SA owners have good news .....
 

Just looked at the March CCA auction results in the UK and a very nice 1979 SA with only 35k miles sold for $15k USD.


1979 Mazda RX-7 - Classic Car Auctions


YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Hey man, that's great news. Thanks for spending the time digging that info out for us!!

No problem dude. Just performing a public service.

Makes me feel better about picking up a 1979 LE this winter. I am now doing the PM on the car so I can drive it every now and then.

Jim, your talking to yourself again, get back on the meds.

Mine has 130K on it and it has a great interior and is a 20 footer exterior wise. Runs like a champ
with lots of unseen mods and just got new 15" konig rewinds with sticky tires added. Someone
seriously asked me to sell it and I told em 10K without even thinkng about it. No deal yet :D

Don't plan on retiring early on your SA investment fellas ;)
Overseas SAs in good shape often sell for considerably more than most SAs here do. First because SAs are very rare in most markets (cause we got the bulk of them in USA), period, never mind one in good shape with low mileage like this one (35K mi).
SAs originally sold for a LOT more $$ in other markets than they did here. The UK SA's _original_ retail price was pretty close to the auction price (so something like $12K+ vs $7 K here in 1979), so the cars are higher-valued.
Likewise in the JDM market a clean SA will be retailed now for $20K + like this one; same goes for Australian market, $15+ is normal (bearing in mind the Auzzie Dollar is not what it used to be even 2 yrs ago).
Its all about where you are selling the car.

As to the car itself, its a good showcase of how differently Mazda equipped their European (aka "World Market") SAs. Things like standard leather steering wheel, much different marker and signal light set ups, larger door mirrors...
-and, man! what is with that Olde Skool VINYL roof?? (aftermarket, but still - oy!)

Thanks for the Post Jim!

Stu Aull
80GS Alaska

So I was digging thru my old papers from the purchase of my SA as a 3 year old used vehicle
in 1983. With interest the total financed was 11K (for a 3 year old car!). Of course that was
at 19% interest back then. The sale price was around 7K. I remember thinking those car
payments would never end. I do remember this was around Dec of 83 and the GSL-SE were out
and they were listing for around 14K. One of the guys at my first job also bought the GSL-SE,
so we could compare them. I'm glad I got the SA, the GSL-SE was kind of bloaty with all the
extra creature comforts and I liked the SA interior much better.

I'm not planning any early retirements but it would be nice to just not lose a retirement after fixing one of these cars up. 3 weeks ago I was watching the Mecum auction from Dallas and low and behold, up comes an 83 Rx-7 with a reputed 19K miles. It looked nice and mint and even the commentators were knowledgeable about 1st gens. It got to $12,5 before the reserve came off and it sold! The comment was made that you saw it there first. This was the very first time I've saw one of these go across a block on TV and it was pretty neat.

I guess theres hope after all.

For a more reasonable car that was actually enjoyed for what it is, check out the result from late January's Fort McDowell's auction:


https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1462902559

"average selling price $9K" - ??? nope. No where that I have ever seen. But I want what the writer is smoking. Owner should have taken the $7700 bid...

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

Supply and demand.

It's funny because we argue when the prices seem too high to us, because we want to buy more. In reality we should be happy that supply for good examples are dwindling and that drives the price up.

People will fall into good deals every now and then, but the truth is it doesn't happen often. I remember a few years ago a local classic car dealer had a GSL-SE with 20k miles and was absolutely mint. They were asking $14k and I was going to buy it.

Why didn't I buy it? Because someone else already did. Truth be told I would have paid $20k for that car if it was available and I had to.

I agree, I enjoy seeing these cars go for bigger money, not that i have an SA(have an FB) but I still enjoy it, i've owned 3 of them now, and finally a couple years ago got one that I will be holding on to for a long time to come(57K on it now, VERY clean) I traded my S2000(which needed a good bit of work) for it and haven't regretted it once since then.