Wondered about that myself. I don't care about its rarity or lack thereof. Just want one for a project.

This is the car - waiting to be trucked to MD, and not stuck in reverse anymore.

https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2426...ce81f06f_b.jpg
https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2734...253a821b_b.jpg
https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2446...f32c0e9d_b.jpg

The Colorado car was advertised as an '89. Supposedly there were about 1000 GTUs cars in 1989. Some sources suggest it was slightly more, though I don't think a definitive number has ever been established. There were supposedly exactly 100 1990 model year cars. I don't think there has ever been any conclusive documentation about how many were made in each color, but I'd be highly suspicious about a claim that only 10 out of 1100+ cars were Brilliant Black. (I've seen 3 or 4 myself.) Those kind of numbers might be true when looking only at the 1990 cars.

Thanks David.

Paulo,

I don't know how exactly you'd go about doing a search on this subject, but there have been some threads on this site over the years theorizing the numbers of the various colors of GTUs cars that were made for each of the two model years. I have no idea how anybody can back up these claims since Mazda was sort of famous for not keeping meticulous records about such things. I'm pretty sure they were only available in white, red, and black, i.e., no Harbor Blue Metallic or Winning Silver GTUses. If this is true, then even the claim that there were only 10 Brilliant Black '90 cars seems a little unlikely; that would mean the other 90 were either red or white. In any event, I have read before that Brilliant Black is the rarest GTUs color.

There have been a number of sources (John Matras's 1994 book on the RX-7 for example) that have stated that Mazda made 100 model year 1990 GTUs cars before discontinuing the model mid-year, so I'd say at least that number is probably reliable.

Makes sense. I read the FAQ's and stickies every once in a while just to keep things fresh in mind, but some info just isn't there and sources are sometimes missing. But more info is always added as things get known and confirmed. It's a kind of investigating work and knowledge sharing that really makes this forum shine.

FWIW, the colorado car (the one I bought) was advertised as an '89 but it's actually a '90 (7xx serial number but an L-stamped VIN)

John

I looked at buying a '90 GTUs in Brilliant Black in the spring of 2007 in Chantilly, VA. It was mostly intact but had been stored outside for 2-3 years after it blew an oil seal. It obviously needed a rebuild, but it also needed quite a few interior parts, the paint was bad, weatherstripping was all shot, etc. It was just a little more of a project than I wanted at the time. I've often wondered if anyone bought it and got it back on the road.