My Free RX7 story...
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Joined: Aug 2010
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From: Fargo, ND
My Free RX7 story...
I manage the Millwork department at Lowes in Fargo. This past Friday morning the store was super slow, and they needed an extra hand to go on deliveries. They usually pull a cashier, or a regular associate, but for some reason, they asked me to go along. Any chance to get out of the store while being paid, Ill take it.
We delivered a few fridges around town, and had one last stop out west of Fargo in a town called Horace. We get to this farmstead, and it is an absolute dump. The Outside of the house wreaks like cat ****. I come to find out these people take in stray cats, which I guess is a pretty nice thing to do. We removed the old fridge and started to set up the new one. As the delivery guy was pulling all the tape and wrapping off of the new fridge, I started talked to Rosemary, the homeowner. We had found out we know a few mutual people and I had mentioned to her something about my autocross race coming up in a couple weeks. She asked what kind of car I drove, and when she found out it was a Mazda, her eyes lit up. She told me to follow her out to a barn on her property, telling me she had something to show me.
There sat an 81 RX7 GSL with about 2 inches of dust...
I looked at the plates, and the last year it was registered was 97. She told me that she had bought it off Main Ave in Fargo here in 81 brand new. She told me that her nephew wanted to restore it, but never had had the time. I immediately thought “LS series Drag Car” in my head. I asked her if she would be willing to sell it, expecting her to shoot me down. “I’ll talk to my husband, he won’t get rid of anything usually”. I kinda lost interest at that point as it didn’t seem promising.
We continued back to the store and I went back to my desk, to finish working up the schedule for the week. Not more than Five minutes later, Jeremy in delivery calls me and tells me that Rosemary had called back, and told me I could have the car… I couldn’t believe it…
I arranged a for a car trailer the next day, and had my father bring out our 4 wheeler, so we could pull it out of the barn. We pulled up into the gravel driveway, and Rosemary met us at the barn, with some sodas, and started with the stories about this car. She told me a lot of really interesting stuff about where this car had taken her. The thing that really surprised me though, was that they said it had never been rebuilt. I had figured that the car must have super low miles, which I was really happy about.
When I brushed the dust off the odometer, I had to double take. 194,000 miles. Holy Crap! Her husband told me that he had parked it because it started slightly smoking out of the hood, and they had bought a new car anyways. We loaded it onto the trailer and she gave me a hug and told me that she wanted a ride in the car when I finished it, and for me to email her pictures once I got it washed up.
I got it back into town and stopped by a local DIY car wash and took a pressure washer to it. It took a good 25 minutes to get most of the muck off the windows and paint. I still dread to open the door, as I knew it smelled terribly in there. We unloaded it in the driveway, and I bucket washed it a few times but it still needs more work. Here is how it sits in my driveway right now…
I still need to wash it good, so that I can get a buffer on there without ruining the paint. The interior is completely hashed, and will need to be removed. I have been thinking about keeping the rotary, but, this seems like too much work to make anything other than a race car out of it. I have plans for the 12a though...
We delivered a few fridges around town, and had one last stop out west of Fargo in a town called Horace. We get to this farmstead, and it is an absolute dump. The Outside of the house wreaks like cat ****. I come to find out these people take in stray cats, which I guess is a pretty nice thing to do. We removed the old fridge and started to set up the new one. As the delivery guy was pulling all the tape and wrapping off of the new fridge, I started talked to Rosemary, the homeowner. We had found out we know a few mutual people and I had mentioned to her something about my autocross race coming up in a couple weeks. She asked what kind of car I drove, and when she found out it was a Mazda, her eyes lit up. She told me to follow her out to a barn on her property, telling me she had something to show me.
There sat an 81 RX7 GSL with about 2 inches of dust...
I looked at the plates, and the last year it was registered was 97. She told me that she had bought it off Main Ave in Fargo here in 81 brand new. She told me that her nephew wanted to restore it, but never had had the time. I immediately thought “LS series Drag Car” in my head. I asked her if she would be willing to sell it, expecting her to shoot me down. “I’ll talk to my husband, he won’t get rid of anything usually”. I kinda lost interest at that point as it didn’t seem promising.
We continued back to the store and I went back to my desk, to finish working up the schedule for the week. Not more than Five minutes later, Jeremy in delivery calls me and tells me that Rosemary had called back, and told me I could have the car… I couldn’t believe it…
I arranged a for a car trailer the next day, and had my father bring out our 4 wheeler, so we could pull it out of the barn. We pulled up into the gravel driveway, and Rosemary met us at the barn, with some sodas, and started with the stories about this car. She told me a lot of really interesting stuff about where this car had taken her. The thing that really surprised me though, was that they said it had never been rebuilt. I had figured that the car must have super low miles, which I was really happy about.
When I brushed the dust off the odometer, I had to double take. 194,000 miles. Holy Crap! Her husband told me that he had parked it because it started slightly smoking out of the hood, and they had bought a new car anyways. We loaded it onto the trailer and she gave me a hug and told me that she wanted a ride in the car when I finished it, and for me to email her pictures once I got it washed up.
I got it back into town and stopped by a local DIY car wash and took a pressure washer to it. It took a good 25 minutes to get most of the muck off the windows and paint. I still dread to open the door, as I knew it smelled terribly in there. We unloaded it in the driveway, and I bucket washed it a few times but it still needs more work. Here is how it sits in my driveway right now…
I still need to wash it good, so that I can get a buffer on there without ruining the paint. The interior is completely hashed, and will need to be removed. I have been thinking about keeping the rotary, but, this seems like too much work to make anything other than a race car out of it. I have plans for the 12a though...
Last edited by joelw; Aug 29, 2010 at 07:13 AM.
NICE FIND! but yeah if your planning any kind of build it would probably be a better idea to do some form of swap instead of a 190xxx mile 12a.
some people have all the luck haha
some people have all the luck haha
That is one ridiculously awesome story man.. and goes to show how the people really are up here. You can never beat a free car... project car or car from the projects.. but picking up a free one-owner fb is like winning the lottery..! Haha best of luck.
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