The Donor

This is where rotary comes into the Brian's Rotary Locost. This is an exceptionally poor example of what used to be a very fine automobile. This is what is going to be used for the mechanical underpinnings of my locost. The engine, transmission, rear axle, wheels, breaks and anything else I can find a use for.

Rx-7s make excellent donor cars for projects such as locosts. It has a compact engine and is rear wheel drive. I hate to tell people this because I am a huge fan of Rx-7s. I hate to see one that have any chance of being restored get dismantled. My donor car is beyond hope there isn't really a single redeeming quality that makes it worth bring back. The body is beaten, the interior mauled, and the engine is also blown. Bad for restoration good for my project. All those bad points make this car a cheap buy for almost all the mechanical bits I will need. How cheap? $129.00 purchased on Ebay Motors. Then it cost almost exactly the same amount to get it towed from Virginia to my home in Aston, Pennsylvania just a bit south of Philadelphia.

Here is a shot of the rear. This being a 1980 it has the wider split taillights which look great, in my opinion. They are also smaller than later models and have a lovely curve around the sides. These will look almost as good on my locost.

This is one of the very cool gold aluminum wheels. These are pretty special. Not for any practical reason just that they were only offered for this year of car on this trim line. I happen to love them. This is a very good thing because the early Rx-7s used an unusual bolt patter that makes finding wheels for them difficult.