After giving up (probably too soon) on my commuter Ford Escort, I was on the hunt for a reasonable and reliable commuter car to get me back and forth from work every day. I am not the most practical person in an automotive sense and as proof I replaced the Escort with another first generation Mazda Rx-7. I think it was an attempt to recapture the magic of my beloved 1981 example, but needless to say it did not end well. Predictably, it was not a great commuter car and I came to the conclusion that sometimes it’s best to leave good memories in the past rather than attempt to recreate them.
My 1981 base model S had been one of most enjoyable cars I’d ever owned. While it wasn’t overly fast in a straight line it was great fun to toss around in the corners, the engine loved to rev, and it proved to be totally reliable and trouble free. So why the heck had I sold it? So rather than looking for a strictly utilitarian replacement for the Escort, I felt I could correct the wrong of selling the Rx-7 and have a fun commuter car at the same time. If there is one thing I’m good at, it’s ferreting out cars that I wish to buy. It didn’t take long before I found a few possible candidates.
The first car I test drove was a first generation Toyota MR2. This wasn’t any ordinary MR2, but one that had a Japanese domestic market twenty-valve 4AGE engine swapped in place of the sixteen-valve North American specification engine. The four independent throttle bodies gave it a fantastic sound and, along with the extra valves, gave a useful boost in power. The stock MR2 engine put a respectable 112hp but the twenty-valve “silver top” engine raised the output to a stout 160hp. The MR2 was white, which I didn’t care for, and had a small of amount rust on the rear fenders so I talked myself out of buying it. Looking back, I should have bought it but since I couldn’t get the Rx-7 bug out of my system, I jumped at the opportunity to look at the 1985 example which showed up in the local classifieds.
The owner was an interesting fellow who had sold his house and moved to a trailer park in order to import his dream car which turned out to be a mid-Eighties TVR 390SE wedge. This probably won’t surprise anyone but, yes, he was single. The Rx-7 was being sold to make space for the incoming TVR. I saw his car (above), but not him, at a car show a few years later. The Rx-7 was a 1985 GSL model which meant it still had the smaller, carburetor fed 12A engine but, unlike my previous Rx-7, also a limited slip differential. Various luxuries were included in the GSL package like power windows and upgraded audio. The car was also equipped with a sunroof which I quite fancied even through it robbed a significant amount of headroom.
The car had started its life equipped with an automatic transmission but had been converted to a five speed manual gearbox by the former owner. In theory, this should have meant less wear on the engine as the automatic transmission doesn’t allow the driver to over-rev the engine. A lightened flywheel had been added when the car had been converted which made it a little tougher to take off in first gear and the car also had an aftermarket header and exhaust which made it feel a bit swifter than my old car. The “rats nest” of emissions controls had been removed–a fairly common modification in the Rx-7 community–and the car seemed to run and drive well. It came with a decent set of rubber on it which buoyed the optimism already inspired by my previous Rx-7 experience, so a deal was struck and I agreed to collect it the next day.
Picking up the car went smoothly. Or so I thought. After I filled up the gas tank, I noticed the car was very hard to start when the engine was fully warmed up. I put this down to the emissions equipment being jettisoned and proceeded on my way. For the next few days I enjoyed driving my Rx-7, even in commuting car duty. If one didn’t have to restart a warm engine it ran and drove beautifully… that is, until it snowed. I was driving down the highway during a light spring snow when all of a sudden, the back end swung out and the car did a 180. I found myself doing 100km/h backwards and heading across three lanes before landing in a ditch. Luckily I’d left early enough in the morning that traffic had been light and somehow I had managed not to hit anyone else. The ditch was filled with snow from the previous weeks which cushioned the car from damage, but it was well and truly stuck. I’d been driving in much worse winter conditions for years and even had previous experience in a very similar car so I was rather mystified as to why I had so dramatically lost control. While waiting for a tow truck, I had plenty time for an inspection which revealed nearly bald tires. While I hadn’t taken photos of the tires on the car when I bought it, I am convinced these were not the same ones. I strongly suspect they were swapped out after purchasing but before I picked the car up. Since then, I’ve never left a car after buying it. It’s been strictly cash-and-go from then on.
I had deliberately left some cash in the budget for repairs and upgrades, so I dug into that and purchased some decent rubber. I had previously ordered a set of brand new Minilite style rims to fit on the car but while they fit the car itself, the stock Rx-7 lug bolts didn’t work with the rims. I had to source some new rubber to be swapped over onto the 13″ stock alloy wheels.
