peejay

I've seen -SE's got for almost twice that.

I saw a rusted out POS sell for $2000 up here...

mazdaverx713b

iTrader: (91)

well,i picked up my newest 84 SE for $1200. i bought it from a girl who set her price. it has 84K and is white with red velour interior. one dent on the rocker panel. NO RUST ANYWHERE!!! everything works except for the rear defrost. this car is sweet mint! it came with the plexy roof and the steel roof. basically, i wouldn't let my car go for under $3900. probably near that price. its almost as clean as my 80LS and is WAY better than my other white SE that is rusty with 82K.

Frankie4skin

I second Kuhlrx7's motion

Unfortunatly I did some damage to mine last night!!!! but I'm keeping it still, What hurts most is not driving It!!!!!!!!1

85slvrblt

I don't think thats an unreasonable price if its as in good a condition as you say. I bought an 85 GSL SE in May that I would say is 8 out of 10 for apporx. $3600 and I had to pay to have it shipped also. It's very clean, runs fantastic, looks new under the hood. I wanted something I could work on from a performance perspective that was going to be very useable immeditely and so I wanted something very solid. Good condition 7s are a rarity here in the Boston Area so it was worth every penny to be starting out with something in good shape. And like someone else said, $3900 is chump change for a sports car these days, when you spend that little cash on a nice condition car, you can afford to dump alot more into performance out of the gate when the interior isn't shreaded. What other car are you going to buy for under 5K that is as fun a ride :-)

Coulda spent $1200 dollars on something that spent two years in my garage before it was really worth driving and before I could get the wife or kids to ride with me, it was well worth the extra cash to get the car in super condition. I guess if your going to completely gut the car first, its not worth the extra cash, but it depends on your plans.

It's nice to have a 7 again, I had an 83 GSL back in 84/85 timeframe that I eventually sold. Been missing it ever since. This one fits like a glove :-)

Just my 2 cents.....

rx7gslse

I paid $3400 for my gsl-se in great shape, with a few more miles than that, and I'd do it again in teh heartbeat.

If I turned around to sell it, i'd put it up for at least that...

stilettoman

iTrader: (1)

Here on the west coast, a competent shop will charge you $3500 or more for an engine rebuild, including installation, new clutch, etc.. That means the car could be worth $500 or $5,000. Get an expert evaluation of the engine before you buy.

The GSL-SE has the longest life rotary engine Mazda has made, and some of them run 250,000 miles with good maintenance from the beginning. There is a logical reason for this - the SE was the first engine with direct oil injection into the chambers. It was also the last rotary with the 3mm apex seals. Even the geniuses at Mazda can make mistakes.

Five years ago I bought a 1984 GSL with a dead engine and really nice cloth interior for $700. I built a ported engine and did a custom paint job, and have driven it 25,000 miles. I would not sell it for $3900 because I could not find another one like it. I cannot think of any sports car I could buy for $5000 that would be as desirable to own and drive.

As for the 2nd gen cars, they are not worth any more on the market here than a comparable 1st gen car.

Check out my toy collection at

http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/646433

pjr

iTrader: (8)

I paid about $3100 for a 1985 SE with 78,000 miles. One (late) owner, purchased from his son. Seattle car, only seen rain twice, pristine condition mechanically and almost perfect inside as well except for a tear on the driver's seat back. Was worth the $900 to ship it back east. It's a ton of fun!

Although a 65 Mustang or a 27 Ford hot rod has more flash and noise, the Mazda is jsut more fun to drive with that 8000 RPM red line, solid but light body that's fun to toss, cool styling... you can't touch another "fun" car with this much driving enjoyment at 5x the price! A Miata is close, but it's slower, has a lot of vibration, and is very very small.

peejay

Those 3mm seals are the reason why housing flaking is a problem with 1st-gens, but you hardly ever see it on FC's...

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

yeah a good gsl-se is the best car mazda made until the miata

YapaKanichi

I bought my car for $1850, full suspension work, 4pt roll cage, basicly set up for a road coarse but still streetable. I mean practically everything. But none the less I've put in a $300 clutch, and now I'm putting in a new tranny. I've also replaced the whole fuel system and had. Along with the hydraulics. So you pay for what you get. I don't mind the repairs, even though it has been on the side of the road for like a ******* month now and I'm going insane.

