For those of you who may have been following the Lee Hartung collection auction, and particularly the Veritas, it went for $170,000 this weekend.
Bitdrive, a YouTube user, has a 3 part video uploaded of the collection. If you search around there's also a good couple videos about the collection being readied for auction. Here's Bitdrive's first video of the 3.
I know we are a rare breed, but for Rotary fans, Mazda has a super cool site that gives you the front to back history of Felix Wankel's, wonder of engineering, the Rotary engine. Looks like the 13b will be replaced with a new engine called the 16X in a yet to be named ultra light sports car. I can only hope they go back to the mystique of the awesomely cool 79-85 rx-7. To this day, I do not think I had a purer car, than my '84 GSL SE 13b model. Definitely worth a look at some of the cool stuff, and some of the abominations that ended up Wankel powered.
I was always fascinated by the Wankel rotary engine (largely because Wankel is so fun to say). A friend had a three rotor engine in his RX-7, pretty impressive car.
it sounds like my truck is going in to get reupholstered tomorrow.... which meant i had to get my butt in gear and get all the panels ready for the upholstery guy.
so here's what i'm doing....
new seats (out of a 94 (i think) chev that we reupholstered a couple weeks ago)... i already posted this pic, but whatever....
and here's what i did today....
new carpet panels for the bottom of the doors....
new inserts that go above the door handles (this material is really cool.... it was also used in the piping on my seats).....
and i'm throwing a chevy bow tie down on the floor on the center 'hump' - sort of in front of the 4-low/4-high/2-high shifter. the material in the center is the same as the above door panel material. i was going to use the same reflective stuff that i used on my seats, but thought this might be a little more durable (being that it's on the floor)...
so yea - i'm hoping tomorrow will be the big day.... i'll post pictures once it's done
cheers
__________________ "...and there goes Finger up the middle on Luongo!" - Jim Hughson, Av's vs. 'Nucks
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to bc-chris For This Useful Post:
So... not sure if this should go in General automotive thread or Vehicular Geekery thread. But here goes.
I'm thinking that after the winter, I'm gonna have a little fun and get a late 80s - early 90s MR2.
Just wondering if anyone of you CPers have ever driven one... I've heard it be described as a road legal go-kart.
Haha I love those. I almost pulled the trigger on one at an auction once in the mid-90s but the price went too high for me. I never see them on the road anymore.
Last edited by Sliver; 11-21-2011 at 06:47 PM.
Reason: Typo
The Following User Says Thank You to Sliver For This Useful Post:
And when you do, they have almost always been given the pimped-out/fart-can treatment. It's really hard to find some of those classic Japanese cars (CRX, MR2, Supra, 300ZX) that are still clean and unmolested. So sad.
Although just yesterday I spotted a spectacularly original late 80s Civic hatchback in the other lane. It was refreshing to see something so original for a change.....but then I noticed the 17 year old Fred Durst lookalike in the drivers seat, so I'm sure it's only a matter of time before it gets crapped out too.
But yeah, an early 90's MR2 with t-tops would be pretty rad.
The Following User Says Thank You to Table 5 For This Useful Post:
So... not sure if this should go in General automotive thread or Vehicular Geekery thread. But here goes.
I'm thinking that after the winter, I'm gonna have a little fun and get a late 80s - early 90s MR2.
Just wondering if anyone of you CPers have ever driven one... I've heard it be described as a road legal go-kart.
My buddy has a 1993 MR2 Turbo(last year in Canada) if you're interested. It's only got lowering springs and Enkei wheels as far as mods go.
It drives nice, but I wouldn't consider it a "go-kart." It feels heavy. My '91 CRX Si feels like a super-sized go-kart. Toss it in any corner without any fuss.
