1996 MAZDA RX-7 DETAIL –
This car came to me after my father mentioned my skills to a long term friend. With intentions of selling his car, he wanted it polished before listing it for sale. At that point I knew it was RX-7, but had no idea what year or condition it was in. After a short phone call, he explained it was a 1986 RX-7 and that he would bring it around for me to take a look. At that point I was quite nervous considering the age of the paint. The next day when he turned up, that’s when it got interesting.
What greeted me in the driveway was NOT an 80’s RX-7, rather a 90’s FD model RX-7. Puzzled, I again asked what year it was, and again told a 1986. Because the car still had a rego sticker on the windscreen, which were made redundant more than a decade ago, I noted it said 1996. From here, the more he spoke of the car, the more it resonated…………………
This Mazda is quite a special car! And not just because of the obvious desirability factor from being a Japanese cult classic. The client bought the car brand new in 1996 with 12 km on the clock, and despite being 30 years old, its only done 52,000 kms (32,000 miles). He has never driven it in the rain, never parked it in the sun, and importantly, never modified. The car has been driven and enjoyed, but never unreasonably flogged. Does any of this sound familiar?
I have no doubt the owner had some reservations of handing this car over to a stranger. The way he talked about it and the condition it was in, this car is his baby. Clearly my Dad talked up my skills, but when he came over and spotted the condition of my own cars and the garage setup, he remarked that he didn’t trust anyone else to touch it. So, I hope his mind was at ease leaving it with me.
THE BRIEF -
For such a well-cared for vehicle, you could easily assume there wasn’t much to do. And to a degree, that’s true. For example, the door jambs were clean, the rubber trims in excellent condition, no water-spots on the paint or glass, a clean interior, no obvious contamination. Clearly, it’s been maintained very well.
The main focus for this car was a paint enhancement, and I was also asked to check out the leather seats.
WHEELS & TYRES -
While the wheel face presented well, clearly the barrels hadn’t been maintained properly owing to a build-up of brake dust. Whenever dealing with long term brake dust deposits, there is only so much you can do without taking the wheels off the car, not something I want to do on a customer’s car, especially one this rare.
The tyres were scrubbed with Wise Guy, the wheels got pre-treated with NV Purge, then contact washed with foamed Brake Buster. Once clean, I followed with Hydr02, then Atom Mac on the rotors. After this, the wheels looked good and only the closest inspection would reveal what remained.
During this step, I also polished the exhaust tips with P21S Polishing Soap.
DECONTAMINATION WASH –
Because of how clean the car was, I skipped the multi-step, multi-pH decontamination process I normally go through. After a pre-rinse, I went around and applied NV Purify and allowed it to dwell while packing away the wheel cleaning kit. On return, I noticed very little iron reaction. I later asked if he had clayed or used an iron remover before, he hadn't. After rinsing the iron remover, I foamed with KCx Active Foam and went ahead with the contact wash. The paint had absolutely nothing on it in terms of protection, the water behaviour completely flat.
At this point, the paint was feeling relatively smooth but also quite grabby owing to the complete lack of protection on the car. The only rough feeling area was the rear bumper, which is pretty normal. So, the paint and glass were treated with a clay mitt and Gyeon Clay Lube. The final step was a thorough rinse before moving into the garage. To dry, the blower was of limited use considering how flat the water behaviour was, so I followed with a large drying towel and Carpro Eraser.
POLISHING -
Being an older vehicle, there was quite a lot of rubber trim to tape on this car. That included the door trims and seals, the front and rear windscreen rubbers, the sunroof rubber surround, the old-school aerial, front windscreen scuttle, rear wiper pedestal, rear washer jet, the front chin splitter, and the various side marker lights.
It was then time to get polishing. The paint condition was great, just a lot of love marks and random isolated scratches. The gloss black rear tail lamp connecting trim was also hazed out. I had explained to the owner I wasn’t going to hammer down on the paint chasing every single scratch. I did try several combinations, gradually stepping up in aggression, and yet I wasn’t seeing a corresponding increase in defect removal. So, I wound back and played it safe, the last thing I wanted to do was burn through the clear on such a rare, original and valuable vehicle. That meant using Carpro Essence with a blue intermediate ShineMate foam pad, used in conjunction with my iBrid Nano, ShineMate EB212 3-inch and ShineMate EB351 5-inch.
