Well I bought my fifth Rx-7 in this lifetime, a very well cared for 1980 Anniversary Edition. I am going to sell my 79.
Some of you may have seen the car on BAT.
I have been an Rx fan since 1980 when I bought my first one. I will admit that I was unfamiliar with these Anniversary Edition cars, especially since I owned a 1988 Anniversary Edition!
The 1980 AE was painted Renaissance Red, has a little X badge, and wicked cool retro cloth seats. It also has power mirrors which really surprised me. From what I can tell looking at various pics online, it seems that the 1980 AE and LS editions had these power mirrors. The other cool thing about the AE is that it has BOTH a moonroof and painted sunroof. I really love this new car. It will stay with me forever.

 

Great Car, nice find! Congrats. Certainly a very special SA. Pics seem to suggest a nice detailing polish could really make the paint pop!
Fun Fact, all the later model 80 SAs were prewired to accept the power mirror switch assy. Just add mirrors and door harnesses
Thanks for showing her off. The fun begins...
Stu A
80GS
AZ

 

And-
have never seen the electrical widget mounted to the driver side strut tower before. Any idea what it is???

Stu A
80GS
AZ

 

That's Is an amazing example for sure!! How many miles are on the car and do you know any of the car's history?

You are correct in that the power mirrors were introduced on the Leather Sport and the 80 10AE. The 80 10AE was a special model celebrating Mazda's 10 years in the U.S. market. There were other Mazda models that also were 10th Anniversary editions that year. They were also painted Renaissance Red and also had the Roman numeral X on the car. The Roman numeral X signifies 10 as you know, and Mazda chose that to represent their 10 year mark and placed it on a select few models. No exactproduction number per model was recorded between these models as far as I'm aware.

Stuff, the contraption by the left side strut tower appears to be a battery shut off switch.

 

Thanks Stu. Interesting tidbit about the mirror wiring!

 

It's a kill switch. The car was in storage for a very long time prior to the last owner. It does make me wonder if there is a slow draw on the battery somewhere and this could have been their solution. I'm just leaving it "on" so I'll know soon!!!!

 

Thank you. I'm really pleased with the car. I've been learning about these 80 AE cars. I knew that the AE were spread across other Mazda models but I can't find any pics of those cars online! The Renaissance Red is a really nice color.

 

Congrats ! Beautiful ...and i do remember that car on BAT ..You were the highest bidder at $8,500 but the reserve was not met ??? I guess you worked out a deal with the seller and in the end you got it ...Good Luck with it ! .....

 

Main battery shut offs are sometimes used for cars that are stored for long periods, or as an anti-theft deterrent. The moon roof is an aftermarket piece. Mazda only provided the body colored ones until a year or two later. There are a couple threads on here about the 10th A/E cars.

Not much info seems to exist about them. 8000 were reportedly made across GLC, 626 and Rx-7 models. I've never saw any hard facts to confirm that number however. Mazda did not promote them very much and I don't recall anyone even having any old brochures or advertising for them. If you uncover some, please post it up. You definitely have a special model in very good condition. I was surprised it didn't get more love on BaT.

 

Yup, that was me! I did make a deal after the sale with the seller who interestingly sold me a 1980 TR7 a few years ago. Very good guy.
Thanks for the clarification on the roof. I've hit Google and can't find any old brochures for any of the Mazda AE models. As I mentioned above, I had not heard of these cars before and I've been a rotary head for a long time!

 

My books also state that 8000 RX-7's, GLC's, and 626's were produced in the 10th Anniversary livery. The book stated that no count by model was made. What is the build date of your car?

 

1/80.
Wow - 40 years ago now!!!!!!

 

Congratulation very nice car. Never saw the temperature switch on the radiator before.

 

I'll have to have a look at that.

 

Wow.

 

coolant temp sensor is in the rear housing near the oil pressure sensor. that's probably coolant level sensor.

 

Have look at the picture above . The coolant level sensor is on the top of the radiator. I think it will have something to do with the AC.

 

I have the coolant temp sensor in the same location on my 80 Leather Sport. I'll do some research to find out of it's for cold start vacuum advance or what:

 

well i've only known of the temp sensor in the rear housing.

 

FYI, my 80 does not have it. This is also a CA emissions equipped car.

Dave, what book has the 10th A/E numbers you referenced?

 

I missing the subzero reservoir on the picture.

 

The subzero system was not used on vehicles sold new in California. They did include a special CA emissions package not used on cars sold in the other 49 states. (known as Federal cars)

 

So the temperature switch i missing on your car will start the subzero injection i think!

 

This temp sensor bit is interesting, because I've noticed for the longest time that my car has two bullet connectors in the harness right there that go to nothing. Now I perhaps know what they were for. Did the Cali spec cars have a different harness than the Federal models? Reason I ask is because my car was Cali spec in terms of smog equipment but it had the cold start assist/sub zero system. Intriguing.

The only temp sensors I ever knew of were the one for the gauge by the oil pressure sensor, and the choke **** one in the t-stat housing. I wonder why Mazda decided there needed to be three. I always thought the t-stat housing sensor was the main smog temp sensor.

 

So can someone tells me which of the two sensors here goes to the instrument panel?
btw, this car runs about half way up the temp gauge which seems high. Comments?