My Own Story, Part 2: Jon and the Blue Vert

This is part two, click here for part one

I was a network field technician. Basically, my job was to drive across the county to one of our 215 sites, find the problem, flip a switch, and get back on the road. I needed a car to do my work, and having the mustang turned into a Candy Apple Red accordion was not helping things.

A friend of mine (Trevor) mentioned that there was an RX-7 Convertible sitting in the front of a dealer lot. He took me to the dealer, and the first thing I did when the salesperson came out was look at an older used Lexus. Talked about needing space and a back seat. She showed me a few other cars and we talked about practicality. After a while I mentioned that it would be fun to own that RX-7, but I really should be more responsible.

We went over to look at it and I saw it was covered in dust. I always thought those cars were interesting, especially since I had just read an article about rotary engines at How Stuff Works. I told the dealer I'd think about my options and I went back to work. I asked my boss if he knew anything that would help because he can be knowledgeable about cars. He said that he didn't know anything about those crazy rotary engine powered cars, but he knew someone who did, and he introduced me to a fellow named Jon, an ex-mechanic, lanky with glasses and a mustache, and apparently eager to come look at this car with me.

He takes his lunch break and we hop into his red RX-7 Turbo II and head over to the dealer. He tells me the deal with the car, that it needs a clutch, and that I'm free to use his garage . . . that's equipped with a lift and almost all the tools I could ever need. That is a very generous offer, considering the tools are probably worth $100K.

The dealer wanted $8995, I talked him down to $5000 after tax tags title. I drove it till the clutch went, and took Jon up on his offer. I put the car up on the lift and, for different reasons, it remained there for months. (The parts took too long to come in, stuff broke, things came up, and I made the mistake of (trying to) rebuild the differential at the same time. This was all before I knew about the RX-7 Club.)

Click here for part three.