mack123

iTrader: (4)

Hello all,

Does anyone have a story to share about the experience when they bought their Mazda Rx-7 ?
I know many owners do... sometimes they are funny, strange, a good deal or a bad deal,
or everything goes as expected and planned... or ?

Since the Rx-7 is in a class all its own, sometimes the things leading up to, and going thru the process of buying one are unique and it would be fun to hear.

I have purchased several over the last 20 plus years, and each one has been an unexpected
and different experience. Who, what, when, where, why and how... each a story unto their own.

Did you travel near or far, ? were you let down or thought you found the worlds greatest deal ?
Test drives, car dealers, private part owners... Lots of storys Im sure....
A good topic...

Zer0Suvivers

ha ill give it a shot. ok.. so i was searching craigslist for a car. i was looking for either a mr2, mk3 supra, ae86 if i could find one or an rx7, i check all over cali for a good deal. nothing. all like 2k and up. still not a bad deal for a good running rx7. but i decided to check out of state.. ie nevada. looked around vegas for one. all expencive or had no engines..
last but not least. reno.. everyone i knew told me not to bother with out of state cars.. due to not being able to smog. but i found my current rx7.. in carson city. where they practically dont smog.. for 750 bucks. clean title 5 spd. clean nice interior nothing wrong.. i thought there was no way it would be there.. sent an email. and within like maybe a day. i get a reply... saying she still has it and there are like 4 ppl coming to look at it...

by then i had lost all hope.. a nice rx7 for 750.. someones gunna buy it. if its worth it..
a day later she says that they tryed lowballing her. for like 400 bucks or something..... so i said id pay her what she asked if it runs as well as she said.... by the following weekend i took a 3 hr drive to go see it.. i got there. it looked better in person.. but inside i was still like.. wtf. no way.. 750 and it runs? haha and no body damage.. test drove it... there was a brake light on and i didnt check into it much.. it stopped when i hit the petal..

i ended up buying it. and started my way home.... i couldnt even get a temp so i could drive it home.. dmv was closed.. and it was getting dark.... i somehow made it all the way home. and when i got home. my mom was like... uhhhh. ur taillights arent on.... it was like 10pm by then... funny cause i didnt get pulled over or anything. no plates on it or temp. and taillights were out.... fixed the lights just needed fluid. hah... anyways.. dispite everyone saying it wouldnt pass smog in cali... it did. and thats the story of how i got my seven.

my friends still say they wont buy out of state cars.. but so far i got the best deal i will probably ever get..

Zer0Suvivers

i know its not exciting or anything. but im just happy i got really lucky getting a car i really want!

20Bforme

not exciting but... found mine at a rummage sale here in town for $900... "mechanics special" is what was on the for sale sign... offered $700 cash and he took it... even drove it home for me.

FelixIsGod29X

iTrader: (50)

I will give this a shot.

1st: 87 n/a POS rotted with webber carb/ RB road race header. Junked chassis and sold the motor. Traded a 89 i think Honda CR125 dirt bike for it, in the end it was way worth it.

2nd: 85 FB base model, 226K blown rear rotor, another POS and was better to junk it. Got it for free, couldnt support jacks and it had its life.

3rd: (my fav car and still own) 86 base model/ entire T2 swap but the motor was blown, i did a n.a swap and daily it to this day. All custom, shaved molded, slight ghetto blah blah blahhhh, (WAS GOIN TO BUY A TURBO MOTOR THIS WEEKEND BUT BOUGHT MY 8TH RX-7 YESTERDAY)--Small picture of it to the left.

4th: 88 SE 160k after rebuild & my father gave me, sold it for $800 without a motor. (my first manual car to drive & i drove GREAT) My best learning experience and taught about rebuilding rotary after i was experience with ATV's.) This is how i learned about rotary and it still is the greatest thing to happen to me. Also this was at my house before i owned the first two.

5th: 85 FB base model 87k blown front rotor if i recall. $500 from Virgina. Clean, did manual swap/rebuilt 12A/ SP and more but **** hit the fan and had to sell it. My father is a POS and kicked me out for no reason. I miss that car, it could have been the best. My pops can still go F himself to this day.

6TH: $700 87 Base model 157K chassis/ unknown miles motor. I took the motor and swap this into my 86 rx7. (the 86 rx7 sat it a garage the entire time untill i bought this and put the motor into it.) Sold the shell for $400

7th: 88 GXL rolling chasiss for $100 from Philly. Best $100 i ever spent. Made a few hundred off it and got a 5 lug swap and a bunch of other parts i needed for my 86 rx7.

8th: 91, just turned 93K, struts, Ebach springs, yadda yadda yadaa, was just for sale, dont care to explain detail, ....im happy.


