My 1988 RX-7 GXL

[Otto the egg]

This is my 1988 RX-7 GXL Saphire Blue. It is completely original with roughly 30k original miles. At present, it even has it's original-straight-from-the-showroom tires on it (planning on replacing them... they are 16 years old and starting to get tough)

http://static.flickr.com/25/44836000_d77929ef44.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/24/44836131_9bcd22eb20.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/30/44836624_991b21bae4.jpg

[Otto the egg]

http://static.flickr.com/29/44835705_d6ce7a3273.jpg

[Porkchop]

What a wankel!

Very clean ride :)

[dnyed]

Original tires? Thirty thousand miles? Wow!! That RX-7 looks brand new!! :hitit:

[Otto the egg]

Original tires? Thirty thousand miles? Wow!! That RX-7 looks brand new!! :hitit:

Yes, you read correctly. Original tires and roughly 30K original miles. Not only does it look brand new, but it still has the new car smell :D Something else about it that is really cool, is that it has the factory Pioneer CD player in it... keep in mind, it is a 1988 car.. with factory CD.

[Herbie3Rivers]

CD? What's a CD? Oh wait, aren't those, those things that'll replace cassettes one day?

[Otto the egg]

CD? What's a CD? Oh wait, aren't those, those things that'll replace cassettes one day?

Yes, they look like little records.

Here's a shot of the interior... although in the picture the interior looks gray, it is actually all blue (except the obvious black pieces), with full leather.
http://static.flickr.com/31/44834841_b898b94052.jpg

[Otto the egg]

Siete becomes Ocho

http://static.flickr.com/25/44836442_4a2dd60de1.jpg

[pdoel]

Ha ha! Nice! I love the decals on him! They are very becoming of him!

[scarabY2k]

Wow Otto! That's a well kept RX-7. Very nice:clap:

[bnoland]

Beautiful RX7.. did you buy it new??

[Otto the egg]

Beautiful RX7.. did you buy it new??

I am the 2nd owner of this RX-7. The original owner is a man up in Appleton, WI. The short story of this car, is that he bought it from his share of the sale of his house after his divorce. He already had another house, and daily transportation, so he bought the RX-7 as a toy to drive on weekends in good weather. The car up until the time I purchased it only averaged 2K miles a year. (I am averaging even less than that). The original owner decided to retire, and he and his second wife wanted to get a different "fun" car, so he put the car for sale on Ebay.... where I just happened to be looking for this exact car.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/25/44835219_53c04af9cf.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2153/1506791927_9651eeb541.jpg

[Otto the egg]

Why was I looking for this exact car? Because I had previously owned one when I was much younger.... That RX-7 I did purchase from new.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/14/18400757_801422c38f_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2256/1506786427_29bb5d5ec5_o.jpg

My original RX-7 was severely damaged in an accident caused by a drunk driver... so was I... I went through 2 years of physical therapy to regain most of the use of my right arm and shoulder. The car was repaired... but it never ran the same after that accident. I sold that car shortly before my wedding in '96.

So, fast forward to 2002... I have been wanting get another 1988 RX-7 GXL Saphire Blue... so I start hitting all the online classifieds looking for that exact make/model/year/trim level/color car. I come close on several occasions, but find nothing that is exact. So, early in the spring of 2004 I am home with a really bad cold... I go out to Ebay and find that car listed. and it only has 28,000 miles on it... I nearly wet myself.

The guy wanted too much money for it on ebay, so I started emailing him explaining why I wanted that car, and sharing pictures of my original car with him. He starts writing me back and we strike up a bit of a friendship. The ebay listing expires with no bids (as I mentioned the price was too high)... So I emailed him an offer of what I thought was fair for the car... He has a better offer from some kid in Texas. I explained that was my final offer and to congratulate the kid in Texas. A day later I get a phone call from the seller. He says that he and his wife talked about it, and decided that since I was older, and wanted to preserve the car, and that the kid in Texas wanted to turn it into a drift car (I had to explain to him what that was), that he was going to take my offer.

