Description:

Black 1988 RX-7 convertible located in Kingstowne, Virginia (Fairfax County, about two miles or so south of the Capital Beltway). Make offer for the whole car. I am not willing to part it out myself because I live in a townhouse and I don’t have anywhere to store a dismantled car. Note: The forum required me to post a number for a price, so I listed $2500, but we will consider any reasonable offers for the reason stated in the following paragraph.

The car is not running, so you will need to bring a trailer or a tow truck. A mechanic diagnosed it as needing a new engine because he found that the rotors have seized. If we had the time, the patience, and the extra money to proceed with a full restoration, I might explore doing that, but it’s simply not viable for us to do so at the present time. My other car is 19 years old, so it makes more sense for me to save up money for when I will have to replace that one. The RX-7 has not run since sometime in 2022.

I’m the third owner of this car with clear title. My wife bought it in the 1990s from her then-boyfriend. It was her daily driver up until May 2005, at which time it needed some maintenance that didn’t fit her budget. By then we were together but not yet married and I bought the car from her shortly after helping her buy an Acura. We then got married in 2010 and she wound up with the car back in her family. It was garaged/parked in an indoor space until May 2005. Since then, it’s normally parked outdoors and was usually under a car cover (until the antenna got stuck; see below on that) because our townhouse has a one-car garage and we park my daily driver in there. The car cover is a Griot’s Garage cover made for this car and I will include it in your purchase. I’ll also include the four clamps I use at each corner of the car to ensure the wind can’t pull the cover off or twist it around the car.

When it was running, the car was a lot of fun to drive and it was entertaining to surprise people off the line at traffic lights when they see an old car and they assume it’ll be slow. Essentially, I bought it largely as an emotional purchase back in 2005 and it’s just no longer rational for us to keep it given the nature of the repairs it needs.

—Five-speed manual shifted nicely. Clutch bite point is higher than in our other two manual-shift cars, but there hasn’t been any clutch slippage or the like. I do sometimes hear a slight clicking noise when I step on the clutch. Don’t know what that is.

—New convertible top installed in June 2017 by Seatco in Springfield, Virginia. The tonneau cover is stored in our basement and I will provide it to you. The guy at Seatco was astonished that the original top lasted 29 years.

—Electrical items, including windows, wipers/washers, blinkers, hazard lights, headlights, and high beams, work with no issues except as noted below. The headlights retract correctly. I got a good laugh when I turned them on leaving the ATM and some little kid standing there was in awe seeing the lights pop up!

—AC blew nice and cold last time the car ran.

—Spare tire in the proper place.

—Aftermarket (Griot’s Garage) floor mats.

—Car bra installed by the original owner. I’m not really a “car bra person,” but I’ve left it in place due to the car’s age and because I figure it would look funny if removed and the paint underneath is presumably less faded than the paint that’s been exposed to the sun and air.

—Will include the manuals and all service records/paperwork since 2005 (except for a couple of registration-related pages from 2005 that list my Social Security Number; for obvious reasons, I will remove those pages). Records also include some service records prior to 2005.

Known issues:

—As noted above, the car is not running. Diagnosed in early November 2023 as seized rotors.

—The driver’s side front fender is damaged. This is a case of adding insult to injury: When the car was at the mechanic to diagnose why it wouldn’t run (the trip that led to them concluding it needs a new engine), someone backed into the car and it sustained minor damage to the fender. The attached photos show the damage but make it look worse than it is. The wheel cover for the front left wheel also broke off as part of this incident and needs to be replaced. The dent could be repaired by an auto body shop without much difficulty. We inquired at a nearby auto body shop and they recommended leaving it alone for a purchaser to decide how to handle it. At least the mechanic refunded what they charged me!

—One rust spot on the driver’s side at the bottom of the rear fender. Also some rusting on the driver’s door window trim at the base of the window—the black rubber or whatever it is that originally covered that area has worn off and the metal strip is rusted (does not affect body integrity).

—Some scratches on and around the rear side-marker light on the passenger’s side—those have been there since the car belonged to my now-wife (prior to 2005).

—Paint is OK. It’s not awful, not peeling or badly scratched up or anything, but it’s not mint. I’d call it “fair.” There are a few marks on the hood and a few small dings (not scratches) on the doors.

—Windshield wiper arms work fine but look a bit rusted. I had meant to sand and paint them but never had the time.

—There are three small faded and peeling stickers on the rear bumper that my now-wife put there when it was her car. I’ve left them alone so as not to cause damage by trying to remove them.

—The cruise control does not work. I keep the cruise master switch turned off because the last time I turned it on, the car started accelerating when my foot was off the pedal. I don’t take the car on rural highway drives that would allow me to use the cruise control, so I haven’t looked into fixing this.

—CD player doesn’t work and the CD that’s in it won’t eject. If you can get the CD out, you are obviously welcome to keep it. (Soundtrack to the movie “Almost Famous.” Great top-down driving music.) I haven’t used the tape deck in years, so I don’t know whether it works.

—The radio antenna is stuck about two-thirds of the way down; I had planned to fix it but then the car stopped running. The headrest speakers do not seem to be working, but then, since the CD player doesn’t work and I don’t normally listen to the radio, I did not fix them. The first three of the attached photos were taken before the antenna got stuck.

—Cigarette lighter plug didn’t work to power my air compressor the last time I wanted to adjust the tire pressures.

—While the windshield washers work fine, for some reason the yellow “washer” warning light on the dashboard sometimes stays lit.

—The digital clock sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t.

—The convertible top motors are original and seem like they may be wearing out. The top goes down with no issues. Sometimes it doesn’t want to start going back up, but if I get out of the car and give the top a bit of a push with my right hand while turning the **** with my left, it starts moving and then it works fine the rest of the way.

—As with any RX-7 of this age, the seats are in rough shape. The driver’s seat leg bolster on the left side (closer to the door) is a bit crushed due to age and could be more supportive. The seats are covered with aftermarket seat covers that will be included with your purchase. The seat covers are fine but don’t look perfect because I had trouble trying to install them properly; the driver’s side cover is also somewhat dirty after we had the car in the shop over the past two months.

Essentially, the car needs a new engine and some relatively minor body work and could use a full restoration. If you want to buy it and part it out, that’s obviously your prerogative, but please don’t tell me if that’s what you plan to do because my wife will be very bummed out by it!

Important legal note: The car is registered in Virginia as an antique vehicle because doing so saves me money on registration fees and state inspection. Under Virginia law, the car is exempt from emissions inspection due to its age (regardless of antique status), and registering it as an antique means I don’t have to get the state safety inspection done each year and I also don't have to pay an annual registration fee to either the Commonwealth or Fairfax County. The safety inspection was last done in 2016. If you want to register the car in Virginia as a non-antique (standard license plates), you’ll have to take it for state safety inspection. Note that while you can register it and get license plates issued without getting the inspection done, if you drive the car with regular plates and you don’t have the inspection sticker you risk getting a ticket, although of course that's a non-issue unless and until the car has a new engine. The car is being sold “as is” with no warranties either express or implied (quite obviously given that it is not running right now).

Please contact via PM if interested and we can work out contact information privately.