When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
About a month ago I managed to get my hands on a stock 79 rx7. Still can't believe I found one as they are not easy to come across around this part of the country, the salt normally ruins them all. This one however is a survivor, and has almost no rust on it at all. Mechanically, she is wonderful. Runs great and everything works (for the most part). Cosmetically, it's going to need some work. Interior needs touched up and new carpet, half of which is missing. Paint was recoated by a previous owner with latex paint......why someone would do this I don't know, but it is terrible and cracked everywhere.
It's currently in the garage drying from new paint after being stripped to metal, so pictures to come of the fresh paint.
What a beautiful Spark Yellow 79!!!! Do you know any of the car's history? Would love to see more pictures of the car! Always wanted an SA in Spark Yellow and I love when people find them and restore them.
Unfortunately, I don't know a lot on the history. Bought it from a friend who had it a year or two and mostly just let it sit. He was willing to part with it since he knew I would make her pretty again. Mechanically, it's very sound. Has around 76k on it if I remember correctly. The extent so far of my mechanical work has been messing with the idler screws, running sea foam through, and replacing the windshield washer tank and pump, that's it. Runs great and sounds wonderful. Car also has very little rust. Has 2 spots that have been patched behind the rear wheels. The under body doesn't have a lick of rust on it, so kudos to whoever undercoated it. Interior is pretty good for sitting in the sun for as long as it did. The dash has a single crack in it but is only visible from looking outside in. Seat have some wear but no tears. Short of some touch up inside and replacing the missing rear carpet, it's ready to go. The owner before him though is causing me headaches. As you can see from the pictures, the paint in the back is destroyed, and in person, you can see the paint is cracking over the whole car. The one owner decided it would be good to paint the car in latex paint..... it was a nightmare to strip down to metal for repainting. 40 hours later of sanding, heating/scraping, and acid to strip the paint, she got the fresh paint it needed. Naturally, the paint was spot on spark yellow with the new paint, but looks pretty nice. Got it for a good price in it's condition. Still working on some re-assembly after painting but here's the progress so far. Don't plan on doing mods or anything, it's in good enough condition to make as close to stock as I can without breaking the bank. Cheers.
Apparently my reply didn't work a couple days ago. Anyways, I got the car off of a friend who had it for about 2 years. It bought it off of some older guy who barely drove it. If our research was right, I'm either the third of fourth owner. It's got around 76k on the clock and runs wonderfully. Most of the work I need to do is all cosmetic. Mechanical work I have done has been sea foam, adjust the idler, and replace the windshield washer pump and tank, so not much at all. Drives pretty smooth and doesn't seem to leak anything. Rust is very minimal. There are 2 spots I found bondo on the fender behind the real wheels when I stripped the paint. There a tad more on a panel in front of one rear wheel but is very little. The underneath of the car has been saved by a crazy amount of undercoat. The worst thing on the car was the paint. Paint was destroyed by baking in the sun and having chickens walk all over it for a year ( hence the paint missing by the hatch ). I also learned the paint on the car is latex paint...so someone repainted it like an idiot. Took forever to strip to metal, around 40 hours since the latex paint didn't want to sand off. But it's all painted now and I'm finishing putting the trim pieces and other parts I took off to paint back on today. Still have a little bit of trim touch up to do, but the outside of the car is pretty much done. I'll be moving on to touching up the interior and replacing the rear / maybe all carpet. I'm loving the thing already though. I will try to get some pictures of the interior up here soon.
Welcome. Spark cars are kind of rare and have a bit of a following. I have one myself and enjoy driving it. For some reason, it just seems like a fun color to ride around in. Does it have a dash cap? Maybe its just the picture, but the top part of the dash looks a little off -color wise, compared to a regular brown / tan 2 tone interior.
Also, curious on your plans to re-attach the rubber bumper strip on the rear bumper. I have one that needs re attaching but most of the plastic clips that attach it are broke. Been trying to have some 3D printed for about 6 months now. The clips themselves are NLA.
New 79 rx7 owner
