Sunroof

[faithle55]

Hi Folks

Complete newbie to RX7\'s, could you please tell me did the 1st gen cars ever come without the sunroof ??

Many thanks Nige

Mazda 323 turbo Grp A Rally car

[myatt1972]

Welcome Nige,
Thats a good question, Ive never seen one without a sun roof.
Even the S1 I had, had a glass roof in it.
Keith...

[CHC (RIP)]

A warm welcome to you Nige.
The original SA model didn\'t have a sunroof but after market variances were available.
The FB S2 to my knowledge came with a sunroof as standard and ditto for the S3 but I could be wrong - over to the more experienced members of MAG 7 !
Cliff

[faithle55]

Thanks for the reponse Gents, the reason for asking is when I have finished  the rebuild of my latest rally car I am thinking of going back to RWD and a RX7 looks like a great way to start going sideways again, It would be a great start to find a non sunroofed shell to start with :cool

All going well, we would be aiming to get near the 300 bhp mark like the old Group B MRTE cars use to run but hopefully not stripping gearboxes like my 323 does :2Mad

Nige

[Ian65]

Welcome to the the forum Nige,
Cliff is absolutely right.
As you probably know, 1st gen production is broken down into 3 slightly different models and only the series 1 came without a sunroof as standard. The lift out factory roof was offered as an option and many aftermarket roofs were installed by owners. The series 2 and series 3 all came with the sunroof for the UK market.
You may drop on an imported car without a sunroof in a s2 or s3 but they are very rare.
Your basicallly looking for a very early UK car \'V\' or \'W\' reg for a series 1.
Dave Nock is the man to advise you on whether there are any around.... if anyone will know, Dave will.

[syebba]

Ditto,
Never seen series 2 or 3 without sunroofs.
Some series 1\'s were without,but again many of these were fitted with aftermarket glass sunroofs by owners.
Probably less than 10 series 1,s left nowadays.
 
Maybe possible to weld up the sunroof for racing purposes?
Ta stu..

[syebba]

Just thought,does it really matter if youve got a sunroof,if the car was fitted with a full rollcage?This would stiffen up the shell & obviously provide crash protection.
ta stu..[the escort boys often weld up their sunroofs]

[David Nock (RIP)]

Hi Nige, 99.9% of the 1st Gens on my Register have sunroofs....

However, there was an Australian Import sighted last year (2009) and then it came up on Pistonheads this March. Basically it was described as a 1981 car. It was registered here in 1999 on a \'W\' plate. That plate would have made it a Series 1 on a UK car but this car had Series 2 Bodywork and Wheels, so it\'s in my section for S2\'s as the only \'W\'.

Here\'s the important stuff....no sunroof but it was an auto. Aus cars are RHD? I didn\'t notice anything odd about the driving position.

Finish was Pearl White and it was in very good nick, the previous climate seemed to have helped it. I don\'t know if it sold but the price was around £1800 then. It was in Surrey.

I still have the Sellers email and a mobile phone No. if it\'s of any interest to you. I can pass these to you by email but hope that you will maintain the Guy\'s privacy.

Let me know. dgnock at btopenworld dot com

Cheers  Dave

[David Nock (RIP)]

Here it be

[Ian65]

As with the silver car on ebay, this looks a very nice road car and I think it would be a crying shame to track it.
I think we said at the time the track boys would covet it because it didn\'t have a sunroof.
Stu\'s point above is excellent.... if it\'s presumably going to have a full cage put into it, does it matter? ( I don\'t know anything about track cars so it might make a huge difference!)

.

[faithle55]

Here it be

Stunning looking car and yes I agree it would be a crying shame to strip out for a rally car. If we went ahead with the project it would be nice to get hold of a non sunroof model as I would try and build it as close to the MTRE cars as posible with a custom built cage the same as the works cars, I agree Its no problem with welding the sunroof up except it would always look ugly from the inside looking up as it wouldn\'t have a headlining fitted.

Again if this idear ever happens I shall proberly go the whole hog and get myself a left hooker

Thanks again for your thoughts

Nige

[David Nock (RIP)]

Nige, if you\'re still around there\'s a Series 1 1st Generation on sale now in Rotechniks/
Rotaryart, Reading. No Sunroof £750. Look in the 1st Gen Forum, \'How Many 1st Gens still Running\'? thread