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Joe Maddox Super Rare 1/100 1989 FC3S GTUs RX7 2JZ GTE VVTI Build

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#1 · (Edited)
This is going to be a fun thread! I have found and saved the rarest Mazda FC RX7 ever made! Now this car is rare. Really rare! Let me break this down really quick...

Ever heard of the 1/100 1989/1990 GTUs rx7s? Here are the rarest rx7 FC3S models:

1500 10AE Turbo models
1400 infini
1000 winning limited
150 final edition convertible
100 GTUs

out of that 100:
83 red on black
10 black on black
7 white on blue

I saved and am building the rarest 1/7 1989 K stamp GTUs!




FIRST! If you happen to have one of these cars, please, register it on one of these forums registry lists and let everyone know how many are still around!


The Official Mazda RX7 GTUs Owners Club Thread - Mazda Forum - Mazda Enthusiast Forums








Again, out of that 100 made there were only three color options:
83 red on black


10 black on black


7 white on blue




There was only 100 GTUs models created between 1989 and 1991, These are the rarest model of rx7 ever created! There is very little known about them and there have only been a handful of them ever found and documented over the past 31 years. What is known about them is that Mazda has admitted to creating them but has not stated how many models were released internationally but has admitted to what they came with that made them a stand alone model and the most unique!

Over the last 20 years there have been several claims as to the production numbers and why or if there are restamped GTUs models. There are less than 100 ever found, there is possibly not even 100 made. What we do know is that the rumor of the 100 restamped model rumor is false:


The original claim came from a moderator almost 20 years ago and he cited himself. There were many bloggers and even reputable magazines that cited him through the rx7club he founded. Most of these claims have been removed and edited out, but that is how this rare and mysterious model came to have such a strange and confusing history!


The rumors about the restamped 100 GTUs models are very inaccurate... The confusion occurred when the production numbers and restamped numbers became the same and through this there was a new production number made up making a thousand models that never existed and cannot ever be found or documented.

In August 1989 Mazda confirmed a shipment from Japan was delayed three months. It was to deliver to Canada, the United States and Australia. This ship contained around one hundred rx7 fc3s models of all types. When the ship delivered all the Rx7 models to their destinations the year was ending and the dealers asked what to do with the models. Mazda sent instructions to modify the vin numbers by stamping in a new year and had them all marked with a specific stamp on the firewall.

All gtu, gxl, gtx, gtus and turbo were all restamped. Some restamped models are rhd and some lhd, some are turbo like this one


Some are non turbo like this one



This is the history of the restamped models, specifically the GTUs! As the moderators on other forums, editors for magazines and social media platforms come to realize how few there are of these models the value and false claims, clones and conversations will only increase. This should lay rest to all previous rumors about the restamped models!



The ORIGINAL GTUs owners list is great! If you have not seen it, check it out here:





This list, like the original thread has been seriously overhauled over the past year due to the updated information. While I like that it has updated with a confirmed section there is no real requirement to proof. All gtus owners agree that the door ID tags compared to the vin are the only ways to verify. While the claim from a dealership that GS means gtus and can be shown through the vin it was also shown that all custom order models (as the gtus was a custom dealer option) from the dealership run the GS code. This is also shown when the restamped GTU was called a gtus by vin on its thread here:

:https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-gen-gene...il-fc-1129229/


The entire origins GTUs owners thread on the rx7club was modified, icemarks claims deleted, registry list changed to have a confirmed section and the mods agree there are not enough GTUs models to have the 100 restamped models.


There is a list that has been going on the RX7Club for over 17 years now that shows almost everyone of the hard to find 100 rare models. So far there are only 41ish of the cars that have been claimed to have been found and are just awaiting confirmation that they are real! ( to confirm that you have a real GTUs model, outside of the parts that make it different, you need to post a picture of the car, the firewall vin and the door ID tags! That's it! )



So this has me asking the question, how many are there left? If there was only 40ish of them found, how many of those still exist? How many of those vin numbers still exist today?

