More Japanese Flip-Light Fun!

[Baz]

My fledgeling Ebay empire (buying/selling car & bike brochures, magazines, manuals etc) has proved quite successful of late, and as well as being quite an enjoyable way to spend my spare time, it left me with enough money spare after Christmas to buy a new toy....Something that I've wanted to own since I got a fleeting drive of one 20 years ago:

 

 

 

 

It's an '83 Mk2 RX-7, on which the only real improvements over the first models are disc rear brakes, and wider tyres....Otherwise, its all just spoilers & mouldings, which just spoil the purity of the car's lines in my opinion....The car looks okay though, and the colour matches the MX-5 & 323f nicely!

 

The Ebay ad described the car a "65,000 miles, Full Service History,

Full M.O.T, Four months' tax, and a dream to drive"....LOVELY JUBBLY, thought I!....The reality is that it had service history up to 48,000 miles (SEVERAL years ago!), 7 months' M.O.T, and two weeks' tax! The "Dream Drive", is turned into a nightmare by a "Slight knock from here" (at this point he points to the NSF of the car) "Which I was gonna get done, but haven't had the time"....The reality is that the "Slight knock" is a rather alarming sounding, metal on metal "Clatter" every time you hit even the smallest of road imperfections! The car FEELS, and looks okay on the road, so I suspect it to be a front anti-roll bar related problem....I'll have a look later....But whatever, the car is going nowhere until it's fixed!

 

I got the price reduced, due to all the lies, but I was nonetheless ABSOLUTELY LIVID after my initial, horrifying couple of mile drive to the petrol station, when the extent of the knocking was revealed....I think my language, and general demeanour may have alarmed my Dad (who ran me all the way to Birmingham) slightly, sorry Dad!....Why are people such fucking liars? I seriously considered taking the car back, and having a bloody good go at inserting it up the bloke's arse, but instead I calmed myself down, and set off on the gentle drive home.

 

And I'm glad I did, as that drive (on the smooth bits at least) showed the car to be a thorougly charming machine! For some reason it reminds me of my 3-Litre Capri to drive....The interior is a delightfully BROWN place to be, and the car seemed to get lots of appreciative glances from the passenger windows of the cars that passed me as I limped home!

 

Looking forward to getting it fixed up, and having some fun with it....That may be easier that I thought too, as I've just discovered that there's an RX-7 specialist less than 3 miles from my home!

[Guest]

Thats lovely Baz, hope it doesn't cost too much to get sorted.

[mouseflakes]

and the car seemed to get lots of appreciative glances from the passenger windows of the cars that passed me as I limped home!

I think they were just relieved to realise it was the old white coupe thing that was making the dreadful rattling noise and not their car! Nah - get it fixed Baz and I'm sure you'll be fully in love with it. The interior looks like a nice place to be - very brown, and there's nothing wrong with that.Just so damn annoying that folk can't be honest about things!Good to hear your new 'sidelines' have allowed you to indulge in a little extra shite-related fun.

[r.welfare]

Wow, what a beauty. Shame it wasn't described correctly, hope it works out well.

[retrogeezer]

Look great...and another lovely brown interior for the autoshite owners.

[Heep]

Nice one! I think that black spoiler looks great on white and these are lookers to begin with. Hope it doesn't cost too much to sort!

[wuvvum]

I've always liked that shape of RX7. Nice purchase Baz (despite the little hiccups). Should be a fun thing to zoom around in. It's an interesting situation you're in now though - you have two white 2-seater Mazda sports cars on your fleet; which do you think will get used the most?

[michiel]

Nice one indeed, I keep looking at these and thinking should I? Probably my fave 70's Japanese car.

[Baz]

you have two white 2-seater Mazda sports cars on your fleet; which do you think will get used the most?

As soon as the roads are devoid of crap (and they're REALLY crappy around these parts just now! ), it'll be the MX-5, no doubt at all....I absolutely adore that car, and I've just about got it sorted now....If the RX-7 works out, it'll probably replace the MX-5 in the garage during the summer, during which time I can prepare it for duty next winter! I'll keep both taxed & insured at all times though....I want to be able to use either whenever the mood takes me!

 

Nice one indeed, I keep looking at these and thinking should I?

That's basically what I've been doing, on and off, for the past 20 years....The only thing that's been putting me off is fuel consumption horror stories, but as petrol's as cheap as chips at the moment (however temporariily!), I decided to just do it! Time will tell....

