Well it finally happened! The stars aligned, and I purchased a 1st gen! Bought the car on Friday and drove it from Louisville, KY back to Baton Rouge, LA. Car runs like a champ, absolutely no issues during the drive! I haven't stopped smiling for the last 2 days!
Car has 78,000 miles. Old lady-owned and garage kept from 1989 to 2010, I bought the far from the original owner's nephew.

 

Congrats!!
I have an 84 GSL. Besides the emblems and license plate they could be twins. At least on the outside.
And the only time I close the roof is when I get caught in the rain.

Enjoy.

 

Nice man congrats!
Same color and interior as mine but just one year younger.
Post more pics
Take care of her.

 

Beautiful car and great story! We need more pics of this Custom Silver Metallic beauty!

 

Looking forward to seeing what you choose to do with the -SE! Welcome aboard,

 

My first rx7 was a '85 -SE too! Congrats on the car it look awesome!

 

I have an 84 GSL. When my father sold it to me for $5.00 he already had it painted silver. That paint did not last and started to micro-check. Being almost as "thrifty" as dad, I went to Macco. The local owner had his own collection of classics and was impressed by the condition of mine. Told me he would put it back to the factory original color, and not break the bank. Deal.

When I went to pick it up, it was sun back-lit. I had polarized sunglasses on. It gave off red/green/blue under colors I had never seen before. Upon closer inspection, it sparkled.

Now I understand.
Thanks.

 

Here goes another picture. Car got a wash and some wax today! The first of many!

 

Nice find, that's a beautiful car. That's the same color as my first 7, I wish I still had it. Welcome to the forum

 

Thanks guys! Man I still halfway expect to wake up from a dream soon! Can't believe that I stumbled on such a sweet ride! Already talked to a handful of random people at gas stations and the grocery store about the car! My plans for the car? Well, right now I really just want to keep up with routine maintenance, change/check all my critical fluids. Look for opportunities to make the car more reliable, but I want to keep the car stock for the most part, at least for a little while. I will also continue to read this forum and several books and websites to gain knowledge of my new GSL-SE! Can't wait!!

 

You have my dream FB in color and trim. Well done. Been searching for an 85 GSL-SE in Custom Silver Metallic for quite some time. Its a great find my friend! Love the pics you've posted so far!

 

The first picture did not do the car justice.
It is really beautiful.

 

The paint is in pretty good condition. There are several minor scratches, but they are minimal. The interior is in great shape. There is a 2in. tear in the driver's seat from entering/exiting the car, and there is some slight color fading. I'll take a few more shots of the car/interior after work tomorrow!

 

I was looking for just the right 1st gen for the last 6 years. Life circumstance and the right car finally all came together! I was prepared for SOMETHING on the car to be a deal breaker. When I saw it in the parking lot I could not believe it....

 

Any recommendations for replacement tires? I will definitely be needing at least 2 in the near future.
Thanks!

 

nice !!!! i bought one last month with a cracked apex seal . im in the process of rebuilding the engine and is going to be 4 port bridge port

 

Sweet! nice lookin' car! For a while i was contemplating buying a blown engine to rebuild just for fun... Now I got something to keep me busy for a good bit! haha

 

Nice color combo. I enjoy trying to make parts look new again on my se. I'm always looking for an se or gsl with the beautiful red leather interior. Just can't find one that's not dinged up with scratches or whatever on the paint/body.

Baton Rouge huh? I graduated from Istrouma High back in the day. Your se has the Istrouma colors.

 

Tires can be a bit of a problem. The original 205/60-14 size are almost impossible to find except some cheapo Chinese tires. Even those are hard to find. I ended up going with 195/60-14 Falken Ziex tires.

Here's a link to some 205/60-14 Chinese made tires
https://www.onlinetires.com/products...95+89+bsw.html



P.S. Be sure and ask the installer to use the stick on wheel weights on THE INSIDE of the wheel and ask for the shorter 1" valve stems

 

Don't wish for pain; it'll come with good time.

Get a series 4 or 5 keg, then wait for your engine to go. Swap the good keg in and start hunting parts for the series 3 engine. That way you won't be down a car but for about a day swaping engines.

 

Thanks! Good Stuff! That was the conclusion I came to last night. Looks like 195/60 14has way more ( more than 0) options than 205/60 14.

Haha good stuff. I just needed some rotary in my life! reading random threads on rx7club just wasn't cutting it anymore! Now all my problems are solved!

 

Yep Baton Rouge... just moved down here about 2.5 months ago for a job. Haven't seen an Istrouma High yet, but I'll keep an eye out! The car definitely isn't perfect, but compared to many 1st gens I have seen it ain't half bad either!

 

Here goes some pictures of the interior. Not pictured is some strange damage to the headliner above and slightly behind the driver's sear. looks like something melted the headliner material in a long thin straight line ( about 6 inches long). I couldn't get a good picture this afternoon, but I'll try again later. All these pictures are Samsung Galaxy S4, and they seem huge when looking at them on the thread... Not sure if they are TOO big, what do y'all think? The quality is hit or miss, doesn't help that the glass covering the camera is cracked... and the crack runs right across the screen....





Hit 77,777.7 miles on the drive home!








Driver's seat tear

 

More pictures...






looking back.

 

and more....