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My grandfather bought the car new in May 1993, and gave it to my dad in 2003. I took ownership in 2012 from my parents. I know, spoiled brat getting an FD as his first car- never wrecked it, and never got a ticket in it. Drove it to school my senior year of high school, and for the first two years of college. I've only owned the one FD, and I can't say I intend to get another- this one will be for life.
I leased my car from the dealer in 1994. Back then, they were running a lease special for $360 or so per month with not much down. When the lease ran out, I bought it outright. Had a ton of good times in that car but lost a lot of my interest in street cars when I started racing karts in the late 90's. It's been sitting in a garage since 2006 (at least that's the last registration sticker). But I've reengaged and am setting off into a serious build/restore. Not going to change the character of the car (no body kit or anything like that) but gonna do everything as right as I can. Right now the rear suspension is out, subframe just came back from the powder coater and parts are piling up ready to go back on. Wish me luck, this looks like a long process.
Bought mine in July, 1993. Actually, leased it as my company car when I worked as a consultant, then bought it when the lease was up in 1997. My 1st new car was an '81, then purchased an '87 Turbo II, so have owned each generation. The FD was my daily driver for it's 1st 4 years, putting on 64K miles over that time. It now has ~133K miles, so doing the math it's apparent my yearly average dropped significantly over the following 20+ years. I purchased a 2014 Cayman S back in 2013, so the RX-7 is driven sparingly now, but I still love the car and can't bear to sell it! Car is a VR base.
Bought mine in July, 2013. Actually, leased it as my company car when I worked as a consultant, then bought it when the lease was up in 1997. My 1st new car was an '81, then purchased an '87 Turbo II, so have owned each generation. The FD was my daily driver for it's 1st 4 years, putting on 64K miles over that time. It now has ~133K miles, so doing the math it's apparent my yearly average dropped significantly over the following 20+ years. I purchased a 2014 Cayman S back in 2013, so the RX-7 is driven sparingly now, but I still love the car and can't bear to sell it! Car is a VR base.
My dad bought a silver '82 (I don't remember which model, probably a GS) when I was a kid and I didn't know anything about rotaries then. He gave it to my brother and he beat the hell out of it and my dad accidentally sideswiped it while backing out of the garage one time. My brother took it with him when he joined the Navy and he lost track of it somewhere in Florida. He was going to give it to me when I was in high school but it was gone before I got the chance. I think he said he gave it up as a community car for members on base and couldn't find it to give it to me. I'd love to have that car back since it was the first one in my family.
When I was in Las Vegas in the late 90s I almost bought an FC, but the seller asked if I knew anything about rotaries. I told him no and he suggested I not buy it.
When I went to Okinawa in late 2000 I bought a daily driver ('91 Mazda Persona) and an FC that had been abandoned by another military member that was kicked out. You're only allowed to have one car if you're single, so the FC sat at my buddy's house off base. He's the main person that got me started on rotaries, he had a 600+ HP FC that he drag raced every weekend, and slowly more guys in the shop started getting RX-7s. Anyway, since I couldn't have more than one car anyway and the FC wasn't properly deregistered (and I couldn't register it), and because it had been used as a drift missile, my buddies started pulling parts off of it and ended up blowing it up on the beach while I was deployed in '01. Thanks guys.
When I was in North Carolina in '04 I started having problems with my '97 Prelude, so my gf at the time suggested I get another car until I could get the Prelude fixed. She reminded me about RX-7s and I remembered one of my coworkers in Okinawa having an FD. I started the search and caught three scams right away, saying they were in Romania or somewhere else overseas and "if you send the money Western Union, we'll get the car on it's way right away". Riiiiight. I found a BB '93 in South Carolina about five hours away, so I took the gf and went to test drive it. That car was in horrible shape and he was asking $10k but the test drive hooked me for life. I offered him $7k and he said no, so I went home, but all the way home it was all I could talk about and think about. My gf eventually told me to STFU...until a couple years later when she drove the car I eventually bought and she admitted it was badass. Since all I could find were scams or just examples I didn't find acceptable, I took a break for a while. One night a few months later I got an email from the guy in South Carolina, and he said he'd accept the $7k. That urged me to start looking again, and I found a '94 Montego Blue Touring in Littleton, CO. It was almost completely stock aside from some indiglo gauge overlays and an aluminum AST. He was asking $10k and I told him I'd give him his asking price if he covered getting the car back to NC, whether it be buying my plane ticket or shipping it. I decided to fly so he bought my ticket and picked me up at the airport in Denver. I did a short test drive and knew I had to have it. He was a nice guy and even gave me gas money to get home and cut off a little more to cover some clear coat that was peeling. I've had that car ever since and have built it into about four different iterations over the years, a few different sets of wheels, a few different turbos, a few engines lol...it's not even close to what it was when I bought it. I got stationed in Colorado Springs in '08 and a few years later I decided to contact the previous owner to see if he wanted to see it. It took me a couple more years to get in touch with him and a couple years after that to get up there and take him for a ride. He said he's missed the car since he sold it in '04 and asked if I wanted to sell it hahaha.