I went to the bank, got a cashiers check, picked up a trailer from Uhaul and headed to Wisconsin the next weekend. Now the car sits in the garage most of the time only coming out on good weather days. The car has never seen snow, rarely seen rain (only by accident... Ohio can rain at anytime). Since I originally posted this, the tires have been replaced with equivalent tires, the 30K service has been done, along with fixing some minor problems (the car is almost 20 years old... stuff breaks).

and here's me with the car currently

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/27/46225318_77e783c011.jpg

[Otto the egg]

It may not be a valuable sports car... or a terribly fast sports car (it is fast for a late '80s sports car... but by current standards... not so much) But it brings back a lot of happy memories for me, and the original car was the first car that I purchased that was beyond basic transportation... my first "fun" car. I plan to be burried in this car :)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/180/433697092_f416b9d4fa.jpg

[scarabY2k]

Thanks Otto for sharing such a great story. That brought some memories I had of a truck I once had, but never got to drive. I loved it a lot, but at the time, I was in high school and really didn't have the money to fix it up. It was a 1951 Chevy 3100 pickup. If I knew then, what I knew now. Like you, i'll find that ride that meant so much to me and keep it forever- along with 'Cup of course:)

[sourmash]

Awesome story and what a beautiful car. I, too, love those old RX7's and almost bought a '87 once.

I too had a love for a '90 Nissan 240sx coupe. It was black on black and a fantastic handling car. It wasn't the fastest thing around but sure was fun to drive and was a good looking car for mid to late 90's. One day I had it at the Nissan dealership to get a clutch replacement and a huge storm hit with baseball sized hail. Needless to say the car was demolished, but I fixed the clutch...replaced the windows and continued to drive it for 2 more years. I sold the car to my brother to use as a winter beater in NW Ohio and it has since retired to the salvage yard after 275k on the odo. I'd love to have another one in mint condition to just have a fun weekend car.

Once again, what a fine example you have there...keep her secret...keep her safe;)

[iScott]

Awesome story. Cool car!

[Otto the egg]

There is always something special about that first car that you buy that isn't just transportation. All I can say is go out and look for that car that you remember. It is probably out there for sale.... mine was :D

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2311/1506794285_e89d07dde5.jpg

[AceJay]

First off, NICE.

Second, that is REALLY clean. Congrats on a great find. How much was it?

[Otto the egg]

First off, NICE.

Second, that is REALLY clean. Congrats on a great find. How much was it?

thanks and thanks... I'd rather not talk about how much I paid for the car... but it was under bluebook.:D

[Otto the egg]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2400/1696041570_747be80631.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2020/1695200599_00030ad726.jpg

[Otto the egg]

putting the car in the garage for the winter... current mileage
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2132/1749388145_298551e5da.jpg

[sourmash]

Have a good hibernation RX-7. See you back out in the Spring.

[Deserion]

Fuel filters are a pain in the arse to change on those. :mad:

But damn hell that's a cherry ride, that's for sure. :bigthumb: Very nice, man.

[Otto the egg]

Fuel filters are a pain in the arse to change on those. :mad:

But damn hell that's a cherry ride, that's for sure. :bigthumb: Very nice, man.

The filter itself isn't hard to get out, but the fuel line had to be cut off and a new line installed from the gas tank to the filter... you also have to dismantle half of the interior in the hatch to unplug the fuel pump, then once everything is reassembled, you have to jump some contacts to prime the fuel pump. :) it took me a full day to do that.

[04BabyBlueVert]

:drool: Oh God! I LOVE THAT RX7..

Sorry to scream that out.

I've had 2 88 Mazda RX7 GXL and an 84 GS and one day, I will get myself another 81-84 RX7 with the 12a.

I'll put up a few Pictures of my $500 84 GS and my $500 88 GXL 2+2 in another thread. The GXL was in bad shape, but ran alright.

[PzwoTDI]

Awesome RX-7!!!! I really dig the license plate!
A good friend of mine owns a nice handful of first and second gen 7's. They are alot of fun to own! Wish you luck with it!!

[Otto the egg]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3098/2874989873_6dc4f54bf6.jpg

[Otto the egg]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3121/2874977577_af8fa936b9.jpg

[raff]

Just read the entire thread. Great story and great looking car.
You're absolutely right about the significance of the "first car".