I posted a picture of it in the "longest thread," but wanted to start a thread here. And tell the story of my other baby...

(Originally posted on RX8club.com)

I'd been doing the research for 4 months. Was on the Mazda site and built my own... priced it out... and cried. (Getting divorced, living in California, yada, yada)

So I started looking at cars.com, autotrader.com, etc, and eventually discovered that they came in YELLOW!!! So... I'd search for just yellow ones, but they're SO hard to find. The closest ones were 2 hours away, but most of them were 300 miles or more. So I cried some more.

Then one weekend I had to help my son move home from so cal. I live in the Modesto area of California, so this was going to be quite a trip. I called a rental car place and rented a brand new cargo van to take down and bring his stuff home in (Chevy vans SUCK!!).

I got off work at 4, picked up the van at 4:15, jetted down to Lancaster (over 5 hours away). On my way there, I stopped in Selma to have dinner at the Spike n Rail, and there's a Mazda dealer next door, so just for chuckles, I walked over. Mind you, I look like ****... old shorts and crappy top (I mean, I'm going to Lancaster to WORK for goodness sake). The salesman was WAY cool... took me into the showroom and explained lots of stuff about rotarys that I hadn't yet discovered; alas, he only had black or white. So I told him what I was looking for and went on my merry way.

On the way down, I told my son that as long as we left his place by 4 am, we'd be home in time to turn the van back in and save me $150, so THAT was the goal. LOL When we got to Lancaster and told my son, "I've gotta get a few hours sleep or we're dead, so wake me up at 2 (a.m., that is). Sound asleep at 1 am, I got sat on my one of the housemates, so I got up and helped my son pack his crap.

...yea, I'm getting to the point. LOL

At 3:59, we were driving away from his place. YEAH!! But that meant 5 MORE hours on the road with just 2 hours sleep in over 24 hours!! NOT GOOD.

We got home without incidence and returned the crappy Chevy to the rental car place. My brother was driving me home for some much needed sleep, but asked if we could stop by the music store to check out a guitar for my nephew's birthday, of course I'm a softie when it comes to my niece and nephew, so I said, "sure."

SO.....

We're stopped at the light across from the music store, and there's a car dealer on the corner... guess what's on the corner????

YEP... a YELLOW 8!!!

Now I gotta say that if I looked bad when the dealer in Selma was a DOLL to me, by this time I looked like the bride of satan on a bad hair day!! Not to mention I'm about as sleep-deprived-goofy as all get out.

Looks aside, I'm going NUTS!! I tell my brother, "pull over! pull over! pull over!" and was about jumping out of the car before he got it stopped. I just about ran to her and kissed her tires!! RIGHT UNDER MY OWN NOSE THIS WHOLE TIME!!!!!

So I'm checking her out, looking under the hood... My dad builds Keith Black racing engines, so the whole rotary-thing is WAY new to bro and me. So he asks, "where's the engine?" And I, of course, tell him it's under the cover, "here, I'll show you."

About that time, the salesman had walked up, and told me NOT to remove the cover!! WHAT?? I told him that I wanted to see the engine; to which he replied, "you can't see anything." To which I replied, "I want to see the engine." (A little firmer and more insistent). To which he replied, "Don't do that, the cover will start squeaking and stuff." So I say to him, "You mean that I can't inspect this car before I buy it?" and he tells me, "No." ****ING *** HOLE!!! I was ****ED!!! So I looked him in the eye, and said, "well, then this is NOT where I need to buy my car."

My brother and son looked at me with total shock on their faces, cuz they KNEW how much I wanted it. But we left. and I cried again!

It ate on me the WHOLE next week, and by Friday I couldn't stand it, so I went back. This time, I was fresh from work (I'm an admin. assistant), and was dressed business casual (as opposed to devil ***** with bad hair). A different salesman approached me this time, and I inquired about the previous Saturday's salesman. It turns out he wasn't the owner.... good... that meant I had someone to complain to.

I went into the office and told the owner that I was treated very poorly by one of his salesmen, and pointed to the jerk. I also told him that I had done 4 months of research and that the only thing this 8 lacked was a moonroof, but I could live without one, but after being treated the way I had been, he'd lost my sale. I thanked him for his time, shook his hand, and left.

Oh boy, did he chase me down! He wanted the FULL story of what happened the previous week, so I told him. He apologized, told me the jerk would loose his job, and told me he'd give me a great deal on the car if I was still interested.

Of course I was, but I played it cool. I asked him to define a "good deal." It was about 5k less than I was originally told (which was 5k less than blue book), so I told him I'd go get financing arranged. I came back 20 minutes later, test drove it, and we wrote up the PO.

The next day I went back to the bank to do the paperwork, and by 10:00 I was driving out of his lot with MY YELLOW RX8!!!!!

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~~Steph

"This I believe: That the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world." John Steinbeck

I will NOT show my husband! He had to sell his RX7 when we had our second kid. He was a bit heartbroken over it... Now he drives a Subaru wagon, the poor man.

Your car is gorgeous! Drive carefully!

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Amy

Awesome Steph,,,its a beaut!! ARnt yellow cars fun, I sure miss my yellow F150 Tweety was its name,,,...way cool congrats.

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

Wonder if they take children as payment for one of those LOL.....

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Warmest Regards from Lyn

LOL! She is my baby. When I first got her (back in August), I figured that if I could make my first payment without getting a ticket, I was doing good... well, I made it!!!

So far, so good in fact!

LOL I'm totally against anything that remotely looks like I could fit a family in it. What year was your honey's 7?

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~~Steph

"This I believe: That the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world." John Steinbeck

Hey! Be nice to the subaru, it's not a complete 'soccer mom' car! I love my subie! I forsee many memorable camping trips with her!


(Not that I wouldn't love a pretty yellow RX8)

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Those who say it can't be done should get out of the way of those who are doing it.

~*~Lacey~*~

My Photos

He chose the Subaru wagon specifically because he refused to get a minivan and has no use for SUVs. We wanted something that could fit the four of us plus the dog (the dog won't fit if we're all in my Toyota Camry). He got his Outback wagon, used of course, but was pleased to at least get one with a manual transmission. He feels like a *man* with a stickshift, I guess. I like the Subaru very much, actually. But he was sad to see the RX7 go. It was his only non-practical car purchase ever. It was a '93 (I think that's right -- a year newer than my Camry). The first year they came out, I think. It was red.

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Amy

LOL!! Thats probably why I ended up with my Mustang...but I can fit 4, 8th graders,,,most of which are ranging in size of 5'6" to 6'1", lol

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

Sweet sweet ride Steph. It's your car now. You can cry if you want to. Say when are they going to offer 20 yrs of payments so I can get one. The do it for houses why not cars?

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Mike
"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." - Mother Teresa

Maybe if you told them it was your primary residence?? LOL

I fit 4 ex-football players in it plus myself... oh the Class reunion was FUN!! (but that's another topic all together). The 8 is actually a four door (the back doors are "free-style," basically suicide doors).

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~~Steph

"This I believe: That the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world." John Steinbeck