Hey, I was out of the rx7 game for about 7 years. Is it just me or has the prices for these cars gone up 2-3x since I last had them?

If so WHY?!

 

uhhh, why not?

good specimens are getting rather difficult to find. ever car bottoms out and then gains value again, that is just how it goes.

were you thinking they would go even lower than $500 for a car with a bad engine? were you hoping that cheap fc owners would continue to proliferate and make them all valueless? *shrugs* actually i'm rather glad some of the cheapasses have been filtering out the door.

 

Like a fine wine...the older it gets the more you pay.
My car is 29 and worth about 4k
I'm over 50..so I am priceless...lol!

 

I can't believe the price of something would go up if the value of the currency used to purchase has decreased in the same time...who would have thought that...haha

 

inflation causes currency rates to rise, not fall. so the amount you pay increases, it is the perception in that respect that your money has less value, which is also true.

then again, my car cost $23k when it was new, translated to today that would be roughly $40k. so i dunno, if you want to pay nothing for a car you should get nothing in return. i am glad the prices are rising, because i have a bit invested into my car.

 

Higher demand for a nice RWD platform for drifting and LS V8 swaps.

 

actually i believe most of that is over, and partially what caused the value to bottom out much quicker.

if the cars weren't as popular for becoming drift missiles, there would probably be a fair amount more left that never got completely scrapped after someone sent their into a wall, car, or managed to just flip it outright. others were just poorly put together, broke, stripped back down and likely crushed.

 

Recall 7 years ago there was a massive recession. The value of most used cars was down because people in sticky situations were quick to unload old vehicles. Prices have since stabilized and increased as the economy has gained strength.

 

Of course, they're becoming more rare and the people that own them, generally own a few and I don't know about you guys, I'm not likely to part with some of them
I think it's just the worth of a car perhaps entering into become a true classic. FCs are now what near 25 years old? In Ohio, they're eligible for historic status

 

I looked into the Ohio historic plates for mine, but did not like the use restrictions, so I got Collectors plates for mine. No emissions check required, no use restrictions and only $5 more per year than normal plates.

 

I am grinch green with envy.
Colorado used to have the "25 year" exemption but changed the law a few years ago.
Any pre-1975 car is exempt, anything after is not...and never will be.

This is a real consideration when I ponder the future of my FC.
It's one thing to keep a old car running, another to keep it emissions compliant and inspected.

I just got the Z through the "pre-85" inspection process and that is easily bearable but the FC has to survive the full Envirotest rolling road/visual inspection and that is a totally different kettle of fish.

CO also requires that the seller of a used car provide a current emission pass when selling, but nobody ever does. Were I to sell, I'd get tested and add a grand to the asking price.
I'll bet 75% of the rotaries for sale around here can't pass emissions and that's a big reason they're ditching them.

 

Well my n/a S5 passed the IM-240 rolling dyno test in 2011 when it was still dead stock. A weld in the stock pre & main system then split so I replaced it with the 49 state Catco pre & man cat setup. It passed again with that setup in 2013. But I then installed a CorkSport header which eliminates the pre cat, but keeps the main. All the other emission equipment are still in place, but I just didn't want the head aches if it did not pass, so before I had to have the 2015 tests done, I switched to the Collectors plate route. She now qualifies for the 25 year exemption, but you never know if that will change here in Ohio, so I will just keep the collector plates.

 

In GA only a handful of counties require emissions at all, and 25+ years old is exempt everywhere.

 

Of course, mine currently all have normal plates; but I may consider signing the 79' barn find into historic status. It is interesting isn't it to realize that something you've picked up for a grand or two years ago all of a sudden find the same vehicles selling for twice as much.

 

yet 99.5% of the cars you run onto on the roads are 2000 and newer. odd coincidence?

recently i noticed a huge decline in the amount of RX7 rebuilds as well. people still are buying parts though, but those parts include the parts to rebuild them themselves. my guess is many are in storage for restoration or larger builds, many of those restorations will not survive and get scrapped though.

 

The personal property tax on my '89 started going up last year and it will continue to increase. This has to figure into sale price. I wish we had collector plate options.

 

My early 86 FC is now 30 years old.... 11/85!

Paint, GTUs style rear seats and it's a perfect 95% stock FC!

 

I think the recession part is the best answer as I was able to get GOOD NAs for 2-3k and now the BAD ones run for turbo pricing.