Why I have 4 RX-7's
03-19-07, 06:57 PM
#1
Why I have 4 RX-7's
Ok, so I'm driving home from work today trying to help the GA DOT with their truck tire retread problem on I85N and I guess I got a little carried away:
I got to meet the truckers, nice guys from a towing company over in Commerce, hopefully there will be peace in the neighborhood.
I was going to fix up and sell the tan one, my first love and one fine 7, but she's looking pretty good right now:
She's got everything I need to fix the white one (and more; a brown leather interior to die for) and together with a front right fender I need for the silver one in the back (an exceptional car, I can't wait; gonna paint it that classis 7 gray color) it looks like she'll be sleeping in the parts shed for awhile.
Ray
I got to meet the truckers, nice guys from a towing company over in Commerce, hopefully there will be peace in the neighborhood.
I was going to fix up and sell the tan one, my first love and one fine 7, but she's looking pretty good right now:
She's got everything I need to fix the white one (and more; a brown leather interior to die for) and together with a front right fender I need for the silver one in the back (an exceptional car, I can't wait; gonna paint it that classis 7 gray color) it looks like she'll be sleeping in the parts shed for awhile.
Ray
Last edited by ray green; 03-19-07 at 07:03 PM.
03-20-07, 04:24 PM
#4
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I understand that you want to fix the two other RX-7's, but I cannot justify taking apart that nice tan one to do so. Is that silver one in the back a GSL or GSL SE?
03-20-07, 05:14 PM
#6
Terrified.
I own two right now and neither one are running. As much as I am glad that a fellow rotard has four of them - I hope I never have four at the same time. At least, not of the same generation.
03-20-07, 06:38 PM
#7
I don't want to take the tan one apart either, but it's an economic thing. Today I talked to the Trucking company (Semors or Semens or something like that, over in nearby Commerce) and they just say they didn't do it, even though they obviously did.
Lay a fat turd in the middle of the road that wrecks someone else's car and it's that person's fault, according to the person at Semen's, who acted like she owned the place, a women I think.
And the insurance company made about as much sense - take the money, don't do the job. So I gotta fix it, I pay for the trucker's cheap tires and the insurance people's vacations. What's wrong with this country?
The easy thing to do is sacrifice the tan one, use it's parts and put the work I would have done on it into the white and silver ones (yes, she's a GSL, of course and wait till you see the interior). But yeh, taking the tan one apart would be no more ethical than the ******* towing company and insurance company's way of doing things, so I'm having second thoughts.
When I got home today, after talking with the truckers and the insurance agents, I went out and worked on the white.
I bent the hood back down and might be able to save it with a little more work and a rubber mallet. The rest is probably OK if I can get Semen Towing's rubber off my car, but the middle piece is toast:
Anybody got one of these in my Mazda white, with the insignia in good shape? I'd sure like to keep that tan one together.
Ray
Lay a fat turd in the middle of the road that wrecks someone else's car and it's that person's fault, according to the person at Semen's, who acted like she owned the place, a women I think.
And the insurance company made about as much sense - take the money, don't do the job. So I gotta fix it, I pay for the trucker's cheap tires and the insurance people's vacations. What's wrong with this country?
The easy thing to do is sacrifice the tan one, use it's parts and put the work I would have done on it into the white and silver ones (yes, she's a GSL, of course and wait till you see the interior). But yeh, taking the tan one apart would be no more ethical than the ******* towing company and insurance company's way of doing things, so I'm having second thoughts.
When I got home today, after talking with the truckers and the insurance agents, I went out and worked on the white.
I bent the hood back down and might be able to save it with a little more work and a rubber mallet. The rest is probably OK if I can get Semen Towing's rubber off my car, but the middle piece is toast:
Anybody got one of these in my Mazda white, with the insignia in good shape? I'd sure like to keep that tan one together.
Ray
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03-20-07, 08:58 PM
#8
PS, here's a real good site on retreading. Yeh the guys were overloaded, they had another truck on top of there's.
http://www.retread.org/
http://www.retread.org/
03-21-07, 12:53 PM
#13
My 7 is my girlfriend.
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What exactly happened? Was the tire shredded or just a whole tire laying on the road? Im a trucker and I make it down to the Atlanta area quite often. That incident is one reason I dont like using retreads. Theyre garbage, and you dont even need to be overloaded to blow them out. It's a shame that one of my colleagues was responsible for that damage and they can't even own up to it. I say fix whichever 7 is in the best condition, and use the other one just incase this happens again.