I also polished the glass as it was lacking clarity. For this car, I used the brilliant Griot’s Fast Correcting Crème and a yellow ShineMate foam cutting pad. Machine choice here was the ShineMate EB212 for the side glass, and the Rupes HLR15 for the front and rear windscreens.
After removing all of the tape, I went around with Meguiar’s M39 to clean up the rubber trims and plastic bumper splitters. While attended to other tasks, I returned about an hour later with Carpro Eraser to wipe down the paint and glass.
PROTECTION –
While Essence can be used as standalone protection, I decided to follow with a layer of Carpro Reload to bump up the gloss, slickness and protection. For the glass, I just wiped down with Opti-Coat Glass Clean & Protect. The windscreen scuttle, plastic front splitter and rear diffuser were treated with Reload as well.
I didn’t do an engine bay detail on this car, although I did give it a quick wipe down with ECH20.
INTERIOR -
The interior didn’t really need much, nor did the owner request an interior detail. However, I did give it a quick vacuum and wipe down with ADS Pilot. The interior glass was in desperate need of cleaning, so I went over that with True Vue.
The only interior request was to take a look at the leather, the owner had noticed some mild discoloration appearing. I started with ColourLock Mild Leather Cleaner for the seats, it easily removed that discoloration and created a lovely uniform finish. For the steering wheel, gear knob and handbrake lever, I switched to Strong Leather Cleaner to cut through 30-years of grime.
From here, I applied Colour Leather Protector. Well, the leather virtually inhaled the protector, like a thirsty camel! That didn’t surprise me, the seats had NEVER been cleaned or conditioned in their 30-year life. The only maintenance has been a wipe down with a damp rag.
This was probably my favourite part of this detail, primarily because the leather responded so beautifully. The somewhat dry, patchy appearance transformed into a naturally soft, rich and uniform finish.
FINAL TOUCHES –
The tyres were treated to a generous layer of OG Tire Dressing, then knocked back with a towel after 15-minutes. Believe it or not, these Hankook’s replaced the factory originals. As part of the final inspection, I lightly wiped the paint down with Bead Maker for a little extra pop.
RESULTS -
White is so hard to make pop, it basically hides all of your hard work. Even so, I did make a massive improvement to how the car looks. The paint was completely lacking in gloss and felt quite "dry", well now its popping and feels ultra slick. The glass polishing played a part as well, likewise getting some dressing on the tyres.
Ready for customer pickup -
This car is remarkable for not being some over modified beast that’s been tuned to within an inch of its life. It’s stock as a rock and all the better for it. I would love to have given it a quick run around the block to see what it felt like. Having said that, even moving it in and out of the garage was revealing. I can’t remember the last time I’ve “driven” a car with a proper throttle pedal, as in a cable going to the throttle body and not fly-by-wire. I can tell this because there was this thing called throttle response, not the totally dead and delayed fakery that’s the norm these days. The steering was surprisingly heavy, and yet this thing is sub 1300 kg. The photos make this car look bigger than in real life, its surprisingly petite and ultra-low. Jumping in the drivers seat, you sit so close to the ground, making it feel like the car is wrapped tightly around your body.
This was my first rotary experience, even if it was limited to my driveway. The starter motor throws you because it doesn’t have that off-beat alternating whirr of a piston engine, just a smooth wind-over. I have to say, I was expecting a little more zing from the engine, but with the stock exhaust it was very tame. As mentioned, throttle response was lovely, which made balancing the clutch a doddle. From what I’m told, once the second turbo takes over, the RX-7 takes off like a scalded cat. And because of how light and low it is, this is a very responsive car to drive. I love that, especially with how ****** heavy and over-sanitized cars have become. A modern sports car might be faster, safer and more comfortable. But more fun to drive? Hmmm……………….
For its age, lack of milage and almost new condition, I dare this RX-7 would be worth quite a large sum of money. Because the owner had never really “detailed” it, he remarked that it has never looked like this. Whoever buys this car is going to get a gem, I just hope it will go to the “right” person and not completely destroyed with cannon exhausts and hideous tuner-spec wheels and body kits.
Either way, it was a massive privilege to work on this car today. I adore the carefully crafted curves, the smooth look created by the pop-up headlights, and the blacked out rear lights. And those curves serve a purpose, they were aerodynamically tuned to provide low drag and meaningful downforce. With how over styled modern cars have become, there is a refreshing simplicity to this RX-7. Then consider the era that this car came from, a time when the Japanese made uniquely flavoured vehicles that no one else could match. Cars like the RX-7 could only have come from Japan.