Over the years I've thought a couple times about selling it because I lost some of the passion, but I couldn't bring myself to do it, especially with people telling me I'd regret it (even my mom who usually jokes with me about it being a POS). I think it was partly because I got wrapped up in working on it and I built it past what I really wanted. I've done a few un-mods to make it more comfortable for my increasing age lol...a little softer Ohlins DFVs, quieter exhaust (RB dual tip), and trying to get AC working again. These days I hate to put it down for maintenance because I just love driving it. And I finally was able to start racing it after getting a seat mounted super low (I couldn't fit with a helmet before). I don't plan to ever sell this car.
It’s 1994. My parents purchase a mechanic shop to help my Dad transition out of the car business. We inherit an employee named Phil who just bought his ‘93 R1 in Vintage Red. I fall in love.
I’m probably about ten when my parents allow me to go with Phil to pick up parts. Phil the mechanic, naturally modifies his RX-7 throughout the years to a spec I don’t understand at ten. It’s loud, it’s beautiful and it’s red. We go to pick up parts and I’m blown away at how fast it is and how it can do over 80 mph in third gear!
The RX-7 becomes the topic of many of my school papers. Phil is of course a super hero because he owns it and my obsession with RX-7 takes flight.
Through the years I continue to lust over the car, always knowing I’d want one despite everyone telling me it’s a bad idea, Phil included. “They’re just not reliable enough” was the common tone from virtually everyone.
I continue to read and research, year after year. I wait agonizingly while my income catches up with my taste.
Finally, after more than 20 years of salivating, losing sleep thinking about the most minute details of how I would build MY RX-7 one day, I finally pulled the trigger.
Ironically, the events that lead to me purchasing the FD began humbly. I took a friend’s NA Miata to the movies with my wife one night and told her: “We gotta get one of these!” and when I looked at what clean ones cost, I began to wonder if I’d want more power. So, I started looking at S2000’s instead.
Well, low and behold S2K’s are expensive! But I could swing it! After all, I told myself I could spend about $15k...
But wait, if I’m gonna spend that kind of money, I could actually afford an RX-7! It’s the car I’ve always wanted but never had the means or ***** to purchase.
It came down to choosing to trade in my daily, a Camry, for an IS-F which was going to run me about $45k. Or, keep the Camry and buy the FD as a weekend car.
Ironically, the deciding factor was logic. In five years The IS-F won’t be worth but half what I buy it for. But, the RX-7, well those are going up and price and if I didn’t get it now, I probably never will afford one.
It eas only logical ;-) ... at least that’s what I told my wife!
So, in December of 2016 I drove up to Jacksonville to buy my first FD. Worked out the deal a week later and the rest is history.
Buying an FD already modded is a double edged sword. I have had to basically redo everything to my taste and standards. The car has some good parts, a few great parts and one or two poor parts. The common thread was shabby workmanship. It’s amazing how badly a guy can’t screw up an awesome car just by taking short cuts.
I’ve invested probably over a hundred man hours into my car and with the help of my old hero Phil, have done virtually everything myself. The car is now probably 75% of the way there. I am hoping to have time this year to finish the interior and stereo and from there will simply drive her and enjoy her for a while.
Just for fun here are two pics from when I bought the car and two pics of what it looks like today:
Forgive the low quality engine bay shot! It was also taken before I finished the intake setup and have yet to clean and polish everything up. But, you can see, the engine bay has come a long way!
Anyway, that’s my story! Congrats to all of us who have realized their dreams!
Nick
Last edited by Brilliant7-LFC; 02-01-18 at 11:45 PM.
Bought my BB R1 in early 98 after I forced head valve meet up of the S52 in E36 M3, the car that I learned how to drive properly in. I sold the M with low compression in one cylinder (still drove fine with DME trying its best), bought an FD and still had money left.
My first color choice was CYM, put down $500 deposit for a car in Houston, but this guy sold the car next day after the check clears and would not return the deposit before I told him I'll take him to the court.
