New from Colorado USA

[rx-7 chris]

This is what some simple green will do:

[ian65]

most of the 1st gens that come up for sale in the UK look like yours did when you first bought it Chris.... they don't fetch much money over here so people are reluctant to spend much doing them up.
Your car looks much better for having the front bumper sorted, it's lifted the look of the front end 100%.
Our series 3 cars were the best equipped 1st gens but didn't get lsd, air-con, power steering, the 13b or fuel injection...or the upgraded ventilation..... the US cars had all the goodies...our cars were pretty basic by comparison.... I'm very envious!

[spoddy]

yip, nearest to a US spec are the 12a turbo jap imports.
they have the air con and power steering and better interiors.

i suppose for the fb to sell in US, they needed all the goodies as
people there expect them!

were as us in the UK get what we're given

i've seen a few for sale in germany/holland with that US spec.
They're left hookers, but i'd buy one anyways lol just to have

[ian65]

yip, nearest to a US spec are the 12a turbo jap imports.
they have the air con and power steering and better interiors.

they were JDM only and very few were exported overseas.... they are rare as down under and I've only ever seen 1 in this country, that's the one Tool has now...... that's 1 feature packed car! turbo, efi, pas, ac, posi-traction, loads of hidden uprated components.... it's a shame we were never offered that car, but back in the early 80's not many UK sports cars had pas and ac..... whereas it's expected these days.

[rx-7 chris]

I didn't know that the UK cars didn't have all the options availible. My car has everything but power steering and leather. It is very common to see A/C on the US SA's and FB's, even a base model. Most US cars from the '70s or earlier didn't usually have all those options. I'm not sure why there was such a change in the 80s.

[ian65]

yeah, I read that all US spec 1st gens were supplied with air-con. Loading cars with extras helped the Jap cars in the 80's steal a march on the other manufacturers.
In the UK, Ford base models had nothing in them, sometimes not even a radio whereas Japanese stuff like Datsuns came with plenty of stuff as standard. Same with BMW, everything was on a menu, you didn't pay... you didn't get. Hardly anyone had A/C, we're more preoccupied with keeping warm than keeping cool with our useless weather!

[rx-7 chris]

yeah, I read that all US spec 1st gens were supplied with air-con

I've seen a few without it. In fact a friend of mine has an '85 base model (s) with no options at all. There is a mixture of factory installed and dealer installed as well.

[mullins]

Useless info but I used to own a Jap spec series 2. It was a "SE Limited" model. It had leather seats, sunroof, 12a 6PI, LSD, air con, and wing mirrors which I removed with my right foot kung fu styles.

[RamoNZ]

WIm in Belgiums FB

S3 12a Carb engine, but GSL-SE style dash, AC and leather.

http://mazda.kicks-ass.org/displayimage ... m=10&pos=8

[rx-7 chris]

WIm in Belgiums FB

S3 12a Carb engine, but GSL-SE style dash, AC and leather.

http://mazda.kicks-ass.org/displayimage ... m=10&pos=8

Nice looking car. It looks just like the US S3 GSL model but with the GSL-SE suspension. It also looks like it came with the GS stereo since it doesn't have the joystick by the power window switches.