peterlbrown

So I have an 82 rx-7 gsl. It has 114,000 miles and the engine is in great shape. It has a new clutch, a new 70a 2nd gen alternator and a new battery. The exterior is in good shape minus the bumpers which could use a paint touch up. It's interior all works, but the carpet is mussed and the door panels need some work. The main interior issue is the seats not being the right seats and not being mounted.
I got the car as a restore project but have not had much time to do it.
I was thinking about selling the car as is but was wondering if aanyone had any idea if it might be worth the effort to restore than sell.
I was told by one person that if I resotred thiss car I could actually get a decent amount of money for it but my concern is putting the money in and not making it back.
I'm thinking it needs about 3k worth of work to make it cherry which would mean I'd have to sell it for about 5 k to make it worth my time and effort.
Is this plausable?
I'm not sure what good 1st gens are going for these days.

Thanks for any input.

Peter

waysrx7

Personally I don't see anything special about that year which will affect it's resale value. For 'mint' rx7's I would rather want an SA, so 1979-80, or a GSL-SE - 1984-85. Anything else isn't worth trying to restore for the purpose of making money off it's resale IMO.

rearviewmirror

Most people want nice original cars, not nice restored cars. At least that's my opinion. When I searched for my GSL-SE I wanted to ensure that it had the original engine and paint. If you're going to restore it, then do it for yourself, not with the idea of trying to sell it for a profit because you'll find out that the true enthusiasts would much rather have an all original car.

peterlbrown

In reply to the replies I recieved thus far- first off thank you for the input.
What I would add is that the paint is original and what KBB would consider "good" the only "restore" I'm considering is the interior ie: the carpeting and finding stock seats. The engine is original and in GREAT condition. It has the original mazda rims- I'm considering deep cleaning them but it is a stock car minus the seats and carpet all the way down to having the original cassette player that came with the car. The dash is in good shape and has no cracks and actually has maintained it's color over the years.
Not sure if any of this information changes the thoughts on the replies.
And I might also add- I'm not trying to "profit" from sellling the car I'm simply trying to not lose the money I have and am considering putting into it.

Kentetsu

You will never get your money back out of the car that you put into it. If you want to keep the car for yourself, then by all means go for it. But if you are trying to decide whether to sell it as is, or fix it up and sell it, I would say get out from under it right now even if you take a small loss.

You have to be in love with these cars to really make them worth dumping money into them, and they are great cars. But if it's just not your thing, then pass it on to somebody who really does want one.

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

once you buy all the new badges and trim and stuff, and then paint the car, you're in it $6-8k...

djessence

resale value even for a mint ORIGINAL is fairly low so you are almost garanteed not to make back anything you put into it.

Therefore if you were thinking of selling it, let someone else have it. If you love the car keep it and restore it solely for yourself.

Jeezus

iTrader: (4)

If all you need is matching seats and carpet, then yeah, you can make somewhat of a profit off it. Carpet should be like 200-400$, and getting matching seats, even reupholstering them will be about 500$. If the paint is as good as you say and the engine runs like a champ, you should have no problem selling it for around 2k.