TWR!!!

[Nick Hammond]

HI

I have recently brought what I believe to be a RX7 TWR. Can anyone tell me how I would find out if it is a genuine version?

Regards
Nick

[codge]

It's not the white one presently on ebay? Because that listing is still running at this moment.
(See last page of 'Spotter's Corner' on this Forum.

Then there's the Black one that's been for sale for quite a while (Gary Marks' car).
Give us some pics and a Reg No. and then the model/marque experts on here will probably be able to say.
Me - I'm just a standard street car geek).

Welcome by the way.

Codge (Dave)

[MelloYello]

Is there any such thing as a genuine TWR RX7? I do not think so.

They are just RX7s with accessories from TWR - wheels, bodykit, steering wheel, stickers.

Unless you are taliking of one of the actual racecars - then that is a different story.

[DKWW2000]

Welcome Nick,

Is there any such thing as a genuine TWR RX7? I do not think so.

They are just RX7s with accessories from TWR - wheels, bodykit, steering wheel, stickers.

Unless you are talking of one of the actual race cars - then that is a different story.

I agree, I think it was cosmetic, Body kit etc, the Ebay listing for the TWR goes over the top (I guess this is the one we are discussing) regarding the description?

I think Dave is the authority on this as he owns one

[KiwiDave]

Welcome Nick,

Is there any such thing as a genuine TWR RX7? I do not think so.

I think Dave is the authority on this as he owns one

Authority! My self importance factor has just gone hyper Essentially, you are correct. A standard car as a base with a body kit (3 versions), alloys (S1 and S2 got the nice turbofan ones, S3 had a groovy 15in star design which I've never seen in the metal), steering wheel (2 versions) and an assortment of decals.
There were a number of other TWR upgrades offered in period .. exhaust, seats, rollcages, suspension and a turbo kit (elford I assume 'cos I've never actually seen one).

Series 1 TWR kitted car would be quite a find though. I've not seen one apart from the ex Rotechniks car.

Brochures here .... http://www.rx7fb.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1374

[ian65]

Hi Nick,
welcome to the forum

I think that this comment from James is correct....

Is there any such thing as a genuine TWR RX7? I do not think so.

They are just RX7s with accessories from TWR - wheels, bodykit, steering wheel, stickers.

Unless you are taliking of one of the actual racecars - then that is a different story.

TWR supplied and fitted bodykit parts to the RX7's and they were also an authorised installer of the Elford turbo engine conversion leading some owners to believing that the owned a 'TWR Turbo' although in reality TWR didn't have their own turbo conversion, they installed Elfords plus they installed Elfords bodykit alongside their own.

There is an TWR brochure and price list here...

http://www.rx7fb.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1374

Buyers cherry picked the bodykit parts from the list and had them installed... this means that some cars only had the rear spoiler, some had the front and rear spoilers and some had the full kit including the side skirts.
There are also at least 2 different types of TWR kit knocking about... some have TWR embossed into then and some don't.... I don't know whether this reflects on their authenticity or not. There are certainly a few variants of the genuine kit knocking about.
A few of the guys on here either own or have owned TWR's





For bodykit comparison, this was my old TWR.
It was sent new by Robert Grounds, the proprietor of 3 Spires Mazda, Lichfield down to TWR in Oxford for a TWR bodykit to be fitted. As a buyer preference TWR fitted an Elford rear spoiler instead of the TWR item....

[spirit r]

I can see three different TWR front spoiler with and without air inducts for better cooling the braking system. And third one i saw with holes for lights the racing version i think.

[KiwiDave]

I like the elford rear spoiler with the TWR kit

[Lucky]

I'm not sure I'd have wanted a genuine TWR car built by themselves. I was chatting to the guys who own and rebuilt the Spa 24hrs-winning RX-7 and they told a few tales of the legendary Tom W himself. His love of bending the rules till they broke was well-known, to the point where he would have the car scrutineered when things like the rollcage complied with legislation (i.e that it was not allowed to tie into the actual structure of the car other than at the mounting points)... and as soon as it had its ticket to race issued, the rollcage was self-tappered into the pillars for a super-stiff bodyshell

I had a colleague who owned a TWR-kitted Jag XJS. The rear spoiler overhung the wings of the car, where the electric aerial mounted. In order to accommodate the extending aerial, the cunning TWR engineers smoothed a nicely-radiussed hole into the end of the spoiler blade. Which was fine, the aerial extended through it quite happily. Until you had cause to open the boot with the ignition on. My mate said at over eighty quid plus VAT every time you snapped the aerial in half, you'd pretty soon learn but he always forgot. Cost him quite a few quid over the years

In short, I feel TWR might not have had quite the R&D budget, nor quite the same number of shits given about end product as Mazda threw at the car

[A7RXY]

Lucky I had a TWR kit on my XJS and it came with a switch that connected to the boot light, so when you opened the boot and the light came on the Ariel automatically retracted, so somewhere down the line they resolved this.

Dibs