I used to drive past this car many times a week, just sitting in the back parking lot of a local mechanic. One day, I walked in and asked if the car was for sale. Turns out, someone brought it in for some work, balked at the price tag and never came back. The car sat on the lot for five years before I jump started it and drove it home.

It was rotten to the core and had been resprayed and bondoed to within an inch of its life.

I rebuilt the carb, put new points in and sold it to a young kid, a week after I bought it, who wanted a rustbucket to bring back to life with his new welder.

'82 Stardust Blue Metallic/Black - I'd been away from RX-7s for six years and didn't think I'd ever own one again. Every so often I'd look at the classifieds wistfully but they seemed to dry up around 2010 and pretty much disappeared. Then my wife found this RX-7 in secret, called my dad to show him the car and hatched a plan to get me to buy it. One morning she nonchalantly showed me this car and told me to go buy it.

I couldn't believe it but I saw my window and I took it.

So I've owned four first-gens and one second-gen. My favorite was, and probably always will be, my race jalopy but this new one is pretty clean and presentable enough to drive around every day and get looks/nods and thumbs-up from many passers-by.

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

??? sounds like there's a cool story here.

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

not really, i was driving on the freeway, and ahead of me in the other lane was a truck with a portable office building on it, and they had left the window open, and the door was facing forwards.

so naturally it blew off right when i was in the way, it hit the car right at the base of the windshield, which turns out to be a difficult spot to fix, so the towing company bought it for a lot of money.

Spannerhead

iTrader: (1)

I think I would have soiled myself.

Nice stories, gentlemen.

j9, you never said which was your favorite.

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

its hard to choose just one...

the 79 is was great car (NODE made me sell it to him), its really fun to drive, and its in really nice shape, and mostly original, all around its probably the one.

Peepers (the 82) is more fun to drive, and its easily the crowd favorite. its also a really happy car. the only problem with it is that its a track car, so i don't drive it as much as i want.

KansasCityREPU

iTrader: (9)

1. 1980 GS - (bought in 1985) Gold with brown interior. Came with bad motor. Had never done a motor swap but learned with this one.
2. 1985 GSL-SE (bought in 1989) Black - This was my favorite. Owned for 30 day and it was stolen from my apartment. They found it in Bridgeport Connecticut on the street stripped of everything. The only thing left was the shell. I bought it from a cop. Not sure this had anything to do with it getting stolen. Insurance paid $3000 more then I bought it for.
3. 1980 GS (bought in 1989) Grey. Installed a factory reman motor.
4. 1979 G (bought in 1990) - Installed a 1984 interior and flipped.
5. 1985 GSL (bought in 2000) - Still own - This has been my long term project.
6. 1985 GSL-SE (bought in 2014) - Still own - Trying to sell

Others:
1975 REPU
1977 REPU

Jhereg

iTrader: (27)

First time I drove in one, I was a passenger. Guy I worked with in a restaurant gave me a ride home after we closed the bar out after work and I had missed my bus. He hit redline with every shift. No idea how he did not get a ticket that night, but it was fun as hell.

I bought one not too long after, I believe it was an 81, gold in color, all stock. Grey interior.
It ended up getting impounded when I loaned it to my sister, and by the time she got around to telling me, the fees to retrieve it were more than I paid for it. After having it for awhile and learning more about them, I knew I wanted an SE for my next one.

Took awhile, but I finally got my 85 SE from a forum member here who had it posted on CL down in California. Silver with grey interior. Couldn't pass up a good deal on my 2nd, also grey interior. Yellow with black racing stripe.

I'd love to grab a REPU someday.