I ask because I am considering buying one.

Its been in a heated garage under a cover for the last 3 years, taking occasional trips around the block to keep it fresh. Its has not been on the highway. It has 102,000KMs (64,000miles) on it, and its quite immaculate. The underside is like the day it was made, as is the engine bay. Zero rust; none, which is rare for Canada. The car has the orginal paint and its not flaking off.

Every switch works, as does the AC, sunroof, and power antenna. It has no mods and the stock stereo. The exhaust is stock and is not rusted. The seats are not ripped; the drivers bolster shows some wear.

Its owner has both special keys, as well as the original bill of sale, window sticker, and dealership brochures, all of them in plastic folders in a large binder. He also has the owners manual, and all other paperwork that came new with the car.

He wants $7000. Comments?

 

I'd suggest trying to talk him down to around $6k, but if its in good shape like you say it is, I'd do $7000.

As for it being collectible, it will never be worth as much as a 69 dodge daytona or anything.

Collectible japanese cars are more of a niche market for the most part, so odds are against the chance of an original rx7 being worth a great amount of money in the next couple of decades.



Some guys here will say 5k tops for a nice 10ae, but my opinion is otherwise...

 

He started at $7800; I established that his bottom was $7k, because that's what he paid for it 3 years ago. The has a 90 vert also. He wants the AE to go to a good home.

No, I have no illusions of seeing a Japanese car at Barrett-Jackson any time soon. I did see that one with 9000miles went for $18k here.

There was another one here a month ago with some tasteful mods that went for $8500.

 

Damn... I'd love to see pics of this 10th AE. Good luck with your decision man.

 

i do think 7 is a bit on the high side, but it really comes up to a matter of opinion. I don't think I could personally go higher than 6, and i would want it to be immaculate at that which it does sound like it is. If this is going to be 'the' car for you, do what you need to.

Being that is a 1 or 1200 car, i would think it is a semi-collectible. I have seen a few for sale though on kijiji over the past few years.

At the end of the day, i hope to see you find a nice car soon.

Since you've been looking for a while, have you considered travelling south of the border for a car? it may well be worth your interest and time if you can find a nice car for a great rate.

As a side note, there is a lot more rust free canadian cars than you'd think. i won't start listing them, but many of your fellow canadian owners have some very clean, rust free cars.

 

Thanks DJ.

It coming down to either this one or an 89 T2 with some performance goodies. That one is also pretty clean, has 141,000kms, just needs a good buffing. Can probably get it for $6k.

Yes, I have been searching US sites, but the transport and import costs are significant, plus i would probably have to go to "whereever" to close the deal. I have also been checking BC; there are some really nice T2s out there that have never seen snow or salt. Transportation is still expensive, but there no border or import.

I am sure there are rust-free Canadian T2s, just that they aren't for sale. I am off for 2 weeks starting Friday; I want to close a deal by the end of the 2 weeks.

 

Yes pics, and 10th AE is one I'd like to have personally.

 

The fact that it is in such great condition helps the value a good deal. I probably wouldn't pay $7000, but I'd say it's worth more than $5000. If these cars (2nd gen RX-7s in general) ever become collectible, there will not be many clean examples left in stock condition. And stock is generally how the collector car market wants their cars. So, that could help with the future value of this particular car.

In the end, it's worth to you is whatever you're willing to pay. Just because he paid $7000 for it doesn't make it worth that much today, so he needs to be willing to budge a little if you offer less than that, otherwise he may have that car for a long time.

 

Jerry: you have the rarest of the rare: a 91 T2. Nice!


For those of you wanting pics of the 10th AE, I will have to go back to get some. In the meantime, here are some pics of the 89 T2 I mentioned.

 

The 1989 TII looks to be in pretty good shape from those pictures. Based on your description though, I think the 10th AE may be more desirable.

