Saga of #33(sa22c-500033)
01-15-09, 01:01 AM
#1
Saga of #33(sa22c-500033)
Ok I promised on a previous thread that I would document the story of my new Rx-7 SA22C-500033( #33 ) from here on out.
#1 Purchase was completed on EBAY, deposit given, complete payment made.
#2 Purchase paperwork was completed by seller, Wendy at Wheelswest did a great job very accomodating, and sent via Fed-Ex to Texas, Papers have been returned to Colorado. Only waiting on Ok for vehicle release to the shipper.
#3 Car will be shipped by Express Auto door to door, extra insurance has been laid on already, Pick-up date is TBD but shipping time is only 2-4 days.
#4 After arrival in Texas car will be completely inspected and driven to determine any problems or issues it will also be photographed at the same time. Top bottom inside and out.
Shortly after number 4 expect another post with all the current situation on the car as well as pictures and my cries for help from those of you holding onto really nice SA Parts, I already have on hand for this car NOS red dot seat covers, well they are not exactly NOS but very close.
#1 Purchase was completed on EBAY, deposit given, complete payment made.
#2 Purchase paperwork was completed by seller, Wendy at Wheelswest did a great job very accomodating, and sent via Fed-Ex to Texas, Papers have been returned to Colorado. Only waiting on Ok for vehicle release to the shipper.
#3 Car will be shipped by Express Auto door to door, extra insurance has been laid on already, Pick-up date is TBD but shipping time is only 2-4 days.
#4 After arrival in Texas car will be completely inspected and driven to determine any problems or issues it will also be photographed at the same time. Top bottom inside and out.
Shortly after number 4 expect another post with all the current situation on the car as well as pictures and my cries for help from those of you holding onto really nice SA Parts, I already have on hand for this car NOS red dot seat covers, well they are not exactly NOS but very close.
01-16-09, 06:48 PM
#4
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neat car!
since its so early i wonder if it was a magazine test car or something. ive looked into the FD vin numbers, and the first 50 or so vin #'s were built into cars but most of them were not sold. instead they were used for crash testing, epa testing, magazine road tests, etc etc
for example i remember seeing FD number 200116 in mazda of irvines lot, the vin didnt come up as valid, but yet the car existed. it also had some differences from the normal production 93's, as it had the 92 style badging
anyways, #33 is a great find, and SA's are a lot of fun to drive, especially when they are stock
since its so early i wonder if it was a magazine test car or something. ive looked into the FD vin numbers, and the first 50 or so vin #'s were built into cars but most of them were not sold. instead they were used for crash testing, epa testing, magazine road tests, etc etc
for example i remember seeing FD number 200116 in mazda of irvines lot, the vin didnt come up as valid, but yet the car existed. it also had some differences from the normal production 93's, as it had the 92 style badging
anyways, #33 is a great find, and SA's are a lot of fun to drive, especially when they are stock
01-17-09, 04:30 PM
#5
I posted this information on another thread this tells the history as I know it and a little conjecture on Mazda's part as well as mine.
I can't say with certainty but there was a rumor that many of the first 25 were crash tested, and there is a very real possiblity that is was a car that was used for test drives, I think that a likely possibility that this car was brought to the US as part of the focus group test. I hope to know more this year if we have a 7-stock and Koby-san comes again because he was in charge of the focus group study. The question that will surely come up is how did this car get away from Mazda if this is what happened. The likely story is that in the early 80s when the 2 branches of Mazda in the US became one company cars like this were released. I know that is how alot of NOS engines became available that were at Mazda Training Centers that were closed. Who knows for certain if anyone has information I am open to it.
Rx7 history, though the numerous history books about the Rx7s and rotaries you can find the information I am talking about, it does take some deductive reasoning because mazda does not have very good records that far back.
All North American Rx7s started with production number SA22C-500001. According to mazda and the sources listed below official production started in MARCH 1978. Also According to the listed sources Mazda produced 50 prototype and 50 pre-production cars. Now here is where it gets sticky Mazda says that they do not know what the vin numbers are or where.