 

Have been taking advantage of the nice day, and pottering....Mainly been returning the 323f to it's original white, from the brown that it's been for the past few weeks....I did have a look at the RX-7 though, and the noise is coming from a sort of "idler" mounted on the NSF inner wing/chassis leg, which seems to support a track control arm that comes from the steering box to the NS hub carrier....It's a very simple device, and very easy to get to from under the bonnet, and I can't imagine the bushes (or even a whole unit) being too expensive, so fingers crossed for a quick & easy fix!

[AXrescuer]

Tis a nice car but your eBay seller's feedback would've put me right off. Did you see the feedback comment he received about a rotten car he sold previously? "my tool box fell through the boot floor,diden tell me that the back end roten"

[Baz]

Yes, but I only read that last night, after I got back with the car....Another valuable lesson learned there! Fortunately, in this case the car seems very sound! It seems a couple of his deals have turned nasty....I'm not gonna get into all that, I'm just gonna put the car right, and enjoy it....I've heard of people who receive bad feedback, so they gain "Revenge" by bidding on all the other persons stuff, refuse to pay, then neg the hell outta them! I wanna keep my 'baying civilised!

[RedSparrow]

Very cool motor- well done!I intend to own one myself one day.Hope you get the troubles fixed with minimum bother!

[Mr Lobster]

Looks very nice that and very sound as well if thats the only significant problem. Seems you've really embraced the Mazdas after your brief Renault flirtation

[STUNO]

Looks like a good un. I still miss mine .

It sounds like the noise is actually a fairly minor problem with a bushing or something as it didnt seem to affect the driving. You will wonder what all the fuss is about until you push the fast pedal past the first stop point and all 4 carb throats start to work hard (take your eyes off the fuel gauge) and it really gets going

Re-posts photo of his to make himself jealous

[Baz]

Now THAT ^^^^ is beautiful! The early cars are much nicer!

 

Seems you've really embraced the Mazdas after your brief Renault flirtation

The Renault thing has been a lifelong interest that comes and goes....My first legal roadcar was an R12, followed by more R12s and R18s....I enjoyed my R11/R9 period, but the Bowker/R20 episode has put me off the Renaults....For a while at least!

 

I'm really enjoying the Mazdas though....They have more character than I'd have expected from Japanese cars....Old Honda Preludes, Toyota Celicas and MR2s are attracting me at the moment too!

[Mr Lobster]

I have to say I'm very impressed with Japanese cars from what I've experienced. Bought a 99/T Suzuki Alto three years back for £800. Gets used daily for trudging into town and back but has been by far the cheapest car to run I have ever owned having spent a relatively small amount keeping it going and its still probably worth a few hundred quid now.Had a Mazda 6 company mota for a while as well which was a far better, more competent car than I would have expected. If I was in the market for a newish family hatch I'd be very tempted to stick my money into one.

[Baz]

Had a Mazda 6 company mota for a while as well which was a far better, more competent car than I would have expected. If I was in the market for a newish family hatch I'd be very tempted to stick my money into one.

I've driven one of those too, and loved it....Once my Megane's got a new M.O.T. on it later this month, I'm seriously considering flogging it, and buying one....Just don't tell the missus!

[CortinaDave]

I'd be tempted to leave Neutral feedback for this one mentioning the lack of tax/test and disturbing knocking noises and the sellers general overdescriptionHe cant neg you remember !Having said that it does look nice, i love poppy up headlights, apparently they're illegal on new cars now for some stupid reason

[AXrescuer]

I'd be tempted to leave Neutral feedback for this one mentioning the lack of tax/test and disturbing knocking noises and the sellers general overdescriptionHe cant neg you remember !

I agree, other potential buyers need to be warned about this guy's ability to meander away from the truth.

[Negative Creep]

I have to say I'm very impressed with Japanese cars from what I've experienced. Bought a 99/T Suzuki Alto three years back for £800. Gets used daily for trudging into town and back but has been by far the cheapest car to run I have ever owned having spent a relatively small amount keeping it going and its still probably worth a few hundred quid now.Had a Mazda 6 company mota for a while as well which was a far better, more competent car than I would have expected. If I was in the market for a newish family hatch I'd be very tempted to stick my money into one.

The other good thing with Japanese cars is that they are put together logically. It seems the designers didn't just think about how something could go in, but how it could be removed as well. Shame the French and Germans don't have the same approach!

[Baz]

The other good thing with Japanese cars is that they are put together logically. It seems the designers didn't just think about how something could go in, but how it could be removed as well.

I always found Volvos to be like that too....A pleasure to work on....But that was a while ago now!