Well today a friend,and I drove from one end of MA to the other through tight curving roads,and some snow squalls to pick up a new ride. It is a one owner 79 RX-7 S in Sonic Bronze with a blacked out hood,rear louvers,three piece fiberglass spoiler,and a sweet set of 15X7 Weds Auto Bahn wheels. It isn't running,but it only has 73k original miles,and shouldn't be too tough to get going. The engine is free turning by hand,but who knows what shape the fuel system is in. The plans for now are to steal the Weds for my RX-7 GS,or the RX-4,and then get it running hopefully with little money invested. If I can do this,and my father can come up with some dough to buy it from me it will be his. If not I will pass it along (without the Weds) to some one else. Tell me what you think. It is a bit dirty even after the soaking with some water to get most of the salt off,but it is surprisingly mostly rust free.

http://web.me.com/cdirado/Diradosite/79-RX-7-S.html

Chris

 

Wow, that thing is nice! Exterior looks perfect, quite a find. Where was it listed?

 

Thanks, I found it on Craiglist around September,or October,and really only wanted the wheels,but the seller would separate them,so I bought the whole car.

I forgot to mention the box full of Rotary Rocket magazines,and all the original paperwork from the car when it was bought new. I scored a pretty good deal,but until I get it running I am not sure how good a deal. I figure the wheels are worth around $500 due the rarity of them in a 15X7 w/4X110mm bolt pattern.

 

Nice score Chris!
Amazes me how someone will buy the stripper-version RX7 then spend the Big $ on add-ons like zillion$ wheels, etc....



rims will look nice on the Sparks 7 methinks!

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

daaammnnn. Those wheels are clutch.

 

To me the car isn't all that different than my GS really. I mean yeah it only has a 4-speed,but you can't tell that by looking at it. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a stripped down model in the future,heck I even bought the base model RX-8 when I had one many years ago,and it didn't bother me one bit.

I also got a stack of receipts from the local dealer in Vermont where he had almost all the work ever done to car. He had the clutch replace at some really low mileage judging by the receipts,and had a idler arm recall done almost 10 years after the car was bought!!!! Cool stuff in this box of goodies. I can't wait to dig deeper.

 

very nice find! i kno of another guy here in mass sellin a 79 limited or special edition? (not to familiar wit the fb's) but has under 5,000 original miles. ive talked to him a couple times and he said he would call me and let me kno his price but never did. i guess a tree limb fell on the roof but the damage isnt bad at all.

 

that one is cool, but in a really 80's way... i'd pimp it. oddly i don't think those wheels go well with that car...

 

not a fan of the wheels either but the rest of the car is awesome..but you may want to paint the hood sonic bronze as well...

 

I am surprised you guys don't like the wheels. I thought they were the best part of the car. I am going to try them on my RX-4 to see how they look,but ultimatley I think I want them on my RX-7.

I kind of like the blacked out hood with the Sonic Bronze. I am not sure I would havew done it myself,and the chrome accents on the bottom of the doors is a little off putting,but the whole package looks nice enough to me.

I am having a blast looking through the original issues of Rotary Rocket from when the cars were new. The comparisons to other cars of the day make the 7 sound so state of the art,while in this day and age the car seems so simplistic,and ancient. I love the cars no matter what though,and I think Mazda hit a home run with it back in the late 70's.

edit:

Oh yeah I forgot to mention I have the receipt for the wheels,and they were $150 a piece in around 82,so they were really expensive pieces back in the day.

 

there is nothing about that car that isnt cool.

 

Awsome find. Glad to see another SA saved.

 

They're very nice wheels, they just don't "fit" imo. The rest of the car is very "period" but the wheels are from a much later generation of ride.

The interior looks to be in nice shape, too. Good restoration candidate, perhaps.

Some people may think of the S model as 'low-end,' but in 79 they were still new and exciting. Sunroofs still carried a bad rap with a lot of people due to leakage problems with many 70's-era units, and weren't nearly in as much demand as they are nowadays.

Likewise 5-speed gearboxes. "3 on the tree" was still pretty much the US standard at that time. "Four on the floor" was still viewed as high-performance, and overdrives were rare. People were still used to the patterns found on lower-revving, torquey big-block cars.

 

i dont think they fit very well with the rest of whats going on with that car, but they are the best part, and would look badass on something else

 

Actually the wheels were brand new around 81-82 so they are very period correct in my opinion. They are not from a much later ride,but rather a little ahead of the times I bet. These wheels were $150 a piece when he bought them. A pricey outlay of cash in the early 80's for wheels.

 

Hubba hubba

 

Not Dissin' YOU Chris - definitely a nice find. Was commenting more on original buyers not springing for the GS package, yet eventually dropping $600 on a set of glitzy rims. Not sure if your "Base RX8" comment is comparable!! Even a Base -8 is pretty tricked out! For me having a no-s/roof, 4-speed 7 in the yard beside a perfectly sweet GS would mean the S would have a LOT of down time. IMHO you can't beat the open cockpit and extra gear for cruising if you have the choice (as you now do...)
But I still say: Nice Find!

Stu Aull
80 GS
Alaska

 

SAweet find,

if that was an original RHD here in Japan it would be worth about 10-12k minimum, the weds like that are not period correct though, regardless, they were not out until the late 88-90 time frame, (at least here in Japan, and were not popular at that time due to weight.... SSR and Watanabe all the way!(maybe Long champs also)

kenn