Oh yea and new tires.

bobsaget639

got my gsl se for 700 120k engine in perfect condition compression tested at 104 but every electrical problem under the sun. i dont understand why people pay 4k you can get these things for dirt cheap around here

t_g_farrell

iTrader: (1)

Holy resurrection, that was 11 years ago and a GSL-SE in good shape today can get close to 8 or
9K.

For $700, you stole it, even with the elect issues.

jim_chung

iTrader: (2)

Why do so many new Rx7 owners love celebrating how cheap they bought their cars for. If you don't respect the 7 for what it symbolizes how can the rest of the world of car owners respect the 7?

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

its weird, its the opposite of almost every other car. i mean i do like that the Rx's are cheap fun, but at the same time, if you spend money fixing, say an MGB, you'd get most of it back, and spend the same money on the Rx7 and you get none.

t_g_farrell

iTrader: (1)

As my car sits now (80 SA) I could probably get 3-4K for it maybe if I find the right buyer, not that
I'm selling. Now if I get the body worked fixed and repainted it will then be worth about 8-10K.
So I could probably just recoup the body work alone but I don't see it being that much different
with LBCs.

I have always said the prices of these cars will be very similar to what we have seen with the
LBC prices (Little British Cars). I think that will continue to hold true in general
and for specific packages there will be exceptions LS, Anniversary Ed, etc. The most valuable
will be the early and last models, just like most collector cars. So SAs, specical editions and
GSL-SEs will command the highest prices. All modulated by condition, originality, and mileage.

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

i agree, the MGB is probably the closest uh, analogy? metaphor? two things a-likey?

the MGB's are getting pricey now, even the rubber bumper ones

Red95FD

iTrader: (3)

I would say since this thread was started, these cars have double in price at a minimum. That is for low mileage examples that don't need much of anything. Of course you can always spend money on new parts but with low miles you don't need much outside of maintenance. In my recent experience anyway.
Just paid $6k for an 84 GSL. If I would have found a GSL-se in this condition, I would have paid $8 or $9k easy. Maybe more.

12abridgeport

Personally, I think the base model first gens is where it's at. Paid $2000 for it last July with almost 325k on the clock replaced tires and driveshaft, the carb fixed itself, the combination switch fixed itself. Have been dailing it for a few thousand miles since than at 20 mpg on a stock motor.

I used to have the same car in a gsl version over a decade ago and the base model is so much easier to push its not even funny not to mention less wires and electronics to worry about.

peejay

I remember someone saw my friend's 240Z in the driveway and asked how much he'd sell it for. I forget the number he threw out and the guy was insulted, "Man, I can find those all day long for $1000."

Put up or shut up. Find me a bunch of 240Zs for $1000 each in similar condition and I'll give you a $1000 finder's fee per car.

G's 3rd Gen

iTrader: (11)

I just picked up an 85 gslse with 65k. All original, stock. Everything works except power antenna. Only thing the original paint isnt perfect but acceptable. Clean title no rust exceptional interior. Asking 6900 got it for 5500 cash. I feel I got a good deal. Nice to be back in the rx7 game. A whole different ball game than my old beast but plenty fun to drive.

Richard Miller

i got into the 7s when $1000 cold get you a nice daily driver. I was expecting the FD to drop in the less than 10k range but they stayed in the high teens and up. Im also shocked by the resale of the RX8. if a $15,000 car fron 1984 (a GSLSE) is to be a profitable investment. we would need to see them selling for more than $34,000 based on inflation. i think a mint less than 10000 mile well maintained museum gslse should be worth over 20k with an exceptiona daily driver in the 10-15k range.

I have spent some time around classic car guys and no one says how cheap they got anything but will bitch and moan about the 13 grand in bodywork an paint or the part made out of unobtanium that they had to sell the fillings in thier molars for.

Classic Japanese has been turning from a joke in the classic car culture to a world of its own. we represent one of the few iconic cars that the general public is familiar with.

+1 for the ressurection of this thread.

t_g_farrell

iTrader: (1)

You bring up an interesting point about classic collector mentality and japanese tin from the
60s, 70s and 80s. These cars have still not been mainstreamed into the collector fold yet. This means
we can still get them cheap. Its slowly happening with guys like Jay Leno making noise about
japanese tin and shows like the JCCS but we are a long way from even being at the attention
level of the LBCs like MGs, Triumphs, Sunbeams etc. Until this happens big time we will not have
great aftermarket support like the LBCs do today.

In fact with the way things are going, gas powered cars in general may be very rare in the next
50 years. I won't have to worry about that at this point, but you young ones may.