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Joe Maddox Super Rare 1/100 1989 FC3S GTUs RX7 2JZ GTE VVTI Build
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! Now before everyone freaks out... The 2jz swap was just an idea, however I decided it would be best put in my rocket bunny infini fc. So this is a restoration thread bringing this rare beauty back from the dead to oem plus!
Let me break this down really quick...
Ever heard of the 1/100 1989/1990 GTUs rx7s? Here are the rarest rx7 FC3S models:
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!
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:
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.
Last edited by Joe maddox rx7; 03-24-2023 at 04:09 PM.
If you have one of these and would like to be on the registry lists then here is how each post should look:
A picture of the car, the vin and the door tags. Any extra information about the owner or the condition of it at this time is always appreciated!
I found this car on craigslist. It was one of the local PNW rotary group owners and he had just had a fallout with all the local community. The car was destroyed but I knew that if it was a non sunroof S5 it was special. I did not know what I was going to be rolling up to buy though but committed to get it anyway!
Got it! This was a long trip. The car was about to be scrapped! There was almost nothing left to it. The wiring harness was missing, the interior was destroyed, the parts were all S4 and S5 blue mix. However it had the diff, brakes, non sunroof liner, wheels, vin, door stamps, ect. It checked out. So I bought it and took it home. Honestly the only reason I lusted for it was because of the lacking sunroof on an s5. Probably cheaper to just buy a new roof skin and pay to swap it. but my holding off and waiting for it was worth it! The last one I almost got was JD Daniels In WA, he sold it to Aaron howe and he scrapped it
Which got me thinking... How many are left? I made a poll on the thread, was directed to an already existed poll and found that I own one of the last three remaining 1/7 white on blue k stamp ones. The rest meet the same fate as the red one Aaron killed. I killed a arctic silver turbo II once, so I have no right to talk, but bummer. However on a side note, it is more rare now lol.
However I bought it... And honestly I am one of those craigslist ******** and I do not lowball like a dick, but I do lowball. I do not settle on a price over the phone to assure that I can make an offer when I get there. The car was trashed, the guy did not give a **** about it, he was living in a heroin **** shack and all the RPNW people I knew were the people he used to know. So badly I wanted to know what he did, but I did not want to stick around, he fell hard. I offered 400$. I bought the rarest rx7 fc for 400$.
Loaded it up and started the trip back home! Got the original rims, seats, dash and door panels with it. All the parts that really matter! All the GTUs parts were still there! Oh and the car only has 114k miles on it! Clean title!
Last edited by Joe maddox rx7; 08-24-2020 at 06:12 PM.
The interesting thing about this car and why I had a chance at it was the GTUs sticker was removed when the car was repainted. The passenger side did not even have a sticker and had S4 fenders and doors. After further inspection there is no sign of damage anywhere to the chassis and so I believe that the car was once scraped in a parking lot or something similar to have the two panels replaced and the car repainted. The front bumper, fenders and passenger door all show signs of respray while the chassis does not. Which is unfortunate as this model is notorious for having bad factory paint! However I will be taking it all down to bare metal and repainting it!
Last edited by Joe maddox rx7; 08-12-2020 at 02:02 PM.
Here is the rarest rx7 fc vin number! I think it is pretty cool. I have had some rare rx7's in my days. Close to a hundred fc's at this point. This is probably my favorite so far!
I decided that I was going to put the interior back to stock with a few upgrades for safety and aesthetics. The guy sold me most of the original parts back with the car. I have a couple spare blue interiors I can use to finish it up. The door panels look great and I will detail those and make them new really easy. The carpet is getting taken out and taken to the local industrial cleaners and going through a giant tumbler washer and will be coming out new or getting replaced. It is nasty. The headliner is MINT! I am soooo happy about that! I thought I was going to roll up to it missing, it and the a pillars were never removed. I am sure the auto belts do not work. I am looking to put in the rear seats, front racing seats (even though I have the cloth turbo seats it came with) and a harness. These will be the only interior mods besides goodies like Mazdaspeed strut bars and cusco side bars etc.
I was pretty stoked to get a free rear set of coils for it as well. I will not be using them, but they will make nice wall hangers for the shop! Might go with a Tein theme.
Got to spend some time on it. Got the interior out of it and the car outside and pressure washed. Felt nice finally getting to start the project!
The interior out the car showed all its secrets. There was dirt and grime, there was some random toys and about five bucks in change but there is NO rust and NO damage anywhere. One of the cleanest shells I have ever had!
I glimpse of hope! I think I will be able to get all of the interior parts looking like new. The grime was only on the surface and the cars low miles are really showing now! I am buying all of the last of the blue interior parts Mazdatrix and Ebay have. Sorry to everyone else!
I think it is really coming together. I will be updating the thread with interior installation videos and pictures soon. Here are the interior clean up and restoration shots!
Nothing on social media or craigslist looked worth buying so I bit the bullet and went on ebay. It is as good of risk as any I suppose. I looked for a good deal but one that seemed to have a good seller. Time will tell!
Here is a little video of us going and picking it up with a few pics of that day!
Lights are a must. I love the look of a FC with a good bi color light set up on it. I made a little write up on how to make new ones if you are not able to source OEM. I was lucky enough to have found a bunch of OEM AUS/EURO spec lights going online when I went parts hunting!
01-15-2020, 04:14 PM
Joe Maddox Super Rare 1/100 1989 FC3S GTUs RX7 2JZ GTE VVTI Build