03-21-07, 01:53 PM
#14
Thanks Orion, I feel badly about pinning it on "the truckers" as if they are all the same. Of course they are not and in fact just about all of them are highly responsible and drive much more safely than I do. This is especially true of the real truckers who run interstate routes, they just know better, unlike the local yocals who were operating this oversized tow vehicle.
I'm just pretty angry about this particular incident, which could have been much worse with heavy traffic and several cars involved, hitting the brakes and knocking that tread down the highway, bouncing off one car after the other. In fact three of us exited at the next exit to inspect for damage, but at least from what we could see I got the worst of it (but I'm guessing the car in front of me could have some serious damage to the undercarriage). And yeh the driver's of both other cars agreed that the culprits sitting on the side of the road with their tow truck and stripped tire. So I went back to talk with them, got their tag number and some other details.
So yeh I thought it was probably a cheap retread, what hit my car was just about the entire tread from a large 20 inch truck tire from a very large flatbed vehicle hauler. But then I found and read this article on line, and I think they may have a point:
http://www.retread.org/
They are saying that by far the major cause of treads on the highways is failure due to underinflation or overloading. In any case it is hard to see how a driver isn't responsible for leaving a 50 pound rubber carcasse in the middle of an interstate highway. And in fact these guys had another oversized tow truck on top of their's that filled the entire bed, probably an illegal load now that I think about it. Cruising at 80 mph with that load and maybe improperly inflated tires is almost certainly what caused their tread to come off.
But I can accept an accident, even if it should have been avoided. Live, learn and forgive. What ticks me off is that these guys, instead of doing something about their tread, were sitting in the grass on the side of the road. When I talked to them about it they had already worked out a story that I suspect they have used several times before - "it wasn't our tire tread". And of course their main office spurted out the same story without even bothering to listen to what I had observed or asking about me or my car. This must be part of the routine over there in Commerce.
So they are liars and cheats and my pristine 85 GSL is needing some major help, but that's no excuse for me to talk badly of truckers, sorry to you and all the other folks who drive trucks. What I need to do instead and will take care of tonight is file an incident report with the state and local police, the Commerce Better Business Bureau and any other agency that is concerned about highway safety and the special problems that large vehicles can cause.
Also I need to find one of those nose pieces for my white one, I'm probably dreaming but if I could just find one from a parts car that has the same paint, I might be able to keep my previously perfect original paint job afterall.
Drive safely Ya'll!
Ray
I'm just pretty angry about this particular incident, which could have been much worse with heavy traffic and several cars involved, hitting the brakes and knocking that tread down the highway, bouncing off one car after the other. In fact three of us exited at the next exit to inspect for damage, but at least from what we could see I got the worst of it (but I'm guessing the car in front of me could have some serious damage to the undercarriage). And yeh the driver's of both other cars agreed that the culprits sitting on the side of the road with their tow truck and stripped tire. So I went back to talk with them, got their tag number and some other details.
So yeh I thought it was probably a cheap retread, what hit my car was just about the entire tread from a large 20 inch truck tire from a very large flatbed vehicle hauler. But then I found and read this article on line, and I think they may have a point:
http://www.retread.org/
They are saying that by far the major cause of treads on the highways is failure due to underinflation or overloading. In any case it is hard to see how a driver isn't responsible for leaving a 50 pound rubber carcasse in the middle of an interstate highway. And in fact these guys had another oversized tow truck on top of their's that filled the entire bed, probably an illegal load now that I think about it. Cruising at 80 mph with that load and maybe improperly inflated tires is almost certainly what caused their tread to come off.
But I can accept an accident, even if it should have been avoided. Live, learn and forgive. What ticks me off is that these guys, instead of doing something about their tread, were sitting in the grass on the side of the road. When I talked to them about it they had already worked out a story that I suspect they have used several times before - "it wasn't our tire tread". And of course their main office spurted out the same story without even bothering to listen to what I had observed or asking about me or my car. This must be part of the routine over there in Commerce.
So they are liars and cheats and my pristine 85 GSL is needing some major help, but that's no excuse for me to talk badly of truckers, sorry to you and all the other folks who drive trucks. What I need to do instead and will take care of tonight is file an incident report with the state and local police, the Commerce Better Business Bureau and any other agency that is concerned about highway safety and the special problems that large vehicles can cause.
