Dave,
Welcome to the RCC! I just read the article on Phil and it was inspiring journalism! Being the owner of a 1984 RX-7 that is still stock and running, I am very happy that you did an exclusive on rotaries. It seems to be once in a blue moon that someone actually delves into rotary technology for a magazine, and considering how many people actually own rotary-powered vehicles it's almost an injustice to ignore us.
As for the RX-8 w/o a sunroof, I do not believe that is possible with a Shinka. If you are looking to buy an RX-8 online and wish for a price under $15k, I recommend buying an automatic. Most hot sites such as ebay and usedcars.com have AT for thousands less than a MT RX-8.
Also, on a personal note my first car is my current car, an '04 RX-8 winning blue with a MT and sunroof. So I'm pretty new to the rotary world as well.
Hopefully if you have any questions the people here can answer them for you.
Zamir