I have my sights set on a 1994 RX-7 R2. I have a client that has a totally unmolested, 100% bone stock yellow one with 44,000 kms on it. Original owner, since day one, car is perfect. For the last 5 years, I have been telling him to call me if he EVER wants to sell. Well, I got the call a week ago, and he says I have until April to supply a $20,000 bank draft. Pretty rich for the car, but that was one of the greatest sports cars ever built. They were the true go-cart handler, and so sexy. And they were fast, even by todays standards.
The Following User Says Thank You to pylon For This Useful Post:
My buddy has a 1993 MR2 Turbo(last year in Canada) if you're interested. It's only got lowering springs and Enkei wheels as far as mods go.
Got any pictures of the car?
If the price is right, I might be interested... but again it'd be after winter.
I'd probably go for the 87 Supercharged MR2 though at this point. I'm actually looking around more at those. Some are in pretty good condition... surprisingly.
$20k for a 94 RX7 seems like a lot, despite the low km.
I am actually surprised it's only $20k.
Only real car enthusiasts know how to really appreciate an RX7. That's already a small market there. 90s RX7s in LHD are also very rare. I also don't see too many in that colour with original paint.
$20k is actually fairly decent and on par for that car.
I've seen some go for higher than that price by a fair margin.
The MR2 was completely revamped in 90, and is in most respects a totally differnet car than the 80's version. Turbo vs sc is a big difference in power adder, never drove the older one but the turbo was pretty standard for the time, noticable lag but lots of jam once spooled up. I have sat in both, and the 90's is much better for day to day comfort. Better build standards mean they aren't rusted out as easy.
One thing I really notice these days with all the 90's japanese sports cars is that it's easier to find an rhd import than a na version, particularly with the 300zx and the mr2's. I really liked the 300 back in the day, almost bought a 90 off the floor, just couldn't afford the turbo and didn't want to settle for the na!
The Following User Says Thank You to speede5 For This Useful Post:
Only real car enthusiasts know how to really appreciate an RX7. That's already a small market there. 90s RX7s in LHD are also very rare. I also don't see too many in that colour with original paint.
$20k is actually fairly decent and on par for that car.
I've seen some go for higher than that price by a fair margin.
Real car enthusiasts? It's about $5k over priced, just because there are suckers that would paying $20k for a 17 year old car doesn't mean it's actually worth that. I like the look of those cars, but they aren't ultra rare mythical unicorns.
The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to burn_this_city For This Useful Post:
alright... i got my truck back from the upholstery place and i think it looks awesome!!!!!!
here are some before/after shots.....
the doors..... replaced the bottom carpet and the material inserts on either side of the pull handle. i also replaced the top part of the arm rest (one thing i've discovered doing this job - it's really tough to find interior parts that are in good shape/new for an '89 truck!!)
old door:
new door:
onto the ceiling/seats.....
the ceiling material was hanging down (i had used some 3M adhesive on it earlier this year - it worked really well until it got hot outside. as soon as the mercury hit 30 degrees the glue let go.... kinda disappointing!).....
the original seats were the stock low-back seats from 1989. i found used high-back seats from a 1994 chev at a weckers and had them re-covered. i was hoping to find seats with a head rest but there was nothing local.... kelowna isn't really a hot-bed of used truck parts!
before.....
and now the new seats....
i also put a chevy bowtie down by the "2high-2/4low" shifter....
a few weeks back i had a built-in police scanner installed (yea... i'm a geek i know!) and a couple months back i got rid of the stock instrument cluster and put in a digital cluster...
and late this past summer i put the mid-late 90's grille on my truck along with new head lights, turn lights and brake lights....
next on the list is some small things..... new floor mats and swapping out the orange corner markers on the grille with clear ones. also - i think my injectors have almost had it, so i'll probably get those replaced before christmas if i have time to get my truck down to my mechanic
my hit-list for next year includes...
- painting the truck
- custom exhaust
- linex-ing the the box
yee ha!
__________________ "...and there goes Finger up the middle on Luongo!" - Jim Hughson, Av's vs. 'Nucks
The Following 7 Users Say Thank You to bc-chris For This Useful Post: