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Thought this may excite 1st generation RX7 fans, Just bought home my latest purchase, 79 GS, with only 18k miles from new.Kept in a climate controlled enviroment from day 1.
Last edited by Daimlerdart; 02-24-20 at 08:32 AM.
Reason: Additional pics
Welcome to the forum!!! That's an incredible looking SA!!! Wonder why someone painted the wheels though... either way I'd love to see more pictures of the car and hear more about it's history!
Thanks, great little car, according to the 1st owner the wheels were gold when he purchased the car new. The dealer also painted the stripes on the car, that was an additional $89.00 on the invoice. Seems there is a lot of different opinions relating to 78-79 SAs. Also the dealer charged $100.00 for the Lucas fog lights
In 79 / 80, S models came "standard" with the 4 speed. GS models came "standard" with the 5 speed. You could get the 3 sp auto in the GS models too. I say "standard" because you really couldn't order any options from the factory. Mazda just built them in their own pre determined numbers. Potential owners could only tell their dealer what options they wanted and then wait for a vehicle to become available. Dealers could add some things like aluminum wheels, A/C and body moldings but had no control over how many "S" or "GS", what transmission or sunroof options were built. Many dealers also added aftermarket items like air dams, stripe kits and rear louvres to dress up their vehicles.
Do you have any shots of the interior and under hood? The wheels almost look like the gold waffles that came on the 1980 LS models, but those were still a year in the future. Looks like a very nice clean, low mile example.
In 79, you either got the steel rims or aluminum rims (waffles) None were painted. The only gold Rx-7 wheel Mazda ever provided was on the 1980 LS (Leather Sport) special edition. They were regular waffles, painted gold and annotated that way on the window sticker.
If the original owner took possession of the car with painted rims, the dealer must have done it. Factory painted rims were still a year off. The sticker you posted just says "aluminum rims". No mention of being colored. Very few Spark yellow cars ended up with sunroofs for some reason. Would like to see the interior.
I suspect you are correct with the dealer painting them, they are in perfect condition, zero curb rash. Fired it up today, runs sweet.Will post some interior pics in the next few days. Its like new, brown interior, which contradicts the sticker. That says black, dont quite get that. But its definitely the original colored brown interior. Dealers back in the day tacked on all kinds of "dealer options" to jack their profit margins up. The original owner, buyer was getting pretty ticked off with having to wait so long for delivery. Several months after placing a deposit, he asked for it back if they didn't deliver his car as promised.
Dealers sold the cars that first year faster than they could get them in. That created a waiting list. Lots of dealers sold them at a mark up from the base price. Sometimes, a couple thousand over sticker. Yes, dealers did add things like paint protection, rust proofing, pin stripes to increase their profit margin. And, as I previously said, could install A/C (all cars were shipped from Japan w/o air for import tax purposes). Air was added at the US port of entry or sometimes the dealership.
Plus, the dealership could upgrade with aluminum wheels or with body moldings (both not part of the "S" package) Changing out something major like the interior or transmission would never have likely happened as it would have been too costly and time consuming. Remember, these did not sit long on the dealer lots that first year. I assume either the sticker is wrong (?) or not the right one (?). Does the VIN on the dash and / or firewall match the one listed on the sticker?
Spark cars were available with black, brown and tan interiors, plus also a 2 tone, tan / brown scheme.
Also, the sticker lists the engine number as : 2057620. this is the only way to currently verify if your engine is still the original one and should be stamped on top of your front Iron, visible between your alternator and distributor.
Heres the deal on the interior. I spoke with the original owner and questioned the brown color. What happened was around 2 years after purchasing it he had a can of sprayable insulation inside the car, it exploded and got everything. Yes it was originally black. It was covered by insurance and went back to the dealer, decided the brown was more to his liking, they replaced the complete interior with all factory items, they had the car for 2 months to complete the job. So that explains that.
So the VIN's on the sticker and car match? It makes more sense to me that the wheels were added or painter later too. Maybe getting the idea after seeing the painted 1980 wheels. A pic of original LS gold rims. What is the spare tire like?
It was great the the previous owner followed up with you on the interior. It makes total sense. You do own a very beautiful SA. The shade of gold that the wheels are does make me wonder. I own a one owner 1980 LS in Solar Gold and would be happy to post more pictures of the wheels for color verification. The picture that Banzai posted was one I took back in 2004 when I was cleaning the LS I had at the time. Always loved the original unused spare. Stu currently has that wheel and tire.
Here are couple pictures of my current Solar Gold LS. I do think your gold wheels were not LS painted wheels, but sprayed at the dealer, and done very well at that. THE car that got me roped into RX-7's as a kid in the 80's:
OH WOW !!! Too Funny ...the 1984 GSL-SE that i bought from the original owner about a month and half ago bought it at the same Dealership your 79 RX7 came from ! ...Small world ..I dont have the original window sticker but the first owner gave me the Bill of Sale .....
02-23-20, 09:59 PM