I kept this short as i can. If i were to go into detail about each car then it would be VERY long. I been into rotarys/ mazda/ miatats since i was 15, about to be 21 soon and i have been glad to be apart of rx7club the entire time. I learned a lot, havent been screwed much and life is good! Thanks, Nick

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

my current one is kind of funny.

my friend alvin told me about it, and i said no i don't need another car, full up, sorry.

he told my other friend paul, who said yes we'll take it.

so paul comes over, and we went to go look at it.

it turned out to be IDENTICAL to the FC his GF has, so at that point we had to buy it. they are both 87 blue gxl's with ABS...

of course he's got too many cars so i ended up with it....

mack123

iTrader: (4)

Hey great replys and super storys...
I have always thought since these cars are so unique, that the searching, finding and buying experiences would also follow suit, follow that vibe, and be in a class of their own also.
Funny... of all the cars Ive bought... the Rx-7 stand out above the rest also, the ones I dont forget.

Zersurvivors- great story, thanks for sharing- seems like some other power or force was looking
out for you the whole way = rx-7 vibe ? Think outside the box, outta state cars, and it all worked out.

Felixgod - 8 cars and you remember everything...woah, youve got a lot of buying experience under your belt, and have gotten the upper hand on most every car. A rarity in this market.

Great reading all, fun. I will add a few of mine later also...

mack123

iTrader: (4)

J9fd - the ' twist of fate ' scenario, ha. its cool when things turn like that and end up for your good.

ecko

iTrader: (57)

all mine are too long too lazy to write it all lol more stories anyone??

mack123

iTrader: (4)

I can remember one of the first Rx-7's I saw and bought, in 1986, in el paso texas. It was at a dealership called ' word ford ' or something similar.
Growing up in the midwest, and being about 18 years old then, there were no mazda dealerships or cars around, and basically Id never seen one before.
Yeah, the first mazda rx-7's I saw were in that texas dealership, and they had several first gens, blue, black, silver, beige, all with about 20k on them or less.

Seeing all those cars for the first time, all lined up In a row, new and shiny, perfect... I thought I was gonna pass out, it was like discovering the worlds greatest treasure.
They all looked brand new. They had one 1985 gsl-se, beige,8k miles, and it was priced at 12,495. That was the best one on the lot, and about 10 people were glued around it.
I couldn’t afford that one. I took it for a test drive and it was like a rocket.

They had a nice red 85 I was close to buying. But I saw a 1984 GS, black/red interior, with 17k miles, and it was like a beautiful woman.
It was 100% perfect in every way. What a dream car. Words cant describe. It transformed into a higher dimension everything I thought a car should be.

When the finance manager asked me what payment schedule I wanted, I said I didn’t even care, whatever... being a teenager and dumbstruck, my head was in the clouds. It was funny.
I paid 9,400.00 for it, with my trade in factored in.
I had bought a new jeep commanche pickup a few months before, and I loved the truck, but I traded it in a heartbeat for the Mazda Rx-7. I didn’t miss the jeep ever again, very surreal.

They also had a few newer 1986's, they must have been trade ins. They looked like space ships... far advanced designs for the times.
A new pristine second gen was a site to behold, but at 20k, they were like an unobtainable dream.

I bought the 84 black gs and drove it back to base, being in the air force at the time. When I told the guys I traded my new jeep for a 2 year old car,
they all shook their heads and said I screwed up. Then they walked outside and saw my car. They were all speechless and said I did a great move. duh.
I remember what these cars were like in that new state - like a swiss watch, a space ship from another world.

In 1997 I stumbled on a 23k mile gsl-se, just as good or better than my first 17k mile car. I still own the gsl-se.
So my first experience with Rx-7's was great.

FelixIsGod29X

iTrader: (50)

^^^Very nice story. Glad you still own the 84 GSL-SE. Best trade you ever did!

mack123

iTrader: (4)

I have a funny dealership story too.
Most dealers I have dealt with have been honest and straightforward, of course they look for angles like any good salesman, but this one is just too much.

In about 1998 I saw a really nice 35k mile 1989, blue/blue gxl coupe at a lexus dealership.
Very nice, it looked and drove as new.
The soap writing on the windshield said 8995.00
I had a 1989 ford taurus LX in great shape, and the book said I was up to 3k for a trade in value.

We agreed on the price of 8400.00 for the car.
While talking to the salesman, he had to leave like every 3 minutes and talk to his manager about something, so I knew they were trying for some advantage.

I said I could trade my taurus in for it, so they got a guy to appraise it.
He walked around it and said he 600.00. I laughed. That was just obscene.
The car was just as clean and good as the premium used lexus cars parked next to it.

Then the salesman said if I did a trade-in towards the gxl, the price was not the ' special price' of 8995.00
but it had now' changed' and was now the regular 'retail price' at 10,995.
So I would have to pay 10,995 and give up my car for 600.00

I said I would lose 2400 on my car and I lose 2k more on the gxl with the higher price,
on their ' deal '.
The salesman then played dumb and acted like he couldn’t add on his scribble pad, erasing and starting over a few times, then hung his head and finally admitted ...
' well, yeah, I guess youre right if you look at it that way '
What other way is there to look at it ? I lose a combined 4400. Doh.

