Hi all. New to the forum. In 2018 I lost my 2007 RX-8. Spiraling in addiction; culminated in a high speed chase, pit maneuvers, spike strips, and two months in jail. I’m now coming up on 4 years clean and sober. In my recovery I’ve had many blessings come back into my life. But I never expected this…

I got a letter from a tow company that had picked up my rx-8 abandoned after all this time. He sent me pictures. I’m going to look at it in person today and decide if I want to pay the tow and storage or sign it over to him. When I lost it, it had 70k miles and was clean accept for the damage done by the pit maneuvers. It used to be Blue.

 

Congrats on getting back on track.

Looks pretty rough. No telling what kind of suspension damage you did.
If you're mechanically inclined enough to do your own work it might be worth saving.
If the engine is still good you might be better off putting it in another chassis.

 

Wow, thanks for the honesty. Very refreshing to see a new life begin. Made my day reading this, actually!

It would be nice to resurrect the car as well, but sometimes it doesn't make good sense to do so.

It is just a machine, and sometimes it might be better to cut all connections to the past. But, sometimes it is better to take an object like this and also redeem it.

That is a decision only you can make.

The pictures have a profundity to them, especially in conjunction with your story. Haunting.

 

The night I got the letter I couldn’t sleep I was so excited. I ended up passing on it. It is just stuff, and it’s best to just let it go. The car was a real mess. Nothing was bolted down. I’m surprised the engine was still in it. I did consider pulling the engine and finding another roller to drop it in. They seem to come up often. But there’s no real way to know the condition of the engine without buying it back. It was good to see it again. I used to take it through the twisties in wine country, or in the Columbia river gorge. Most fun car I’ve ever drove as only someone who has driven one would know.

 

Sounds like you made the right choice. Hope you find another one and are on the forums often. Its a great car, as you know.

All the best!

 

I agree, good decision from what I can see. Not like 8's are very expensive, if you get the bug I'm sure you can find one in better shape than that for reasonable money.

Thanks for sharing your story. I'm in awe of people that find the inner strength to get themselves on a better track in life. Best of luck going forward.

 

Glad you are here to tell the tale my dude. I never fully grasped addiction until it effected someone close to me, it is a powerful thing and takes an even stronger person to overcome it. Keep doing your thing man.

Ok ok seriousness aside...and maybe it's not cool to joke about but, how did the 8 keep up against the cruisers lol

 

Probably got him in a corner after downshifting to 1st gear.

 

ROFL I put up a good chase. Unfortunately you can’t out run a radio. They got me with spike strips. But there is something about that car that makes you want to find out how well it would do…but it wasn’t worth it. I spent 60 days in jail and lost my license for a year along with my car. I do think I could have pulled away on the freeway but I had a p300 code. I had ordered new plugs. They didn’t have them in stock. I hit about 120 in fifth at 9k. Dropped it into 6th and it wouldn’t climb. Honestly that misfire probable saved my life or someone else’s and honestly I’m grateful to the officers that took me down. They saved my life by arresting my addiction. That two months in jail gave me an opportunity to sober up and turn it around.

 

the best way to start over is to put it behind you and start over rather than going back …
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