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..?

 

The headlight squirters are a dead give away the car is Canadian. Maybe someone had previously changed the bumpers?

 

European

 

the 1981 model year started production in 1980...

european sounds likely...

 

euro spec i had one when i was in germany

 

Yeah but the 1981 model did not have a SA22C vin number.

Could be Canadian...dunno

 

The 81 conversion away from SA22C nomenclature was a North American thing, as I recall.

 

everywhere other than north america they were still SAs

 

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?

 

just to be clear...

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.

 

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.

 

No, it has RX-7 on it. I will take some pictures soon, but my co-worker/friend who owns the car is on business in Canada this week, then I will be in Canada the whole following week.

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?

 

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).

 

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)

 

Nope has normal FB style liscense plate location.

 

Sounds like a frankencar.

 

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.

 

It had the rats nest, but has been removed.

 

Welcome aboard culero.... 'bout time you bought a cool car!!!