I pulled up next to the car and slowly got out of the seat. The paint looked good. I was surprised to see the body was straight and the windows tinted. As I walked up I noticed it had the Burgundy interior. I wasn't a fan of that color but that wasn't going to stop me from buying it. I figure I could always change the interior.
The owner was still out getting the title changed so I took some time to walk around and kick the tires. I opened the drivers side door and noticed how heavy the doors were. Not exactly what I remembered but this car was an 83, my old car was an 85. Perhaps the doors were heavier on the 83. The burgundy interior wasn't too bad. It kinda looked good with the black and other than some wear marks, it was in really good shape. The dash had a cheap cover on it to hide a huge crack on the driver's side but again, that was nothing I couldn't replace.
The owner appeared and explained he had traded a motorcycle for the car a week ago. He mentioned the previous owner had put a cherry bomb glasspack muffler on it sounded like crap Other than that, he didn't know anything of the history. He turned the key and it started right up. No smoke, no hesitation, just idle. And yes, it sounded like crap. Kind of like a lawn mower on steroids.
I listened for sounds of a bad rotor, hunting, stalling, anything. But it sounded good. At least the engine was strong. I sat down inside and the seat felt a little flat. Like a 27 year old car with 114K miles feels, I guess. He told me to take it for a drive. I pulled out of the driveway and headed down the road. As I hit the gas the exhaust went from annoying to simply unbearable. It popped a little on deceleration as I changed gears. There was absolutely no low-end power. I kept it in first as high as I could go to get it up to speed but the exhaust made it sound and feel like it was taking more power than it should to reach 30mph. There was a slight smell of gas permeating the cockpit. But I couldn't tell if that was from the exhaust or not.
The suspension was really spongy on the old road. And there was a ton of play in the steering wheel. New tires were needed for sure, but also new shocks, springs and possibly tie rods and ball joints. This was definitely not the car I remembered. I was not driving on air and the engine wasn't as smooth as silk. I felt like I was driving a crappy 4 cylinder.
As I drove it back to the driveway I didn't know what to do. I really wanted an RX7. I didn't want to wait any longer and I was here right now. Even with the small faults this one had, perhaps it was still in the realm of rehabilitation. After all, the body was rust free and the engine did run.
I parked the car and got out. I walked around a few times and thought about everything I would have to put into it. New tires, new plugs, new cap/rotor, new brakes, new suspension, new exhaust. At least $1000 worth of work. He was asking $1400 but it was probably only worth $600. I explained the things I would need to do to make it driveable and asked what he could do on the price. "$1200 is the lowest I will go" he said. I thought about that for a minute. I could leave and wait longer, agonizing over finding an RX7 or I could pay the $1200. I decided I would offer him $1100. If he agreed I would take it. If not, it wasn't meant to be. "How about $1100?" I offered. "I passed on an offer of $1200" he said "but I will take your offer."
Partially relieved and partially wondering if this really was a good idea, we finalized the paperwork, exchanged the money and finally drove home my very own RX7.
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