I was interested in a Competition Yellow Mica RX-7 FD3S R1 VIN:JM1FD3319P0208988, with a stunningly low 3K miles and like new interior/exterior. The price was originally $29.9K. Similar low-mileage well maintained/documented R1s have gone for $25.7K, so this was a bit of premium.

The website makes the car seem absolutely perfect. And when I spoke to Rami on the phone he also indicated the same. However, when I asked if the car had every been in accident. He said that he thought the hood might have been repainted, since "he had an eye for that kind of thing". When I asked about the maintenance records, he said he didn't have any and added, that this wasn't a "garage queen".

That was an understatement. I hired a mechanic who specializes in RX-7s to go look at the car and take a test drive. The car has been in a major front-end collision and has had the frame straightened. The interior has several nicks in it. The radio doesn't work. The performance isn't there; the car isn't running correctly. And the paint job was completely mediocre, you could see tape lines from the masking and overspray that wasn't fully mixed so it an incorrect color.

Furthermore, after searching for the VIN online I came across this previous listing that explicitly states the car has been repainted and the odometer isn't even correct:
http://www.2040cars.com/Mazda/RX-7/1...r-1-3l-736774/

I wouldn't claim that Rami directly lied to me, and to be fair, I'm not sure what the rest of his inventory is like. But I can say that either through incompetence, negligence or dishonesty, he cost me several hours of time/effort and several hundred dollars for a mechanic and he has no qualms about attempting to pass off obvious lemons to his customers.

 

wow, I keep seeing this car change hands, lol.

I remember when it was for sale and the guy in Alabama had it. I did a lot of investigating in that car, a lot.

The car is garbage. I did the same thing you did and had an appraiser go out and look at the car. He told me to run away screaming, lol.

I was only able to trace back to the payday loan shop that used to own it. Since you need a legal way to get those records of the then previous owner I just kinda stopped there.

 

I saw this listed on eBay a while back and it mentioned that the odometer was changed out. I was also interested in ti, but when I saw that no oem stickers under the hood I didn't pursue it any further. The beginning price was around $30k, now it's $27.5. This car won't sell even at $20k.

 

Brief history:
wrecked and sold to body shop guy who fixed it up. Stripped the car completely repainted etc...... big mess

Sold to someone who then sold to the alabama guy who then had to buy a new cluster to match the BS mileage.

Mileage on it is low but not 3k more like 8k

This car will likely sell to some poor bastard but the dealer is either naive or dirty as they come.

 

Fritz, from the cars this place sells it seems like they know their toys. From the things that are wrong with the car, which seem obvious, I'm sure the report done by the inspection would either have been shared in writting or discussion.

I think that they are into that car for at least $25k + shipping which is why when it hit $27.5 it has I gone down any further. I have it saved in my cars.com favorites .

Stinks people would sell a car like this in this manner.

 

^when I call the pay day loan place that had it, their documentation said the mileage was around 50k..... they were only able to read it once since it stopped working after that.

 

It's too bad that it is in this condition since there are so few of them. But, for these guys to try to sell this is under the pretence that it is a gem not right. I don't think that they knew how informed, connected, and knowledgeable the people are that buy these.

 

Wow, I was briefly interested in this CYM back when the guy in AL owned it......

 

FYI, it's currently listed on auto trader.

 

..it's "the date that will never leave"...lol!

 

If the issues indicated by the OP were brought to theattention of the seller and the issues are not disclosed, I think they've gonefrom ignorance to fraud.

 

The yellow R1 sold....

 

It's back at diamond motorworks.