Crank Wankel - RX7

[hgs_notes]

The engine in my sons 95 blazer has a rod knocking so we have been looking for a new car for him to beat around in. At the local grocery store they have a billboard you can post stuff for sale on. Someone was selling a 79 Mazda RX7 cheap. I figured it was a possibility for the kid, but not quite what we were looking for.

We looked at it saturday. It's been stored in a machine shed, or large garage for many years. Hasn't been registered since 2001. A previous owner painted it and must have used implement paint or some other super cheap paint cuz it was all flaking off. The tires were severely weather checked.

But it really wasn't that bad. It was solid, didn't find any rust yet. Pretty much straight body except a rear corner had some amateurish body work done to it. It appears to be a low mileage car at around 63k. It started up, though not without some coughing and sputtering. It was the first time it had been turned over since last fall so I expected that. It looks like a good original mostly unmolested car.

We didn't buy it then. But I've been tossing around the idea of using my growing skill set to do some car flipping. I don't want to do full restorations or high end builds, but this one really fits what I was thinking. I don't think it needs a ton of mechanical work. There won't be a ton of rust repair. I can clean it up, repaint it, fix what's broke and it will be ready to sell. I got it cheap and parts are still available. There is a decent market for the car when it's done too. You rarely see them in this part of the country.

So I went back today after telling the seller to get it out of the shed so I could test drive it. There were no major red flags so I worked out a deal. I will be bringing it home tomorrow after work. My goal is to have some fun with the car while working on it, maybe get my son involved, and hopefully make some money off it. As long as I don't take a loss I'll be happy and might do it again with something else later. Maybe keep doing it until I make enough money to build my dream car, which I haven't narrowed down quite yet but I'm leaning towards a Cobra kit car with some special drivetrain modifications.

Anyway, this is what I'm starting with...