Arctic Silver. :)
Now it's Arctic Oxidation.
But still going strong last I checked.
I think I brought it by the shop when I got it. I know Kevin drove it once or twice.
Anyway here's some pics I have handy:
Can't beat blue shag style carpet!
Superbly balanced suspension. Mine had the TurboII suspension/brakes/seats and a clutch-type LSD, and was the lightest NA model you could get (crank windows, no cruise, etc). It was the best handling FC of them all. Handling is remarkably similar to the first gen RX-8 actually, which is still the best-handling car I've ever driven (the FC is a close 2nd).
Great cruiser! Tall 5th gear, stunning wind noise control and smoothness on the highway for a 1980s car. I caught myself doing 90 a couple times on the drive home. In an AW11 you could tell the difference between 68 and 70 just based on the wind noise.
In the RX-7, 90 felt just like 60.
Some really amazing things about this car's engineering. One of the coolest things, to me, was the driving position. It was perfect. But not just for me - the current 6'4" owner loves it, and a guy I know back east who is probably 5'4" at best loves it too. Best seats ever.
Another cool thing - the headlights. Even in the down position the lights themselves pointed forward. You could flash your lights through those clear lenses above the turn signals, without having to raise the light assemblies. Mazda used a neat pivot system to keep the lights level as the housings went up or down. Kind of fun to stand in front of the car and watch.
Oh yeah the use of aluminum in the car was pretty trick for the 80s, too. Some suspension parts were aluminum, I forget what else. Aluminum hoods were optional - mine was steel though.
It was actually pretty easy to work on, too. Much easier than MR2s. I remember having the intake manifold and fuel rail off to replace a coolant hose (the toughest one to access on the whole car - which is why the previous owner's mechanic overlooked it probably). But all the nuts and bolts were easy to get to and didn't give me any trouble. Did some cooling system maintenance on the car (since that's pretty critical on a rotary) and it was so much easier. Thermostat was right there. Coolant replacement was cake. I think that's all I did to it in the year and a half I owned it.
I definitely want another one someday. It might be tough to find one as nice as mine was, at least in that trim level. The '88 GTU was unique in a number of ways from other FCs.