The Rx-7’s limitation as a commuter vehicle was starting to become very evident with the lightened flywheel and hot start issue. It was a major pain in the heavy, slow-moving bumper to bumper traffic of my evening commute. A lot of tricky first gear stop-and-starts led to the occasional stall. When this happened, the restart procedure was as follows: Put the throttle pedal flat to the floor, crank the engine over for about thirty seconds at which time it would finally catch, and watch while fellow commuters would visibly startle at the sight of the small fireball bursting from the exhaust. So while, on the other hand, the sunroof was rather nice on warm summer days, it was quite obvious I’d bought the wrong car for the job.
The hot start issue eventually became a cold start issue as well; not a desired characteristic for one’s only means of transport! After perusing the Rx-7 online forums, I learned this was likely a symptom of low compression and given my car’s low mileage, it likely resulted from a previous owner consistently over revving it. Rotaries can be quite reliable if you change the oil regularly and respect the red line. Ignore these rules at your peril, however. Of course, by this point I began remembering the seller bragging about how well it revved. In my excitement to recapture the magic from my first Rx-7, I had overlooked all the warning signs telling me to run away from this particular example. With a heavy heart, I sold the car at a loss to a rotary enthusiast who planned to rebuild the motor. For my penance, I spent the next couple months on the very slow and very expensive commuter bus.
The Mazda rotary. Nearly extinct, and with good reason. My suburb used to be full of the ‘wank-wank-phhhttt’ exhaust noise of these torqueless engines.
Rust, crashes & good taste has prevailed. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve has my eardrums assulted by their racket. Long may that continue.
One man’s racket is another man’s smooth melody. For instance, I find the G35/G37’s exhaust note to be rather bovine and monotonous. YMMV and all that.
I think most people hate it (not me), so you’re certainly not in the minority as that’s concerned.
I’ve heard quite a few reviews complaining that the VQ engine has gotten less an less aurally pleasant as its displacement has increased. Some engines have particular bore and stroke combinations or volume per cylinder ratios that just work better from a subjective sense.
Your comment is successfully depressing.
As a man who has lived in a trailer, albeit on the beach, beware of looking too far down your nose at us. I have also commuted your area as one of the Bankers first tenants, and probably went by shaking my fist, so my apologies for that mistake. I think people forget how good those first gen cars were, especially at a time when 50 hp diesel Rabbits sold for 25% over sticker because of the shock of 1.50 gasoline. Mazda was also selling rear drive GLC’s and 626’s at the time, which was probably the last gasp for Japanese cars driven by those wheels. Don’t be too hard on yourself, sounds like the seller was a snake. The GSL was a damn good car, live axle and all.
I just posted on Paul’s article on his sod overloaded truck about my trip from California to Washington with my trailer, which was my home and all that I owned were loaded on my 27 year old truck and 23 year old trailer. I did have enough saved up to put 30% down on a still reasonably priced (94k) 3 bedroom house in 98. I was also fortunate to find a good job quickly. I now am able to live on rental income as I now own a couple of rentals that I have paid off along with my house, but that old truck, trailer and my cat did the job just fine until I was able to work my way up in a affordable state after getting “priced out” in LA. Part of the “spinning out” problem in the Mazda might have been the LSD. They can spin you out quick in low traction turns.
There are indeed nice trailer homes … this wasn’t one however.
Neither was mine. It was, however, 80 feet from high tide on Lincoln Beach, near Salishan. Equipped a with woodstove and dry throughout – its most endearing quality. That and it qualified under the dictum of buy the cheapest house in the best neighborhood. The neighborhood association finally made me an offer I could not turn down. I would buy that piece of property or a first gen Toronado silver RX-7 GSL -were either offered to me – in a heartbeat. Seeing those Minilites reminded me what a classic wheel those are – like an Edmonds smooth toe shoe, they only get better with age.
Whenever I see a middle-aged paunch stuffed into a too-tight t-shirt, I wonder what the wearer is seeing when he looks in the mirror. Cars are different, though. You can relive your youth, even if it is best not to drive like that. With the wisdom of hindsight, your next RX7 should be a winner. A nice clean example (very rare I admit) would make a nice keeper if it popped up.
I don’t know… When I first started dating my wife she had an 85 GSL, red, excellent shape. It was a great car, and made a great daily driver sports car. That was the kind of car that real sports car fans could truly use. Sure it wasn’t as comfortable or practical as a boring old sedan or hatchback economy car, but that’s part of the mystique of owning a sports car.