Here comes the conjecture part, I already own SA22C-500088 which has a build date of FEB 1978 (whoa not possible, see picture *in orginal thread*) now I will tell you this car is very weird, it has early 78 door panels with a map pocket (not possible) but they have a J-Spec part number and the same door panels were available in Japan on the early cars(and much later us cars but with a US part number) as evidenced by the early 78 sales lit. There are also other little queer things about it. At 7-stock when talking with some of Mazda people the idea was that this car was one of the preproduction cars that were essentially hand built not in the Hiroshima Plant therefore the parts may not match official production cars (official production started in 3/78).
So where are we on SA22C-500033, NO MATTER WHAT IT IS ULTRA COOL, either it is a pre-production prototype, it is a pre-production car that was hand built, or one of the very first North American Production cars
The information posted can be found in different locations in the following sources.
Sources
*RX-7: Mazda's Rotary Engine Sportscar -Revised 2nd Edition- by Brian Long
*Mazda RX-7 Performance Handbook (Motorbooks Workshop) by Mike Ancas
*Mazda RX-7 Sports Car Color History by John Matras
*Mazda RX-7 1978-91 Gold Portfolio (Paperback) bm R. M. Clarke
*RX-7: The Mazda RX-7: Mazda's Legendary Sports Car, Plus: Racing and Winning - Le Mans and IMSA GTO Championship, 1991 by Jack K. Yamaguchi, John Dinkel, and Koichi Yazaki
*The really cool one is a Japan only one by Koby-san that I can not find the info on right now
*There was also a Japan only one that was included in the set of 1:43 scale rotary engine model set that I got from Racing Beat a few years back that had worldwide production numbers in it which were very helpful
*Multiple official Mazda parts manuals, microfiches and service bulletins
All North American Rx7s started with production number SA22C-500001. According to mazda and the sources listed below official production started in MARCH 1978. Also According to the listed sources Mazda produced 50 prototype and 50 pre-production cars. Now here is where it gets sticky Mazda says that they do not know what the vin numbers are or where.
Here comes the conjecture part, I already own SA22C-500088 which has a build date of FEB 1978 (whoa not possible, see picture *in orginal thread*) now I will tell you this car is very weird, it has early 78 door panels with a map pocket (not possible) but they have a J-Spec part number and the same door panels were available in Japan on the early cars(and much later us cars but with a US part number) as evidenced by the early 78 sales lit. There are also other little queer things about it. At 7-stock when talking with some of Mazda people the idea was that this car was one of the preproduction cars that were essentially hand built not in the Hiroshima Plant therefore the parts may not match official production cars (official production started in 3/78).
So where are we on SA22C-500033, NO MATTER WHAT IT IS ULTRA COOL, either it is a pre-production prototype, it is a pre-production car that was hand built, or one of the very first North American Production cars
The information posted can be found in different locations in the following sources.
Sources
*RX-7: Mazda's Rotary Engine Sportscar -Revised 2nd Edition- by Brian Long
*Mazda RX-7 Performance Handbook (Motorbooks Workshop) by Mike Ancas
*Mazda RX-7 Sports Car Color History by John Matras
*Mazda RX-7 1978-91 Gold Portfolio (Paperback) bm R. M. Clarke
*RX-7: The Mazda RX-7: Mazda's Legendary Sports Car, Plus: Racing and Winning - Le Mans and IMSA GTO Championship, 1991 by Jack K. Yamaguchi, John Dinkel, and Koichi Yazaki
*The really cool one is a Japan only one by Koby-san that I can not find the info on right now
*There was also a Japan only one that was included in the set of 1:43 scale rotary engine model set that I got from Racing Beat a few years back that had worldwide production numbers in it which were very helpful
*Multiple official Mazda parts manuals, microfiches and service bulletins
I can't say with certainty but there was a rumor that many of the first 25 were crash tested, and there is a very real possiblity that is was a car that was used for test drives, I think that a likely possibility that this car was brought to the US as part of the focus group test. I hope to know more this year if we have a 7-stock and Koby-san comes again because he was in charge of the focus group study. The question that will surely come up is how did this car get away from Mazda if this is what happened. The likely story is that in the early 80s when the 2 branches of Mazda in the US became one company cars like this were released. I know that is how alot of NOS engines became available that were at Mazda Training Centers that were closed. Who knows for certain if anyone has information I am open to it.