How do you know you have a GTUs??? There are many rumors to how they came to be. Here are a couple facts that will assure you have one:
The vin number will be non turbo, but the inner door tags will show it as a turbo. Only the turbo cars came with 16inch rims, these tags are reserved only for them, the GTUs has that door tag with a non turbo vin. Other parts include a 4:30 differential, different gearing to the steering rack and transmission, turbo seats, no sunroof. Some say they were promo cars to be 20b na's, some say just turbo cars, some say they just threw crap together and called it a rx7. Fact is the VIN and the door tags will let you know, the other parts will assure how unmolested it is!

So lets start the list of what GTUs cars still exist in 2020:

#1
Here is my 1989 1/100 GTUs.




 

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#33 ·
So... Again, to get this thread back on track... The car is not my first rodeo and this project while in its hording phase will soon be hitting the body and paint stage and really coming together. Here are a couple of the previous rx7's that I have put together. I will post a few pics up of how those ones went and why this one should be about the same if not a little better!

Here is a custom made first generation rx7 I made about ten years back that is still on the road today:

Chris Weigel has one of the rare mazda rx7's first gens here in Oregon and this is the story of its build!



I meet chris through a person who worked at the auto parts store we both got rotary parts at. That guy also had a first gen. We three had similar interests lol. I had a dead rotary:




they did not. I asked some trouble shooting questions and he called chris to help. Chris came out to my house to look at it. I was pretty stoked about that and was really appreciative. I was not really knowledgeable on trouble shooting rotary engines. I had owned them for years but I never blew a motor, so I never bothered rebuilding one yet. This was the early/mid 2000's. I had however been doing body and paint for many years in the classic world and had a shop to do so. It was a side hobby I did for extra cash. We ended up hanging out as I got another rx7. The NW "super"moderator Robert White lived next to us and had a cheap FB he sold me for a few hundred. Ran great!






So we all drove around often. Hit up some meets. All the good stuff!


That is chris watching Robert do a burn out. We were envious of his GSLSE lol


 
#35 ·
I realize that you and the other trump supporters are triggered after what I said, I get that you are using your projections as gas lighting and will result to other deflections like it to continue this nonsense. I am going to talk about my build and why the previous ones will give an example as to what this one will end up being. Thanks.

Thank you for editing and leaving it alone. I catalog everything to assure quality assurance. Here is for everyone else to avoid confusion. Thank you for leaving my thread alone. Best wishes! :) Text Font Web page Line Screenshot
 
#37 ·
We ended up talking one day he came over and I was swapping parts around.


We ended up talking about how we should get a body kit on his car and he should go widebody. I ended up convincing him that I would be willing to fix any kit he could get and do the job for free under conditions. The first that I get credit for the build. Any one asks who built the car, he would allow me the credit I deserve. It is an artists thing. Also that he pay for supplies. I can cover little things, but he needs to pay for paint and papers and glass. We ended up talking with Robert when he came over one day for my carb... ( he bought for 25 and sold to another person for 550. but that is another story.)




We ended up going to hoofhearted (bob putman of rotards in salem) for the kit. It was smaaaaaashed up mad. There was no front bumper and it had lost of bad bondo all over it. I said I can do it though. He paid them a few hundred and we took it to his house!



This was the best panel on the car... This is what I was starting with. The rest was going to need to be redone in major ways.

So it began! The project was decided! he was going to be using a Mariah Racing front bumper to go with the rest of the kit and I was going to repair and customize the rear spoiler. It was to be a dark cherry red/purple. I brought the car in and got started on it!




 
#38 ·
There was so much body work to do. I first started mocking up the body kit and seeing what it was going to look like.







As you can see the rubber door trim was removed. I used one of the wife's hair dryers from the salon. Got hotter than the heat gun did ahahaha.



I started getting the panels ready to be put on.