I also don’t get why you would have bought new tires for the 13s instead of just getting new lug nuts for the awesome minilites??? And really… No snow tires for a light weight high revving rwd car in the snow?? Stick snow tires on the 13s, summers on the minilites, and iirc it costs less than a grand to rebuild a 12a and that’s in today’s dollars. And you would have had a hell of a fun daily driver.
Can’t wait to see what car came next!! Oh, we would still have the RX7 except it had been a gift from her ex husbands father, so when they got divorced he asked for it back. Yeah I dated my wife while she was married lol.
You can buy a rebuild kit for $165.00
http://atkinsrotary.com/store/79-85-12A-Rebuild-Kits/
Add a keg of beer and someone will put it together for you.
I think the kits for $1100 are most realistic. 12A parts were hard to find at the time.
When I bought my first car, a ’91 Integra, I passed over a naturally aspirated ’91 MR2 to buy it. I shouldn’t have; the Toyota’s S-block sounded throbby and awful behind my ears, but it handled very interestingly, and the Acura leaked and rattled a bunch. The lesson here might be to buy an MR2!
A first-gen RX-7 is on my bucket list. Your second one didn’t sound too bad, though the previous owner sounds like a complete tool. Obviously it wasn’t going to be the ultimate commuter, but I could think of worse cars. It seems like this particular car had enough going for it, though I’d generally avoid any car with an auto-to-manual swap.
May there be a solid first-gen RX7 in your future, Dave!
Two Rx-7s are probably enough for me. While I loved the car there are so many options I have no yet sampled. Everyone should own at least one however.
I’d be inclined to think an RX-7 would not necessarily be the best “commuter” in an Alberta winter. I’d go for a FWD car with fuel injection and four Michelin winter tires.
I don’t know, my 2nd generation RX-7 was a hoot in the snow. As long as there wasn’t so much on the road that ground clearance became an issue – and then, honestly, should you really be out in conditions like that without 4WD? – I could get it to go anywhere I needed it to.
Limited-slip differentials make all the difference in snow, but the newer Torsens don’t work quite as well in truly slippery conditions as the old clutch-pack types do. You can get a Torsen into a situation with extremely low grip on one side that will make it act like an open diff. The clutch-pack LSD in my FC made it a really fun vehicle in the winter, as long as you were comfortable countersteering. My RX-8 with its Torsen didn’t work quite as well in the snow.
I’ve had more difficulty with FWD, but to be fair, only one of my FWD vehicles had an LSD (the 2006 Civic Si) and I never got the opportunity to drive it serious winter weather as I owned it less than a year. They all handled just fine, and you could get out of terminal understeer with a tug on the handbrake, but pulling away from a stop in some situations – like on a hill, for instance – didn’t always work. In the flatlands, I’m sure FWD would be fine, but in hilly PA I had a few situations where I had to back down the hill and get a running start in my FWD cars. Never once did I have to do that in my RWD cars (most of which had LSDs).
Naturally, proper snow tires made them all better.
Never owned an AWD car, so I can’t comment on those, and the only 4WD vehicle I’ve owned I purchased after I moved to California, which is kind of funny, when you think about it.
Methinks you don’t live in Canada. We get A LOT of deep snow.
The TVR 390 (3900 cc not 390 ci) was made in Bispham near Blackpool though the feature car is an 87/88 model and was made a few years after I left the area(1983)
It was powered by a 3900cc version of the Buick/Oldsmobile aluminium V8.The factory had a lingering smell of fibreglass,glue and paint,glad I didn’t live near it.
The Mazda is a lot better looking than the current RX8,I’m just not a fan of it
To be honest, what I’ve read about Mazda rotaries in the past makes me steer clear of them at any cost.
Those motors make the redblock engines in my two vintage Volvos look like tractor motors (which they probably are, given their agricultural sounds). And unlike the rotaries, the Volvos will start on the first turn of the key on ANY day, hot or cold.
The boy racers around here seem to like rotaries they get transplanted into everything but it was a Kiwi Rod millen who fitted an 8 into the RX7 and made it really go.
Too bad yours didn’t work out DS, I miss my RX7, but not for commuting in the winter. Don’t know if it was just mine, but the heater did almost nothing and I had to bundle up to drive.
Unlike Chris, I loved the turbine like sound of the rotary. Once I had to move it in the driveway midway through surgery, I forget what I was doing but the exhaust was completely off it.
It was loud just cranking over and I thought “oh boy, this is gonna be loud..” BLLAAAAHHHHH!!!! Doesn’t matter where Chris lives, he probably heard mine that day.
Buy a car with all the pollution controls on it, and they serve as a governor of sorts on the over revving of the engine. One can still wind out the thing, but there isn’t much kick over redline.