01-20-09, 03:45 PM
#7
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i worked at dealerships from 97 to 2007, and i remember we got a 99 miata prototype car for an autoshow sometime in 98. it was an interesting car, engine bay was a different color than the out side, and there were a bunch of little brackety things under the hood that were not stamped, but hand made.
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01-25-09, 05:05 AM
#8
Ok time for an update,
shipping company picked up the car on Thursday, sorry to the guys in CO who wanted to see her leave the didn't even let me know before they did it. However the car is on its way to Texas now with an ETA of Wednesday. Will let you know the status.
DAVE
shipping company picked up the car on Thursday, sorry to the guys in CO who wanted to see her leave the didn't even let me know before they did it. However the car is on its way to Texas now with an ETA of Wednesday. Will let you know the status.
DAVE
01-26-09, 12:50 PM
#10
Will be posting alot of pics, on this. We won't be restoring it right off the bat, we will be refurbishing it and trying to preserve as much originality as possible. We will fix what needs to be but until such time as it has to have a resto the we will.
01-29-09, 07:41 AM
#14
Yea I am stuck at Riley we are not really getting any time off right now, we won't really have any time until about the middle of Feb, I don't know if I will be in KC or try to get back to TX then all depends on the $$$ situation
02-02-09, 01:23 AM
#15
Update
Ok #33 is at home in Texas she arrived on Friday pictures were taken then and uploaded Saturday
Here you see her on the trailer still, as opposed to our original idea my partner went and got her. Don't ask long story he has a CDL and friends with cool rigs that needed help and that helped us out too.
As you can see she really is #33 also note the 2/78 build date this raises more questions than it answers but that really does not matter
Here you see her on the trailer still, as opposed to our original idea my partner went and got her. Don't ask long story he has a CDL and friends with cool rigs that needed help and that helped us out too.
As you can see she really is #33 also note the 2/78 build date this raises more questions than it answers but that really does not matter
02-03-09, 10:47 PM
#19
Ok time for the next update,
VOLUNTEER
lets look at the body first I will be highlighting all of the problems we are needing to fix so the pics will not be the nicest in the world
notice the dent where the license plate goes it is from the inside out.
the side looks pretty good but you can see the bad sunfade on the top, now it is original paint
again you can see the fade a little closer, note in the background that is "78 Cosmo Girl" and "78 Cosmo Girl model 3.0" LOL otherwise known as my wife and one of my daughters
again you can see by the chipped edge it has not been repainted
the hood has me worried I will end up replacing it if I can get the right one from mazda still if not I will be scouring for a correct replacement
Well I think that is enough for now. We are at a quandry right now, I want the car to be ready for 7-stock this year which means I need to get hot on it but also how far are we going to go. The shop I wanted to use can't get to it until late this year. That doesn't mean it can't be done just that it will be a little more fun so I am looking for what y'all think should we do a cosmetic resto on the body with minor interior touch-ups and leave the full resto till later or try to get her done by 7-stock (very very difficult as we will be doing a lions share of the work)
02-04-09, 08:23 AM
#20
i would personally get the thing road worthy first. i would change the plugs (NGK) wires (NGK), cap, points, condenser, air filter, fuel filter, coolant, trans fluid, diff fluid, go to the dealer (and prepare to be raped but you know the stuff will be correct oem parts) and pick up all new belts and hoses, radiator cap, thermostat, and any body seals that are worn. i would go through the brakes, suspension, and fuel system and make sure both are up to par. i would then get the interior parts that are needed to make the car correct and complete. i would also look into a carb rebuild and a good engine bay cleaning.
finally, if time permits, as much as i know you want to keep the original paint, a repaint might be someting to consider. that or touch up the spots that could use it. the hood can be saved. its just a little bit of rust. be lucky that thats all you are dealing with. all of the mechanical work should take about a month if you are working on it on your days off and some nights after work. if i can be of any help please let me know. i usually restor one 7 per year. also, i do have a hood from a 79. it was originally daytona blue but was painted white.
finally, if time permits, as much as i know you want to keep the original paint, a repaint might be someting to consider. that or touch up the spots that could use it. the hood can be saved. its just a little bit of rust. be lucky that thats all you are dealing with. all of the mechanical work should take about a month if you are working on it on your days off and some nights after work. if i can be of any help please let me know. i usually restor one 7 per year. also, i do have a hood from a 79. it was originally daytona blue but was painted white.
