I know this is common knowledge, but they really are. I unfortunately missed the boat on a first generation restomod I found last year, and have been in the market ever since. It is getting to be a frustrating endevour, as I am either finding tacky boy racer modded cars, beat up projects or guys who think their first generation is worth $10,000 because its in halfway decent shape.

 

Yes, 10K could take mine for sure!

Been watching the BAT site and the auction prices have been jumping up lately on fairly common 1st gens.

 

I think what you mean is, "cheap" good 1st Gens are drying up. Its kind of like getting older. Year by year times just flows by, then all of a sudden you wonder where the heck the last 10 years went. That $1,500 SA is $3,000 now?

 

People have been abusing SA's and FB's now for years and years because they've been cheap to buy and are a heck of a lot of fun. There are very few of us that leave their car stock or mostly stock and appreciate the car for what it is. When people chop the car up and hack things and do half asses repairs, it drives the value of the clean cars up. And since there aren't a ton of clean cars out there anymore, they will in turn be worth more than they have been in the past.

 

Sold mine over the weekend for $2800. Solid georgia car, 12a seemed strong, especially with the miles it had. Not perfect but it was very solid.

 

just how much work u looking to put in one? any specific yr u looking for? and yes i agree, there r some ridiculous prices out there.

 

well of course. 10k would get mine too.

 

I recognize that the next RX7 I buy to chop up and hack together will be more expensive. It's like with muscle cars. Back in the 80s and even early 90s you could buy all but the most desirable muscle cars dirt cheap, to tons of people (like my dad) did so and as you said, chopped them up. Now, finding an unmolested muscle car brings 3 or more times the money it did back then.

I bought a '53 Studebaker for $1300 once, and it was decent, the frame and engine had been refreshed, solid floors, only real problem area was in the front fenders (they had air scoops for the interior which rotted out the front fenders on those cars. Try and find a deal like that now. Or the clean '72 Dart I got for $600... now you can chalk up my SA, I got for $800 in the "stole" category.

 

It took me months of obsessive daily looking, from October '14 through March '15 to find mine. Trips included:

- 17 hours to Greenville, SC and back to see the guy start it and - with ice on the ground - immediately redline it again and again, and then do a reverse burnout-combination-J-turn into a pile of wood, before he took me on a test drive (refused to let me drive) where he stripped so many gears we sounded like a hundred cans of tuna being opened at once.

- 8 hours to Bunn, NC to see a guy who listed his car as a 13B, fuel-injected, '84 GSL-SE. When I got there and popped the hood, I found a 12A. Oh, and he wanted to keep the interior panels from whoever bought it.

- 10 hours to Moncks Corner, SC, where the car broke down mechanically on the test drive and left me stranded. And the guy had the notion to ask me to put gasoline in it after.

- 12 hours to Gastonia, NC for a car that looked good in pictures, until I got there and it was literally held together with clothespins. The doors barely opened (from rust) and the guy told me that, in fact, he did not have the title. Then he tried to keep me from leaving.

In the end, it was a typo in the URL bar at 11pm that led me to the classifieds section of this website, where I saw a listing for the car I now have. Don't give up hope. At least you'll get some good stories out of it.

 

And some very useful experience for future reference. Glad you found this place. It's really a great resource of collective knowledge.

 

I just did a search with in 100 miles of me on CL and found a couple at reasonable prices. I don't buy the
drying up story. You need to look harder!

One car I found was in excellent shape, 85 12A, dark blue factory paint, straight all over, flat tires, didn't
run well due to carb issue but starts easily, excellent interior only some fading on the upper door trim by
the windows - $1200.00. For that money it could be
a great deal for someone.

No I'm not posting it!

There were close to 250,000 1st gens made and sold, with 80% coming to NA alone. Theres plenty still out there,
trust me. Just read this thread to see how Dave had a pristine 80 LS GIVEN to him by the owner:

https://www.rx7club.com/1st-gen-gene...980-ls-1115658

 

I agree with all the above, there are still some deals to be had on candidates for modifying/chopping/fixing, but the unmolested ones are going up in price. Not as high as Datsun Zs are now, the rotary engine still scares some people off.

 

Not mine... I wouldn't let it go for $20k!

