Johnny Bravo?

 

Yeah, that too.

 

I don't think it is ridiculous to spend $150k on a car that you have owned for nearly 10 years, as Wael has, particularly if you are taking it to the track. So he got $30k out of it, netting him 120 of expenses. For the level of performance, looks, uniqueness and stlye of Waels car, you can't touch that.

For example, let's say back in 1994 Wael picked up a track worthy exotic car that was nearly as fast as the RX7. Let's say he bought a Ferrari 348 for $120k new and left if totally stock all these years. (I'd say the 512 Testarossa, but that was over $190 new so out of the price rance of this example.) Let's further suppose that he had the foresight to know he was going to be a track junkie, so he got the Challenge edition: http://www.ferrariclub.com/msrp/detail.html?ID=164 The Kelley Blue Book value of that car is now $60k, so the depreciation alone was $60k.

If you think the total cost of tracking that car was less than $60k over 10 years (the difference of what Wael has spent), you are high. I'd guess maintenance alone was well over $100k, not counting any upgrades. And that's the closest example I can think of. Maybe running some kind of Porsche 993 turbo would have been slightly cheaper than the Ferrari, but level of performance Wael's RX7 blows these cars away, not to mention the uniqueness, etc. that I mentioned above.

I guess the best counterpoint to all this would be that if someone pulled up next to Wael in a riced out Supra and said "what have you got there?", he could have been "That Guy" who got to say: "Ferrari... more than you can afford!"

Good luck Wael in your future automotive endeavors, hope to see you again at the next MADS.

 

An interesting story for you...

I brought my brother's car in to a dyno day being held at a shop that works mostly on Mustangs (my brother was sick in the hospital -- ended up diagnosed with a pretty late stage of Lyme disease).

Anyway, first -- my brother's car is a 1987 911 Turbo...

Second, the guys didn't know how to open the "hood" (trunk lid? whatever...)

Third, it took them about 15 minutes to figure out how to hook the sensors to the car...

Fourth, they pointed the fan to cool the car down in the FRONT of the car....

Fifth, it's a 4 speed car (the closest 1:1 ratio is in 3rd) and they ran the dyno in 4th! supposedly, at full RPMs in 4th, the thing should be going over 180MPH.

 

btw: I think I saw Wael's car at MADS, too... at least, it was a CYM, with a huge wing in the back, and a Johnny Bravo up front... how many of those do you see every day?

 

Might as well get my two cents in.

This has been a really interesting post. I haven't been on in awhile, and it was nice to see all the old hands, Jimlab, goodfella, Wael, and some others. Kind of an old reunion of sorts as we bid farewell to one hell of a car and owner for that matter. I just hope the new driver isn't going to post a "what if I used only 87 octane for around town" kind of post. (hehe).

I was just going through some posts looking for something to calm me down a bit - my hand built, all new parts, ported, etc, engine with only 6.5k just took a dump (I think), and I was trying to do a search to see if it might be anything else, just to assauge my paranoia about it, with the hopes it might just be a control hose blown off or something simple.

Anyway, went to the e-bay, thinking a car with $150k might just belong to FDFROMHELL (oldtimers joke), remember him? and recognised it as Wael's, but wasn't sure until I started reading the posts.

Wael - just think, no more heat problems, no more worries about detonation just because you dialed in one more degree of advance on the leading, no more sweating out that backfire as a blown engine, no more "did you check the MAP sensor" (which is about as overused now as ridalin (sic), no more worries about every little hesitation or knock, or valet for that matter.

Good luck and come by and visit often. We could still use your experience with the FD.

Cheers

btw - getting close to 5k posts there goodfellas. How's that new engine doing?

 

I'm kinda outta the loop on this one... just wut/who exactly is Johnny Bravo??

 

FDNewbie,

I used to have Johnny Bravo logo instead of the Mazda logo on the nose of the car as well as the back. My kids got them from Subway one time, it was a mirror for Johnny to look at himself and say "damn I am good lookin" Anyway, its a good size to be an emblem.

So to poke fun at the people that take pride in their badges (Euro brands mostly) I thought it would be fun to have a Johnny Bravo. It also amused many of the kids at parking lots...etc. The car is very yellow, low, wide, big wing, big diffuser and absolutely slaps subtlety in the face...Kind of like Johnny Bravo.

Anyway, I got tired of it and took it off and put the MS logo back on.

cheers

W

 

Johnny Bravo is a cartoon character that looks and sounds a lot like Elvis Presley.

 

hmm...okay. at least now i know. but i def. never saw/heard of this johnny bravo character before

thanx tho

 

Um, for 150K he better have a 20B in that thing

 

Go to google and search on Johnny Bravo -- it should come up as a Nickelodeon cartoon...

 

How much do you have into your totally average FD, ZB? When you start adding bumpers, spoilers, stereo, paint, wheels, tires, exhaust, and other mods, it adds up quickly. Own the car for 10 years and it eventually adds up to a lot. Then again, you wouldn't know what a McIntosh amplifier or Alesis equalizer was if it bit you in the ***...

Get your head out of 1992 and look around some time. The RX-7 can (and does) lose.

 

Why did the forum start doing this:

jimlab
01-09-04 10:42 PM This person is on your Ignore List. To view this post click [here]

It used to not even show that a person you put on ignore was posting. Oh well.

 

Why did the forum start doing this:

jimlab
01-09-04 10:42 PM This person is on your Ignore List. To view this post click [here]

It used to not even show that a person you put on ignore was posting. Oh well.

 

Why did the forum start doing this:

jimlab
01-09-04 10:42 PM This person is on your Ignore List. To view this post click [here]

It used to not even show that a person you put on ignore was posting. Oh well.

 

Little itchy on the trigger there zero? Or were the last two posts for emphasis?

 

LOL, no the forum will go down on you faster than a $2.00 *****.

 

Yeah, I've noticed it spits an apex seal from time to time. Of course it also helps pad the post count if you're into that sort of thing.

 

it needs water injection.

 

Your brain needs water injection...

 

BTW, as a side-note and just in general, Alesis eq's are some of the WORST. Alesis makes very few solid products - the rest is just craaaap - and priced to reflect that. This is coming from a pro audio perspective, not automotive.

 

It's odd that you're the only one I've ever heard that opinion from...