02-04-09, 09:20 AM
#21
Waffles - hmmm good
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Lets see some pics of the interior. I agree with mazdaverx713b on everything. Get all the mechanicals sorted and then look at what to do with the paint.
There actually might be more value in leaving the paint as is for awhile and hitting 7 stock as a survivor so folks can see an "aged" early 79 car. Not sure but maybe buffing the top out would help a lot.
I wouldn't worry about the hood since your in Texas now its dry enough the rust can wait.
This car has some sort of history behind it I'm sure. Maybe post an ad in Hemmings or some other resto mags asking for anyone with knowledge about the car. You might get some good info that way.
There actually might be more value in leaving the paint as is for awhile and hitting 7 stock as a survivor so folks can see an "aged" early 79 car. Not sure but maybe buffing the top out would help a lot.
I wouldn't worry about the hood since your in Texas now its dry enough the rust can wait.
This car has some sort of history behind it I'm sure. Maybe post an ad in Hemmings or some other resto mags asking for anyone with knowledge about the car. You might get some good info that way.
02-04-09, 10:51 PM
#22
i would personally get the thing road worthy first. i would change the plugs (NGK) wires (NGK), cap, points, condenser, air filter, fuel filter, coolant, trans fluid, diff fluid, go to the dealer (and prepare to be raped but you know the stuff will be correct oem parts) and pick up all new belts and hoses, radiator cap, thermostat, and any body seals that are worn. i would go through the brakes, suspension, and fuel system and make sure both are up to par. i would then get the interior parts that are needed to make the car correct and complete. i would also look into a carb rebuild and a good engine bay cleaning.
finally, if time permits, as much as i know you want to keep the original paint, a repaint might be someting to consider. that or touch up the spots that could use it. the hood can be saved. its just a little bit of rust. be lucky that thats all you are dealing with. all of the mechanical work should take about a month if you are working on it on your days off and some nights after work. if i can be of any help please let me know. i usually restor one 7 per year. also, i do have a hood from a 79. it was originally daytona blue but was painted white.
finally, if time permits, as much as i know you want to keep the original paint, a repaint might be someting to consider. that or touch up the spots that could use it. the hood can be saved. its just a little bit of rust. be lucky that thats all you are dealing with. all of the mechanical work should take about a month if you are working on it on your days off and some nights after work. if i can be of any help please let me know. i usually restor one 7 per year. also, i do have a hood from a 79. it was originally daytona blue but was painted white.
Mechanically she is sweet, we are draining the tank and adding a new filter, and new clutch slave and master. She runs like a top everything works on the emmissions very smooth running ride. Paint has to be done no choice got tot be done. Hood I want to replace with NOS the spots of rust will kill this car in Texas it will come right through the hood. But should we disassemble it to preserve paint it or just shoot it.
Dave I do need some parts I need a black radio plate, I need original wire style hose clamps. I need 79 rear wing window trims, I am desperate for a new set of door panels they have to be right.
02-04-09, 11:04 PM
#23
Lets see some pics of the interior. I agree with mazdaverx713b on everything. Get all the mechanicals sorted and then look at what to do with the paint.
There actually might be more value in leaving the paint as is for awhile and hitting 7 stock as a survivor so folks can see an "aged" early 79 car. Not sure but maybe buffing the top out would help a lot.
I wouldn't worry about the hood since your in Texas now its dry enough the rust can wait.
This car has some sort of history behind it I'm sure. Maybe post an ad in Hemmings or some other resto mags asking for anyone with knowledge about the car. You might get some good info that way.
There actually might be more value in leaving the paint as is for awhile and hitting 7 stock as a survivor so folks can see an "aged" early 79 car. Not sure but maybe buffing the top out would help a lot.
I wouldn't worry about the hood since your in Texas now its dry enough the rust can wait.
This car has some sort of history behind it I'm sure. Maybe post an ad in Hemmings or some other resto mags asking for anyone with knowledge about the car. You might get some good info that way.
As for history we are contacting the orig owner that would be owner #1
02-05-09, 12:35 AM
#24
No distributor? No thanks
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Try shooting a PM to project88gxl here in Atlanta - he's got some pristine SA door panels, though I'm not sure if they'd be correct for such an early car. It's worth asking.