Despite my wants to not hack the qtrs and only scuff the metal for the epoxy Chris decided to cut it anyway.




was not my choice, however I am not the owner and he was convinced that it needed to happen to bring the rims out flush with the kit when he ordered new ones. Unfortunately he ended up sticking with the rims he had and just bought wheel spacers, so the hacking was not needed after all. So I continued on.




It was time to put the qtrs on and then bond the skirts. This epoxy was gross and make sure the area is prepped before you put it down. I could not imagine having to take it off it it was done wrong!





The spoiler was hideous. I cannot stand it and he was open to a change so I started looking at how to make it more functional.
 
#39 ·
Both sides of the spoiler were cracked and the mounting points where gone.







After I got them all fixed up I mounted the spoiler. Seriously hideous.





The new Mariah bumper arrived! It was clearly not going to fit... I needed to mod it.




I cut to the closest fit but found that there was little to no ability to make the curve of the inner fender fit right. I was going to need to do major glass work. I got started on meshing the two together.


 
#40 ·
Chris came over and set up the bar that held it on and I started modding it!





The fenders... I do not know where to start with this. I guess it was best to start with nearly nothing so I could really appreciate the build. ahahaha.








After hours and hours of work I finally got all the panels finished up and all the glass work, glazing and primer was on! Now I just needed to mold everything together!










After much work I had the insides done and the outer glazing finished. the car was molded and now I could start on the rear qtrs and the spoiler!






 
#41 ·
The work on the qtrs and the spoiler seemed never ending. I ended up playing with the 200 psi air hose and putting some burning oil smoke through the lines and used it to make the spoiler more aerodynamic. Ended up looking really nice as well! Once on the road it was incredibly stable because of it and the airdam/fenders blend! The qtr's blended nicely. The microlite was just a light covering over the epoxy. The shaping turned out perfect. I was happy with the results.















Weight watchers is for pussies he says.
 
#42 ·
The time had come! Final glazing was done and all the little stuff was done, the body was ready for primer!




This was the best cheap taping job ever! It was 5$ and it worked perfectly! I was doing it for free and the supplies had run out from him, so this was now a budget build lol


The original supplies had long depleted and it was now up to me to take from other jobs. however i was also building an all fiberglass 72 datsun 510 that had 46k Original miles on it! I had just finished this all fiberglass dodge superbee:
 
#43 ·
I put on my suit and my fresh air system chris got me. They make really nice cheap ones online. the problem is the kits never come with good filters. So make sure you seal the box off from where you are shooting and that room is clean from contaminates! It works much better than the 3m full mask set up though. a little bulky but an overall good design.



The car turned out amazing! the lines were all perfect! A final sanding and it was ready for color! It was the middle of December though and the freezing rain was making it hard to work! My electricity bill was insane. A dozen heating lights and oil heating to assure there was no fires. Not cheap lol. Worth it though. Result was perfect.









 
#44 ·
Then came the color! The car was more than ready for it after a blocking. The color he went with was a ebay brand that looked ok. We hoped for the best with the color. It was a metallic pearl red/purple.









Despite all the odds against me weather wise, I got it done! The car ended up coming together nicely!






THAT IS RIGHT, FLIP PHONE BITCHES! BECAUSE THIS WAS ALL WAY BEFORE THE IPHONE! ahahahaha




 
#46 ·
Chris was more than ready to get back on the road. The entire summer and into winter I had been working on his car. From cure times to times I was not able it took a while and he had to deal while I was driving around my car to all the meets with my brother. He wanted to be there like he was last time, but it was not fun for him to show up to Bobs (from rotards, this was his shop in albany) and Robert white (rx7 club moderator) meets in a classic american car. So he missed out on things Joel, Tom, Darren, Bruce ect would be doing and now could catch back up!




He let it sit the best he could during winter but then he had to drive it! Unfortunately that is when the motor went out on it and he ended up parting out the motor. He started talking about going LS like aaron (tweek games) on the club and I was not having it. I had just finished this car:


Which I will post a few pictures of as well after showing this one off!


