1998 RX-7 Grade Type-RZ
 

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Old Auction Sheets Was a grade 3.5 at its first auction, but became an R

what was the damage to make it an R grade?

don't know mate. There are 2 fisheyes in the paint on the left fender, so that has been 100% been resprayed and I think so has the door. maybe the japanese handwriting in the auction sheet says? i cant google translate that.

For it to be graded R that means it has been in a more serious accident involving structural damages. This is backed up by the aftermarket steering wheel which is often done after the airbag has been deployed in an accident.

R grade cars are not meant to be imported and complied in Australia but sometimes they can be OK. The detail will be in the Japanese notes in the bottom left. The auction sheet isn't too clear so is hard to translate but those notes refer to repaired and distorted/beaten and painted parts ("BP") (I can't read which parts were affected). If you get a report through https://japancarhistorycheck.com/ they have higher quality copies of the sheet and will provide complete translations.

I can provide some detail on the diagrams as well. The front right fender has been replaced or repaired. There are very poor paint repairs with "waves" noted on the left side, the roof and right door (matches the fish eyes you see) (noted as W2 and W3 on the diagram of the car).

The A2 and A3 on the diagram of the car are medium and large scratches. The U1, U2 and U3 (can look like a V) shown on the diagram of the car are small, medium and large dents respectively.

Something to point out. The sheets shown are from the auction in 2011, not the recent sale in 2023. So it is not surprising that an engine replacement is not noted. Given it has 135,000km and good compression, it is safe to say the engine has been replaced at some point - likely after the 2011 auction.

That 2011 sheet is from JU which is the dodgiest of dodgy auction houses in Japan. The crashed cars usually go there and the regrading from 3.5 to R will have been because someone found out it had been in an accident (prior to 2011) that was not disclosed.

But then it remained unsold and did zero mileage for 4 years afterwards. This could have been when the original engine went. because from the next registration checks it did significant mileage thereafter. So the engine might be 30,000km and around 7-8 years old?

It would be interesting to see the 2023 auction sheet from USS.

Overall, this will be a really nice car once you sort it mechanically and cosmetically. And yes they are quite rare, especially to have the original BBS and Recaro seats still in them.