Also I need to find one of those nose pieces for my white one, I'm probably dreaming but if I could just find one from a parts car that has the same paint, I might be able to keep my previously perfect original paint job afterall.
Drive safely Ya'll!
Ray
03-21-07, 05:20 PM
#16
Matthew you are wonderful. It only took me about a half hour to get that bent one out of my car and it would have taken less time if I could have opened the hood all the way (it was binding on the bent up mid piece).
So let me know what needs to be done!
Thanks
Ray
PS, and isn't it great that we have this forum to communicate with so many other 1st gen owners.
So let me know what needs to be done!
Thanks
Ray
PS, and isn't it great that we have this forum to communicate with so many other 1st gen owners.
03-21-07, 09:49 PM
#18
Hey I'm feeling way better. I wrote the letter, I'll publish it if they don't cooperate. And I cleaned up the car with some gasoline and a rubber mallet.
Before:
After rubber mallet, gas and some car wash:
There's still some of Seymor's rubber scuffs on the bumper and left headlight cover, but I think I can get these out with a mild abrasive. Even the hood doesn't look that bad now, although it's not perfect:
And best of all it sounds like Matt might have a white valence for me, how lucky can you get? The Tan One might stay intact afterall.
Before:
After rubber mallet, gas and some car wash:
There's still some of Seymor's rubber scuffs on the bumper and left headlight cover, but I think I can get these out with a mild abrasive. Even the hood doesn't look that bad now, although it's not perfect:
And best of all it sounds like Matt might have a white valence for me, how lucky can you get? The Tan One might stay intact afterall.
03-22-07, 07:22 AM
#20
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I have 5 in the driveway right now... most people think I have mental problems... I know better.... I think...
1. 1985 black GSL-SE daily driver
2. 1984 base, silver/red, no sunroof
3. 1982 red SCCA legal
4. 1983 project car, primer
5. 1991 black/black JSpec turbo project car
Like I could drop 1 or more? no way....
Here are 3 of em literally chill'n:
1. 1985 black GSL-SE daily driver
2. 1984 base, silver/red, no sunroof
3. 1982 red SCCA legal
4. 1983 project car, primer
5. 1991 black/black JSpec turbo project car
Like I could drop 1 or more? no way....
Here are 3 of em literally chill'n:
03-22-07, 07:06 PM
#21
Here's the truck tread that did the damage:
It weighed in at an even forty pounds and has the steel belts still in it. Would a retread have the steel belts in it if it was thrown, or does this indicate it wasn't a retread and caused by something else (overloading, I suspect).
The name of the trucking company is Seymour's in Converse Georgia. They have been completely uncooperative and rude about the whole thing.
Ray
It weighed in at an even forty pounds and has the steel belts still in it. Would a retread have the steel belts in it if it was thrown, or does this indicate it wasn't a retread and caused by something else (overloading, I suspect).
The name of the trucking company is Seymour's in Converse Georgia. They have been completely uncooperative and rude about the whole thing.
Ray
03-23-07, 05:39 AM
#23
Thanks TT, I'll be holding on to the white one, even with the dents and scuffs she's a great car and my current daily driver.
In fact, I'm afraid when it comes right down to it, I couldn't sell any of them, I like them too much, we have a lot of history and they are simply worth more to me than I'd probably get for them. But please don't tell my wife, each time I pick a new one up I promise here that I'll get rid of two.
In fact, I'm afraid when it comes right down to it, I couldn't sell any of them, I like them too much, we have a lot of history and they are simply worth more to me than I'd probably get for them. But please don't tell my wife, each time I pick a new one up I promise here that I'll get rid of two.
03-25-07, 07:37 PM
#25
OK we did a little triage this weekend and I'm kind of liking it:
Before:
After, tools on the hood, plus some nice soft grass and a firm foot:
After a wash:
Not perfect but it will get me to work. I'll be looking for some white parts and that front insignia, if anyone has some. If anybody asks about it I'll tell them the story about the tow company.
The good news: The Tan One is Saved.
Ray
Before:
After, tools on the hood, plus some nice soft grass and a firm foot:
After a wash:
Not perfect but it will get me to work. I'll be looking for some white parts and that front insignia, if anyone has some. If anybody asks about it I'll tell them the story about the tow company.
The good news: The Tan One is Saved.
Ray
Last edited by ray green; 03-25-07 at 07:51 PM.