OK guys...help me out. Identify this car!!
I will have pictures in a while...but... I went with a friend to look at an RX-7 for sale. He ended up buying the car, but I have NEVER seen one like this.
OK here go's on the description. It is an import car (meaning it was NOT originally for sale in the states) It is a 1980 and it says SA22C on the vin and the title says SA22C Here is the tricky part.... the car does NOT have metal bumpers like a SA22C has. It has 81-85 tail lights, rear and front bumpers! It has a back seat It has power windows It has headlight washer squirters It has original round front fender marker lights It is left hand drive (normal like USA) This one has got me puzzled!!! Any ideas?? |
Canadian car..?
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The headlight squirters are a dead give away the car is Canadian. Maybe someone had previously changed the bumpers?
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European
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the 1981 model year started production in 1980...
european sounds likely... |
euro spec i had one when i was in germany
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Originally Posted by j9fd3s
(Post 10200662)
the 1981 model year started production in 1980...
european sounds likely... Could be Canadian...dunno |
The 81 conversion away from SA22C nomenclature was a North American thing, as I recall.
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everywhere other than north america they were still SAs
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Originally Posted by rotarydude
(Post 10201332)
everywhere other than north america they were still SAs
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Originally Posted by 80's old school
(Post 10201608)
Oh... OK.. hmmm... makes me wonder if it is an 80??? Did they ever make a 81-85 style 1980 car anywhere and title it as an 80?
the 1981 model year production STARTED in 1980. europe also did not switch to the 18 digit vin numbers in 1981 like we did in the US, they did switch (anyone know when?). so a 1981 rx7, could have an SA22C vin AND be made in 1980. in the US we usually title cars by the SELLING date, but that may not be how they do it in say europe, as maybe they looked at the build date to issue the title. the model year/assembly date we use in the US leads to some weird things, like the 1993 rx7's, which were all built from 12-91 to 6-92, there are NO US spec 1993 model year FD's built in the calendar year of 1993. or someone put the 81+ stuff on the front and rear, its been done before... whats the build date on the car? |
My understanding is that outside of NoAm, All first gen RX7's sport an SA22C serial number.
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It's definitely not Canadian. While some of our models did have the headlight squirters, we follow the same VIN structure as the US does.
DivinDriver is right though, outside North America pretty much all places kept the SA22C VINs for the entire run of the 1st Gen. So it could come from any country outside North America that has Left Hand Drive. Jon |
The round front fender side markers are kind of significant, too... Eurospec?
Does it have "Savannah" logos on the sides? Pictures would sure be handy... especially if there's an emissions sticker inside the hood, since they're country-specific in a lot of cases. |
Originally Posted by DivinDriver
(Post 10203096)
The round front fender side markers are kind of significant, too... Eurospec?
Does it have "Savannah" logos on the sides? Pictures would sure be handy... especially if there's an emissions sticker inside the hood, since they're country-specific in a lot of cases. I will tell him to take pics once he gets back. |
Is there a possibility that this particular car is from South America, seen some interesting stuff come outa there?
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I personally owned a 85 GS that came from Germany. It looked just like any other S3 along with the FB vin. South America cars do have some weird stuff going on with options. Maybe XLR8_Planet will chime in here (not sure if I spelled his S/N right).
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Hi guys
if it has the license plate between the taillights, most likely is euro spec (the ones we received down here in south america) |
Originally Posted by -xlr8planet-
(Post 10206129)
Hi guys
if it has the license plate between the taillights, most likely is euro spec (the ones we received down here in south america) |
Sounds like a frankencar.
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Sup way - and everyone else!
So I am the resposnsible party for this guessing game. I have been away in Canada this week, but as soon as I get home tomorrow I will promptly take some pictures. Hopefully this will help in solving this riddle. It is ceratinly intresting to see everyones guess/thoughts on where my car came from. |
Aussie maybe?
does it have the famous rat-nest? |
Aussie's are RHD generally.
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Originally Posted by -xlr8planet-
(Post 10209524)
Aussie maybe?
does it have the famous rat-nest? |
Originally Posted by G3NONE
(Post 10209502)
Sup way - and everyone else!
So I am the resposnsible party for this guessing game. I have been away in Canada this week, but as soon as I get home tomorrow I will promptly take some pictures. Hopefully this will help in solving this riddle. It is ceratinly intresting to see everyones guess/thoughts on where my car came from. |
OK so here are the pictures. Take a look and a guess!
http://s969.photobucket.com/albums/ae176/g3none/RX7/ |
That is really sweet. I have never seen a rear seat in a 1st gen.
Kinda strange to have a build date of 1980 but the other sticker says it conforms to regulations applicable to 1984 model year new motor vehicles. Especially sense build date plus 1 equals model year.......usually. I.E. build date 1980, model year 1981. :scratch: |
That is a Euro Market car. RotaryDude will be able to tell you more about it. It has Euro-Spec front turn signals (back by the doors), Euro-Spec power mirrors, headlight squirters (I had a Danish car that I sold to one of RotaryDude's buddies that didn't have them), and it has the same injection molded rubber spoiler that was on my car.
It also has the same clock. Post the VIN and we can give you a year. It will be "SA22C____________". This is considered a S2 car. The main difference between the S2 and the S3 is that in the US, the S3 cars switched to a "JM1FB____________" VIN, whereas the rest of the world still had SA22C through 1985. |
Sa22c00651061
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Here is my old Euro Spec car:
http://s265.photobucket.com/albums/i...o%20Spec%20FB/ I can't remember if it was Dutch or Danish, but it was one of the two. |
Originally Posted by Chevsica
(Post 10211082)
That is really sweet. I have never seen a rear seat in a 1st gen.
Kinda strange to have a build date of 1980 but the other sticker says it conforms to regulations applicable to 1984 model year new motor vehicles. Especially sense build date plus 1 equals model year.......usually. I.E. build date 1980, model year 1981. :scratch: |
Looking at the pictures the guy who imported in was Ludwig Binkert... If you google his name... A bunch of German sites come up.
Now I am no Cagney and Lacey, but one could surmise that it was imported from Germany! |
Originally Posted by whitey85mtu
(Post 10211610)
Here is my old Euro Spec car:
http://s265.photobucket.com/albums/i...o%20Spec%20FB/ I can't remember if it was Dutch or Danish, but it was one of the two. Sweet - thanks for the pics! This further helps support my guess that I have a Euro Model car. |
I'm betting Switzerland, actually.
The serial number (Sa22c00651061) puts it well after the serial number range that ended S1 construction. The '80 parts fiche shows the last month of production for S1 cars (September of 80) started 629954, and production counts had already ramped down to only about 500 S1's built in Aug. of 80. No way they would have burned through another 20,000+ numbers in September. So your car was probably built sometime in the last 3 months of 1980 (which would explain the import date), and was built as an honest S2, Eurospec. Side mirrors are also distinctively Eurospec. Stu's got a set on his car. The emissions sticker cites conformance to US EPA regs for a car years later in build but of the same basic design, so either the stickers were replaced when the car was imported to the states, or maybe the hood isn't original to the car. Great find. Be interesting to see how much of the car's history you can reconstruct... maybe there's a customs record of when it was brought stateside? PS: "Ludwig Binkert" of Switzerland has a Facebook page. From the pic, he looks old enough to have maybe had a -7 in the 80's. Maybe you can shoot him an inquiry, including the pic of the car, using google translate or bablefish? |
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