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New to the site - starting the restoration of an 85 GSL-SE that has not been started in about 4 years. Purchased the car in '86 as the second owner when I graduated college. Sold the car when I bought my first house but bought it back about 5 years later. Still love this car - can't wait to restore it back to its former glory.
Last edited by jkmcafee; Apr 1, 2019 at 09:49 PM.
Reason: Corrected post
Welcome!!! Amazing that you were able to find the car after you sold it!! How many miles are on the car currently? Any pictures to share of the car? The GSL-SE is a very special car and I'm glad you are working on getting the car running once again!
I have attached several pictures below. Will certainly need guidance going forward, because I want to take this jewel all the way down and bring her back to her formal glory. I will try to find a pic from the late 80s of this car.
That's a beautiful color!!! Persimmon Red I believe. That SE is highly restorable and I Would not hesitate to restore it!! Will look forward to seeing pics of it in the 80's!!
Found out that the original color for this car was 3A - Royal Maroon, not Red Persimmon, and pretty rare for an '85. Not sure if it is true but I read that only a couple of these were sent to the Mazda dealerships toward the end of the production run - One with grey cloth and one with red leather. I have the red leather, 3A, and it is very late into the production run.
Finally got her running!! Brakes, clutch and fluids next.
Last edited by jkmcafee; Oct 28, 2019 at 02:48 PM.
Reason: Corrected post
Royal Maroon was never listed as a color for the U.S. market RX-7 as far as I'm aware. Persimmon Red Metallic was color code R7 and was available in 1984 only and looks nearly identical to the color of your car. I'm not certain how many Royal Maroon 85's were produced and it was never listed as a special trim level for tha color. Could you post a picture of your vin tag the color code on the firewall? Here are a couple pictures of the colors listed for the 84 and 85 model year from the dealer brochures:
See comments at the bottom of the graphic related to painted mirror colors.
FSM documents what WAS done as opposed to what was EXPECTED to be done. Note that the late 85's had painted mirrors and Royal Maroon (3A) was one of the options. This would suggest that these are only colors with the painted mirrors. Never knew that.
Last edited by jkmcafee; Oct 31, 2019 at 11:17 AM.
Reason: Corrected post
See post below - FSM documents that late 85's (Apr 85 and later) were made with painted mirrors and included 3A paint codes. I will send a pic of my VIN plate with the paint code the next time I am back in GA. My car was made Apr '85.
Last edited by jkmcafee; Oct 31, 2019 at 11:18 AM.
Reason: Corrected post
That's very cool! I wonder if the color was added by Mazda late in the year and never published in any dealer literature. If that is the case there has to be very few 7's produced in Royal Maroon. I'm also guessing that it was a GSL-SE specific color, as the painted mirrors were only ever available as an option on the SE. Also, Brilliant Black was not available in 84 or 85 as a body color which is also odd. Perhaps it was available for the mirrors if people wanted their mirrors to be a gloss black instead of a matte black. This is pretty cool and it's great to learn new things about our cars!
Yes, painted mirrors (including Royal Maroon) were available Apr 1985 and beyond - late in the production run. Here is the VIN plate showing the paint code.
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