 

I feel fortunate to have acquired my 1985 GSL-SE twenty three years ago in Ventura CA when I was stationed at Weapons Test Squadron Point Mugu. Bought it from the original owner for $4500 and it was my daily driver until 2007 when I retired and moved to Indianapolis, IN. Since then it has been my "blue sky, dry road" car. The reality is an RX-7 GSL-SE that's in the shape mine is is almost impossible to find and is impossible to repair if involved in an accident which is why I limit the amount of driving I do with it. With the love, care, and money I have put into my RX-7 over the years I would be hard pressed to put a dollar value on it even though I probably have close to every receipt related to it. I can tell you the this though, I just obtained an insurance policy through American Collectors Insurance for an insured value of $15,000 which does allow for a "little" piece of mind when I do drive it on nice days. I see at least 90% of drivers today with cell phones either talking or texting oblivious to the cars around them and I have nightmares about someone t-boning me or rear-ending me because their phone is more important than driving their car. In the final analysis it's impossible to put a price on on an experience where someone will make a u-turn just to catch-up to me at a stop light to just to tell me what a great car I have. All I can say is "amen."

 

You can still find deals today on FCs and RX8s. Lots of fun to be had in them too. If they seem less desirable, give it time. People will start buying up those good ones and you'll have missed your chance.

The first gens fall into three categories now...
1) rust buckets
2) modded high milers
3) low mile originals

Oddly the original cars bring the highest value but the least enjoyment. They're low mile because their owners never drove them and their new owners will be afraid to. They are garage ornaments. If you do drive them, you'll find they have less value as a motor vehicle than the modded high milers. Clogged cats, rough carbs, dry rotted bushings, the list goes on. It's like you pay a premium to mod the car yourself.

The value buy is the already modded cars. It might be a basket case but will be cheaper and leave more room in the budget for the parts you want. Just make sure it doesn't also fall into the rust bucket category.

 

I know of a low mile all original GSL-SE that was just bought, for "not cheap", and within a week the drivetrain was sold out of it.

For someone doing a swap, it's just a car. If you pay $5000-6000 for a clean example, that's still cheaper than, say, a rusted out 60s Camaro.

DON'T SELL CHEAP.

 

" I know of a low mile all original GSL-SE that was bought,for "not cheap" and within a week the drivetrain was sold out of it." WHY!!!.....would someone do that???

 

I just told you...! For someone looking to do a swap, anything under $5k is still pretty damn cheap if the car is clean. A decent LS swap is going to cost close to $10k in parts alone nowdays (can't touch an LS1/2/3 for under $4k, an LS1/2 T56 is over $2k used, decent headers are over a thousand. and you still have a lot of budget left to burn with respect to actually putting the drivetrain in the car and making it run), the price of the car is peanuts at that point.

Bear in mind that people are LS swapping RX-8s and BRZ/FRSes. 1st-gens are more desirable because they are by and large emissions exempt due to age.

DON'T SELL CARS CHEAP. If a potential buyer mentions the word V8, add $10k to the price. If they balk, f 'em. If they pony up the cash, cut your losses, take the money, and buy up another clean RX-7 to protect.

 

yesterday I was cruising around and met a guy who drove an LS1 swapped FD. He had bought a '93 R1 FD that was running. He then immediately pulled the engine and did an LS1/T56 swap. The body was straight on the car but it wasn't that great of an interior. he must have paid at $12-15k minimum though. So yeah, $5k for a super clean 1st gen is a bargain for these guys.

 

Heh... My employer's dad bought a super clean, all stock Solstice GXP with the intention to install an LS3. Which he did. It really does look like GM intended the V8 to fit in there.

 

Yeah"its just a car"... engine swapping real popular. Been around these cars since they were new and appreciate what it takes to preserve one after all these years. To me personally it seems wrong to chop up a specimen like that. Takes a totally different mindset. Money talks and bs walks...

 

Well, MOST do, anyway...

 

My issues have been not only finding something that hasn't been messed up. Which is part of me saving an '80 but the weirdest bit is titles. Lost titles, signed titles from years back but never transferred to the person selling the car. Weird stuff. Irresponsible.

Its hard to find them now too because of to many resources to sell. Back when you had regional classifieds or the local news paper. auto trader rarely has any old RX-7s and if they do they are pristine examples that command a premium price. While trying to find a 7 for my son ( added problem of gunning for an SA) most craigslist ads had no response, I found the dame car listed in Facebook marketplace and got ahold of the owner that way. He now has a faded but original '79 (August 78 build) and I am really stressing to him that he leaves it stock. he got lucky on that one. I guess I should say that has aftermarket wheels and we bolted in some FC seats but will be recovering the original seat sand keeping them. Point is that before he does anything to that car, is it something that can be undone. Still has the stock stereo and the analog clock works. If he wants to build a go fast project car, the can get a shell like i did and save it from the crusher or a v8.

 

Had been looking periodically for a first gen for a few months. Buddy of mine tags me on a Facebook post of a young kid selling a clean 82. It'll need some hours put into it but $2500 ain't too bad

 

The problem for me is that I am looking for something relatively turn key, not a project.