As for the 1991 TII, they do appear to be in short supply. I bought it six years ago, and they were fairly hard to find then. Brian tried to start a 1991 TII registry thread a few weeks ago. I think there were maybe three responses. I know there's more than that, but based on the cars registered sheet posted a few years ago, there were already less than 100 then.

 

I have a book that says just under 7000 RX-7s came to North America in 91; looking at the cars for sale, most of them were convertibles.

 

Buy my 87 TII (the one in bucks county PA that you commented on yesterday) but on a serious note that 10th AE sounds amazing. If it is as clean as you say the guy can probably get 7k from the right buyer (which could be you). The red S5 TII that you posted looks good too but honestly for an extra grand with how clean that 10thAE sounds I think that may be the better option. If the S5 was in the 5 grand range that may be the one Id go with but if its only a grand less then that heated-garage living low milage 10AE I would def go with the 10th.

 

What do you want to do with it? If you buy that AE you will feel obligated to keep it as stock as possible and to keep the miles down and things like that (or at least I would), while if you buy the lightly modded TII then you would be more inclined to tinker with it and have more fun in it.

For me, I'd go with the TII over the AE, but that's just my opinion

 

you need to decide what you're going to do with the car, a 10AE is only going to be collectable if its STOCK and ORIGINAL.

if you want something to DRIVE the S5's are better.

IMO i'd rather have a 91 T2 vs the 10AE, the 10ae is just an s4 with black interior, and the 91's are much rarer.

and i think barret jackson can suck it, we were at a car show this weekend and there was a 1 of 3 big block chevelle convertible there. why was it 1 of 3? the bench seat. put NORMAL seats in it and its 1 of like 250,000!

a 91 T2 is 1 of a couple hundred no matter what seats it has in it.

 

good point, I assumed he was looking for it as a collectors item since he was looking to potentially spend 7k.

If you are going to drive/modify the car go with the cheaper S5 for sure. Or just buy mine for much less and have more money to modify it with

 

I was looking at whatever car I buy as a sunny Saturday/Sunday only car. I sunk a boat-load of money into the T2 I had 15 years ago, but that car was a daily driver, and I was much younger.

As much I like to go fast, and when you go fast for a while, you start thinking about ways to go faster ($$$$), I believe i would respect the AE and keep it bone stock (or make minor but reversable upgrades), so it lasts longer and retains its value. I might put 1000 miles a summer on it tops, and only drive it May to October. Another consideration I had was that S4 parts are much more available than S5 parts.

To be honest, I would like to think that I am past the point where I want to spend lots of my $$ hopping up a car; I just want something with a 5 speed that's sportier and faster than my Grand Caravan daily driver!

 

I haven't completely ruled out looking at US cars, based on prices.

Here's one from yesterday on Ebay; the reserve was $5000, but the seller dropped it a lot at the end just get the car sold. Looks like someone got a really good deal.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1987-...item2eb607ff97

 

For those of you who asked, here are a couple of pics of the 10AE.

 

it's worth 7 (can't wait to install my bronze glass after seeing those high res pix)

 

Absolutely gorgeous... Buy it!

 

if you want a nice clean original car buy it and keep it that way, if your intentions is to modify the car buy the s5

$7k is a bit of money, but I have seen what people pay less for, things like undercarriage rust and cars that have been hacked and messed with cant be compared to a clean original car.

 

I agree with the above. If you want to keep it original, that's the car to buy. It looks immaculate in those pictures.

 

buy it. Im with you at keeping it stock. Im doing the same thing. I found a 1987 Turbo II with 64,000 miles on her and near perfect interror and exterror. sat for the last 9 years in a garage with a blown motor. I am putting her back together now keeping her stock. i paid less than 3 k for a non running car though.

 

I tried to buy the s5 today; no joy. He wanted $8k, and would go no lower than $7300. I wasn't willing to go higher than $6200. I walked.

Agreed, 10AEs like this should be left unmolested. Perhaps I will call him this week.

 

This.