Ok, so I made an update thread not too long ago. Well, the electrical problems were fixed and the car is now in my uncle's garage. I got a chance to get some pictures of it before it went in. So here they are:











Don't mind the dirt and speaker cable hanging down. I didn't have a chance to really clean it yet.

The dash and cluster came from a special edition RX from Canada. I bought it from a board member (can't remember his forum name).






The center caps were missing, but these were custom made by the body shop that did the restoration.

Here are my plans for it: The steering wheel and shift **** were installed by the previous owner and will be replaced with stock ones. Because of the seats, dash/cluster, etc. the car will never be 100% original. So I figured I might as well have some fun with it. I will start off with some really nice brakes and then move to suspension. I will be getting a Racing Beat SP exhaust and Holley carb/manifold combo. Then, I will save up enough to get the motor rebuilt and street ported, and while it's out I will have the body towed back to the shop to have the engine bay finished. They didn't pull the motor while it was getting restored, so the bay is still kind of... not so good looking. So that's pretty much it. If anyone has any questions or comments, feel free to let me know. Thanks for taking the time to look.

 

Very nice!

Rich

 

thats the Canadian version of the dash / cluster from one of the 3000 Limited Edition 79's that came to North America ( i have one of the other ones) ...... kilometer per hour speedo and the digital clock. Hope you get it working if it isn't ..... the display is green

 

thats nice

 

Very nice an clean, I like the interior an the centercaps very nice

 

How does this make a wish foundation work? Do you just donate a car for them, and then they sell it and from the money gathered it goes into the make a wish foundation? Or does it just get given away to a person?

Whats the real odometer reading on the car? Good resto.

 

Make-A-Wish grants wishes for kids with life-threatening diseases. When I was 16 I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease. It's the most common and curable kind of cancer, but one out of every four kids diagnosed with it doesn't make it. When I was in the hospital one day I was talking to the social worker and she mentioned Make-A-Wish. I got in touch with them, and after a few ideas and a couple months, the RX-7 was at Chester County Auto Body. The car was given to me about a month into chemo by my dad. It was a project car he bought but never got started on. I had been asking for the car since I was about eight or nine, and my parents wanted to buy me a car but didn't have the money, so they gave me the Mazda so my dad and I can work on it together. Now, all that's left is the brakes, suspension and motor because they can't pay to have the car touched mechanically; only cosmetic stuff. So it got a paintjob, emblems, re-upholstered seats and door panels, carpets, and a few dings taken out. It was originally a Florida car so there wasn't any rust. But everything was faded, the dash was all cracked up, the seats were torn, etc. But they tore through everything and re-did it all.

The dash works perfectly and the mileage before it was put in was a little over 130,000. Any other questions let me know, and keep the comments/suggestions coming!

 

Looks nice. You do realise those are not the correct wheels for 79, right?
Having lived thru what you have, I hope you enjoy the car for a long time, and understand just how rare a really nice SA is.

 

I love it nice interior and paint looks great.

 

Nice ride, love the paint job.

 

That is a beautiful car!

I'll wave if I ever see you bombing around the twisty roads of Eastern PA.

 

Yeah, when I emailed the guy who sent me the dash some pics he told me about the wheels. I like the ones on there now, but I will probably end up looking for the originals, just for the hell of it. Again, thank you everybody for the comments.

 

Wow, beautiful. I like the center caps also.

 

Beautiful car there.It is an early SA as well.When I read your original posts I wasn't envisioning such a beauty of a car.I an a bit envious as I love the red cars.I love my early Spark Yellow SA,but that red looks so classic. I hope Stu sees these pics.

Congrats on the nice car,and I am glad you are better,and can appreciate this fun car.

Chris

 

Thanks, I'll definitely appreciate it. Going through what I did, you learn a lot about life and what not to take for granted. The car will mostly be used for shows, but I will still take it out every once in a while. I picked up my girlfriend from school the first day I got it back, and you would not believe how many guys' jaws dropped and how may girls eye-f***ed the hell out of it. I don't mean to brag, but they did an amazing job and it's too nice to only drive it a few times a year.

Another thing I am doing is getting the windows re-tinted, or maybe removing the tint all together because whatever is on there now looks like crap, and I'm getting the Make-A-Wish logo made into a decal that will cover most of the back window.

Keep the comments/suggestions coming!

 

WOW!! man nice SA!! I'm glad you are feeling better

 

looks great!

 

Very neat! Sounds like it has a great owner now

 

very nice...Man, that exterior is perfect..

 

That is the best looking SA I think I've ever seen. Seriously just a magnificant car to look at.

I think I would have made the same wish as you did if I were the one who had to go through everything you went through, except it would have been my 1983 GSL.

 

Very nice, good job keeping it stock!

 

Thanks again for the complements everybody. The interior is pretty nice too, I just haven't gotten a chance to clean it yet. It got a little dirty while it was at the rotary specialist.

The main reason I wished for this was because I knew I was going to be around for a while and I wanted something that I could use in the future. According to the doctors I had a one-in-four chance of not making it, but I knew there was no way in hell I was going to let this kill me. I have an extremely close family, and fortunately I have never lost anyone very close to me. And that includes great aunts and uncles, grandparents, cousins, etc. I can't imagine what it would be like to lose somebody, and that's why I was determined from day one to not die... because I didn't want them going through that. Also, my mom's side of the family has some nice cars that they show a few times a year and I think it will be nice to be able to be in the shows with them, not just to go and look around.

Like I said, the car will never be 100% stock, which is why I'm keeping the cosmetics stock and upgrading the engine, suspension and brakes. My mom's cousin has a '66 Charger that he tried to put in stock car shows and they would take off points for the dumbest things..."That bolt is supposed to be red, not silver. Minus 1 point." He wasn't having fun with it so he decided to spice it up a little and now he has a blast taking it out. Also, it's going to be hard keeping up with those cars with only 100hp. When I talked to JPR he said that he had another customer with a '79 that already went the same route I will. He ran a 17 sec quarter mile, after the RB exhaust and Holley carb/manifold he ran a low 15, and after a street port he ran a mid 13 I think. I'm never going to race it, but it would be nice to keep up with at least some of the muscle cars at shows.

 

Very sweet car man!!

 

Damn, that looks good. As the owner of another red '79, I am impressed. I wish my paint looked half as good.

What's holding up the back of the muffler? You're just waiting for the RB system, right?

 

Very nice SA! Merry Christmas! I wish you the best in your recovery!.

Man, nothing says "I beat that damn disease" like a big TURBO!........think about it..