I had watched him go through the struggle of working with another shop on the motor he had gotten off the club. It was a good runner, but he put the wrong flywheel on it (s4 turbo with a s6 flywheel). He was convinced to go carbed like his classic car was. He knew them and wanted to go with it. Robert at rotary shack was quick to screw him over. Sold him a ton of parts that did not fit and left him unable to close his hood. When he did finally end up getting the EFI set up on and returning rotary shacks stuff he blew the motor on the first pull when he picked me up. The motor was the most destroyed motor I had ever seen at that point. By then I had taken down well over a hundred motors.



 
#47 ·
So I gave him the motor from my rhd... I had been working on it for a while and had taken so many down I realized that I can probably make another one for free. I even had new seal kits. I had been making many motors for people once I started in on the RHD and retired the widebody to a new home in washington. I sold the widebody for 800$ and chris the complete drivetrain with the act clutch and all the externals,ect for 1500$. It was my first motor and I offered it with the warning that I learned on this one and no promises lol. I said he could make payments or pay me when his taxes came in or whatever. I just did not want him to put a LS motor in the car I just made!










I pulled it back out and took it over. I helped him drop it in and then hooked him up with a bunch of externals to assure this it was perfect!


Again sorry for the bad pictures. It was a flip phone back then. I was just about to get the brand new iphone lol


I had bought a 1978 rhd Savanna and was going to be restoring it back to its original glory. It came with many things that were not being used in other builds and so I gave them to chris for free to assure his car was solid! Now with the new black interior, Apexi N1 exhaust, aluminum radiator, cusco racing seats and autopower roll cage from my other widebody fb in the first pics!




This was a 1990 Cosmo 13b twin turbo motor that I pulled from a low miles JDM car. I gave it to chris as the final gift to assure he would remain true to this car staying rotary.
 
#48 ·
This is a short video of this build and a little cruise at the end of it. A few of the videos of this car driving around are on my youtube page if you want to see the rest!


Five years later...

This was five years after I rolled it out of the paint shop. Three engines in and still boosting like crazy on the one I made along next to the other ones!

Bought him some new bi color lights for the FB from AUS. They really brought the front end together with that nice intercooler he mounted in there!

He got some nice pictures in and I see it around every now and then!

About the time I was finishing up the 78 savanna I started rotary workz with chris. I had a large shop and was willing to do what I did for him for others if he was wiling to help make others what I had made him.

He agreed. He got started on the social media pages and the swag. I ended up giving him the business as we had a falling out over ideas and what the reasoning for it was. This is a while other story for another thread. However while I was building this one, I was also building the one similar to what I am building now. Which is why this is relevant!

So, here is a run down on the last FC I built and why I hope to one up that one with this one. :)
 
#52 ·
I was not sure how I could ever own that car and so I kinda just gave up on thinking about it that day, but the gift was awesome and got me plotting on how I might own one someday. literally the next day I was heading out of town to my wife's parents ranch in the middle of nowhere. Little service if any. Hell. But they are good peeps and she grew up on the 3500 acres and the city is a cramped to her. So we bailed. Sitting bored as hell all day up there ( I am not a rancher ) I was surfing the rx7club and found JD Daniels (ehime) selling a complete RHD front clip! I wrote him right then. I had nothing, just put it all into the build for chris weigel's widebody rx7. I was doing that build for free and took a bit of the cost myself. So I asked if he wanted a payment or two as I was not willing to touch my credit for it. Not that big of a deal. They used to be a dime a dozen back then. Not so much these days.






He was not interested in payments, so I went home and opened the savings up and took out the money for it.
The clip was missing a few parts, but had the metal and the dash and that was all I really needed. He ended up also having the rack and crossmember as well as the doors. They were a bit beat up, but looked usable.

I ended up then needing a dummy car! I wanted an S4 as they all have manual belts in JDM cars and was trying to stay close to stock looking with the interior. So I found a nice 1987 SE to start with. It was local and only 300 bucks or so!



 
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