BB R1 had a leaking water seal and it flooded after about 2 years. I had the engine built at "RP" shop who's done a fair job yet had a leaky injector (it was an outsource job at you know where everyone sends to do Injectors). It was a lightly tuned car spec'd to SS class of SCCA, which I competed in my local chapter for a few times. FD was in Super Stock and was very capable in class back then. After the rebuild and for other reasons I started to lose interest in the car, thought about E36/7 M roadster with S54, but decided to buy BB R2 instead.
So my BB R2 had around 50k Miles and was owned by out of state acquaintance. When it was around 70k miles, the car was in a collision with a dent size of a fist between right fender and front bumper. And I decided to take the car to a body shop I wouldn't disclose its name, but owned by a guy named Hiro. This ******* was timid and short in English and he wouldn't ask the insurance for allowance beyond the estimate for repair, was bitching about he's fixing it for nothing. These guys lost a bolt to put the mirror into the door shell and rather than buying the bold, they mickey moused it with some stud bolt and a nut drilling into the door shell thread itself. The car also developed a water seal problem despite the fact I used the RL water wetter, it overheated once due to ruptured radiator hose but I still saw oils on its coolant. The car probably still had around 20k Miles to go before full leak into the housings.
And my clutch wore out about a mile outside my place, managed to roll off the car revving it to 6k rpm and drove home. I had a trip to East Asia planned that summer, so I left the car in the garage, stopped by Japan and stayed at good friend's house who also was a multiple FD owner who helped me to get a few parts notably N3G1 turbines. And I had a sorta well known Kansai Japanese satellite shop located about couple miles from where I lived put in a Reman in the car with them rebuilding my transmission. And of course, after the break-in was done 2ndary would not kick in which these guys can't tell anything about, told me car feels normal. And the transmission was shot, would still work in all gears but something was loose inside.
Once a bad happens to the car like a spell this R2 couldn't get out of. I had some good track days with this car, I think I sorta cursed it having rated 19 moments inside the car once. So the biggest mistake is to have it done with it regardless of money and having it repaired at one of the bigger names in Mazda who is also known to charge an arm and a leg. I wouldn't say more but one of the partners who work there is a fat arrogant ******* with a glass. And they charged me an arm and a leg to replace a solenoid that was at fault, engine wiring harness, and full silicone vacuum lines. But they managed to put a restrictor pill into my N3G1 so I popped apex-seal few hundred miles into it from over boost. Despite the fact me telling them more than few times that it has a built-in pills in the nipples from the moment I dropped the car off.
I was in school and in debt and life has it that this BB R2 which is one of 144? is sitting in my backyard collecting dust at 80k miles. Has been for about a decade now.
I currently drive an E85 M Roadster and had about 3 FC's between and along with my FDs, a Vert, a Turbo Vert and a GTUs turned TII which had been all sold.
I'm not here too often and a casual late night visit turned into a story.
I am, looking for the shortblock.
Aren't we all at some point??
I first bought a yellow 1979 rx7 in northern California in 1989. My friends use to call it the energize bunny. It kept going & going. I moved to Colorado in 1999 and drove it until 2003. I saw a red 93 FD on a used car lot in Jan 2004 and had to have it. I remember seeing new FD,s in California at a Mazda dealer. I thought I could never afford that. So I have been driving it ever since. At present it sits in a garage at a friends house in North Las Vegas NV. And I use it when I go there for business about 10 times a year. Every where I drive it people comment on how they like it. For the last 5 years I've had to ship it back to Colorado for a smog check. I always passed smog checks until last year. I had took off the original front converter exhaust pipe and put on a down pipe in 2005 and passed smog with no problem in Colorado. In 2017 they said I have to put the front converter back on, as the emission sticker on the hood showed 2 Cat Converters. It will be 25 years old this year so I plan on getting a Classic Car plate good for 5 years.
And no more smog checks.
I own my FD from 2004 to present. It took me 4yrs of on-off searching for the right one. Been in the rotary game since 91 or 92. Began with an 85 FB (base) then graduated to a 91 FC Coupe. The FD was my weekend car and the FC was my daily driver. I then got an 84 GSL-SE which bumped up my stable up to all 3 generations for a few years. Sadly, I lost my FC in 2008. I sold the 84 GSL-SE before I moved to CA in 2013. In 2012, I picked up my 2nd FC, a 91 Vert this time. The Vert has an interesting story while I lived "behind enemy lines". I returned back to a "free state" in May 2016 with my FD and the Vert returned to base shortly there after.
Fritz, thanks for starting the poll and asking for inputs!
01-25-18, 07:13 PM