So that got me kinda ruffled. The car was really a good one. Ran smooth, clean as new.
But I figured I already had just recently got a gsl-se, and the taurus was my daily driver, so I just moved on.

Spirit-RE

iTrader: (25)

Suppose I could share mine:

1st 7: 1987 Turbo II. Mostly restored, streetported, 12psi, s5 conversion, a bunch of other small cool things when I got it. I had a 1991 mitsu eclipse gsx with a built motor, 20g, dsm link, other cool things. Anyways had that eclipse for a total of 2 months before it started going down hill fast, so anyway this kid wanted to trade the rx7 for my eclipse, and I didn't hesitate. After we traded he called me that night and said he blew the clutch, and a few months later the motor toasted on him. But this was the rx7 that got me addicted to rotaries.

2nd 7: 1991 vert shell. After hitting a deer with my turbo II, I was looking for a shell to swap my drive train into and found this. I traveled the farthest for this 7(5 hours), and then a few weeks later found a better shell candidate near by, so this car got turned into a parts/donor car.

3rd 7: 1987 Base shell. Found this one local with no motor, was taken care of very well, and it was a great deal. So I scrapped the plans of building the vert and decided to build this. Its still my current project.

4th 7: 1988 vert. Bought this one for cheap from a guy that was going to 350 swap it. When I got it, it had multiple brake issues, needed a top, and has rusty rockers, and many other issues. Ran great though. Now this car is my only drivable 7 I currently have.

sharingan 19

iTrader: (16)

I guess I'll play along...

1st: 1987 TII. I was 19, in school, and recently come to terms w/ the fact that the only FD I could afford was "boxed up and ready for shipping" in Miami, being sold by a Nigerian living in France....

I had recently missed out on a sweet AE86 because the guy's gf didn't wanna trade for a camry so I decided to sell it on ebay outright. W/ cash in hand, no daily driver, and school getting ready to start I found a TII locally.

The kid was selling because his license was suspended and he was going to go to Japan until the suspension was over. The motor was "just rebuilt" it had gxl wheels working a/c and some minor body issues; "no problem" since apparently his uncle owns a body shop.

So my brother and I go for a test drive... and by test drive I mine I sat in the pass seat by brother sat sideways in the rear seat, and the kid drove (I didn't know how to drive manual yet) He takes off down the road, whips into a parking lot and then proceeds to DRIFT down a partially finished street for a yet to be completed apartment complex! I felt that death was imminent, but I was pretty much sold.

I came back two weeks later to pick it up, he wanted 3500, got him down to 3k, then got a 15min crash course in driving stick. This was extra fun since everytime I stalled it we had to push start it....after I managed to get around the block successfully twice I was on my way home. Thank God for good samaritans cuz I stalled 3 times on the way.

After repeated hot start issues over the next few months I took it to get looked at. BLOWN, and in the teardown process I figured out why I kept staling; it had a 4-puck bronze clutch!

gxl90rx7

iTrader: (1)

i found an 88 SE for $300.. owner said it blew the alt belt and overheated. I slapped a new belt on and drove it home.. had it for a couple years and still ran fine when i sold it

w.sen

iTrader: (8)

I picked up my 88 se in 2007. I used to own a 92 nissan 240sx. (Auto) I sold that to get another car. I came across a 88 VW jetta GLI. That turned out to be a POS! It had stock recaros (the ones in my avatar) so tranny slipped and clutch went out... I was forced into junking it.

So I started saveing up money for a RWD jap car..

my buddy came across a 88 base model for 1200.. He called and said 975 for it. they said ok! I shot down like 15 miles south to test drive it ... I fell in love with it picked it up 20 minutes later!

2 years after I found the guy on this site and we are good friends now!

need RX7

iTrader: (4)

My first one, I came down with some type of horrible flu right around the time I was talking to the guy about buying it, I went to his house with a fever, seconds away from passing out the whole time. I slipped on ice in the driveway and ate **** hard (luckily no one saw it happen ).

Second one, me and my dad road-tripped 1000 miles to Texarkana, TX to pick up a rust-free car with a blown engine. It was a pretty interesting trip overall. Those rock formations on the side of the highway in Missouri are sweet. Driving over the Mississippi River while the sun is setting is amazing, so many colors that you just never see.

Saki

One of the first ones I looked at was a black 87 TII, beautiful paint, turbo timer, looked great, owner said the brakes were a little weak. I got in the car, got it moving, and hit the brakes... and the car kept on rolling. No brakes at all. Test drive ended right there - I walked the 50 feet back to my car, ended up buying a "tomato red" (that's what the owner called it) 87 TII instead.