Yup, it hit $50 right after listing. Been sitting that way ever since, I'll bet in the last few hours of the auction all the heavy hitters will come out swinging

 

I'll be watching this one close, see what my CW could be worth

 

As pristine and unmolested supply of FDs dwindles, I think we will start seeing more nuts and bolts ground up FD restorations. It wouldn't worth the effort a couple years ago but now the value trend seems to support it. We may see higher mileage FDs getting stripped to metal and restored from ground up like older Porsches. One can hope that will eventually lead to reproduction of NLA parts and continue modernization of the FD platform!


I am also watching the CW BAT auction

 

That’s the norm for BaT, bids show up at the beginning and at the end, very little action in between lol.

 

LHD interior trim needs to be replicated in a stronger material and installation should be mastered to produce a solid feel.

Without that ,the most beautiful restoration will come up short.

In the back our minds, when see the $200,000 valuations of Spirit R, aren't we thinking, "but what about the plastics?".

 

Not sure that matters. Have you seen old plastics from lots of other cars from 70s through early 90's, even Ferraris? Not any better but doesn't hurt value.

 

Something is keeping the price of FD down.

 

Nobody will be touching the interior plastics of a $200k spirit R, it's a non-issue

 

It's the rotary

 

I think it is the rotary engine. Not because it is unreliable, but because it requires specialty servicing. Most of the high roller collectors with garages full of cars are not doing their own maintenance. That means they need a good rotary specialist, and there are only a handful of those in the entire country. If you don't live near one, then you have to trailer the car to the shop. Getting an FD serviced properly is a huge pain for most people.

 

If you had asked this question in 2015, I'd answer that as viewed by the market as a whole:

It's a lowly pedestrian Mazda with an odd engine and complicated turbo system that's primarily known to spend it's time on the back of flatbed tow trucks when not getting 12 mpg and stinking up any intersection that it idles at

 

They weren't worth the maintenance and storage costs until recently. Everyone knows you need new housings eventually, or a new keg. When that's 70% of the cars value it's crazy. When it's 10% it's just routine maintenance..

 

I just pulled the (5) plastic interior pieces from my car for repainting. After removing the coating (not fun or easy), all the plastics are in mint shape. I think the plastics are fine (if a little thin) - it's the mush that they were coated with. They can be refinished to look like new.

(The passenger door grab handle and both door pull handles are weak plastic crap - but all three can be replaced with aluminum parts.)

 

For these ultra low mileage FD's, I'd love to see the compression numbers. That's all I can think about when I see that 16k mile black '94 on autotrader.

 

you're not wrong, but its funny because the cars they do have have adjustable valves, multiple distributors (sometimes with points), and more than one carburetor, in other words WAY more complex

my friend did a mid 70's 911 engine once and that thing is a rats nest of stuff, and its finnicky too. engine needed to come apart because the head bolts broke or fell out, half of them were in the glovebox...

 

On the plastics mush, "easy-off" oven cleaner for the win.

(Wear appropriate PPE.)

 

Hey! I thought this thread was now "How to value your FD". Not "How to devalue your FD."

 

1994 Mazda RX-7 for Sale - Cars & Bids (carsandbids.com)

This will be interesting to watch. 111k miles, all kinds of imperfections in the body (which I would consider normal to a certain extent), and some inop equipment. If I were in the market, this would be the one...for me personally. But then again I'm too tall for a sunroof car.

 

What "service"? The rotary is a snap for service - change plugs, change fluids - it's like any other car. There's no weirdo timing belts, tensioners, etc.

Any competent mechanic can maintain and fix an RX-7. This car is documented TO DEATH on how to fix everything.

Yeah, you would need a specialty shop to do a rebuild, but everything outside of the engine keg is like any other car.

Dale

 

This is another good surviving example, MUCH better than that $29.5k rusty pile. This car has solid mods and a good interior with an average body, I wonder if BAT wouldn't list it since it's modified.

 

Maybe the $99 entry fee scared them off, so they went with ZERO DOWN!! at CnB. I sold my CC on there before they went free listings.

 

That's a thing? I was wondering why there were no even slightly modified cars on there.

 

There are plenty of modified cars on BaT.

 

Yes. I’ve seen modded FDs on there too, but very lightly modded.

 

Engines don't lost compression from sitting...... a rotary can however have coolant seal failure if it sits for years with old degraded coolant. Based on the vacuum my 1200 mile Montego Blue FD pulls at idle, the compression is excellent. Maybe I'll check compression and install new spark plugs over the winter for the hell of it.

I also agree with Dale that these cars don't require anything special for maintenance. Troubleshooting the sequential twin turbo system is another story altogether however