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Don't forget to add in maintenance, storage costs, etc. A while ago there was an article in one of the car publications that went over in detail the longterm cost vs "money made" on the sale at the end. Using real numbers, it was clear that very very few cars are able to recoup costs, and most of those that do are garage queens with high initial buy-in.
I am amazed by the condition of my original paint after 23 years, so that puts me in the non-repaint camp.
I suspect the car must have had some additional protective coating early in its life.
The car came with many obvious small dings, etc., but nothing that got through to the metal.
I had a professional ding guy go over the car and he took eight hours, but the results were fantastic.
He also measured the paint and concluded it was all original.
I am back to having a few pea gravel size dings.
Time to call the guy back in.
Full disclosure, I have had the front and back bumper skins redone for reasons beyond my control.
I would be shocked if there is an all original paint. SSM
in existence with over 10k miles. The bumpers and mirrors are notorious on SSMs for fading. It’s still the best color ever on a FD and it’s not debatable.
FYI, many of the Tourings were repainted by Mazda back when they were new-ish. Mazda used a "high reflex" painting system on the Tourings that was supposed to be super-duper but it didn't have good adhesion between the primer and the paint. The cars would very quickly be speckled with tons of spots on the front where the paint came off due to bad adhesion.
In those cases Mazda repainted the cars, they had to sand the cars all the way down to bare metal since the primer layer was the fault. New primer, paint, and clear.
This was VERY common when the cars were under warranty, I remember a lot of discussion on the big list over the topic in the mid-90's.
Remeber insurance cost, maintenance, yearly tax, etc. I highly doubt more than a handful of people truly make money. The best you can hope for is to break a little more even.
Insurance: $300 a year
Maintenance: Short term near $0, long term it depends but flipper don't hold long.
Yearly tax: $100 a year
So depend on your buy and sell price I think you can make a profit no? Unless the guy is flipping for pennies, if so he is doing it wrong lol.
Sunlight Silver was available across the full version 6 colour range EXCEPT Spirit R and the Type R Bathurst R (which came in blue, white and yellow only).
They made a total of 456 in Sunlight Silver 22V made up as follows:
Type R: 36
Type R Bathurst: 184
Type RB: 88
Type RB-S: 80
Type RS: 68
It's a beautiful colour - and one of the least common.
Prefer it over SSM....... just want to publicly state that Jerome is incorrect, for some of us it's our least fav color. I'm pretty happy with my current black & blue stable, plus I have an itch for CYM that I need to scratch again one of these days
So, very interesting post on values because after more than 6 years of working on a car that I was trying to modify for some street and track fun I am beat up and getting out. I started in 2016 with a 93 FD that I took to Chip Motorsport to rebuild primarily for track fun. The car is still street legal, but my goal was weekend warrior. Long story short I got taken for a ride with my checkbook and everything Chip did (30+) I paid Chris from Banzai to re-do. new engine, whole 9 yards. I still have a hard time sitting down. So, after Chris and Covid, I still needed someone to help me out. Every time I took the car out it would break. Slowly over the last 2-3 years I have replaced problem areas to where this year I think I am good to go-only I am not-lost interest and want to move on in my life in other directions. I have literally replaced everything you can replace on this car. My last project, new trans rebuild from Pettit cost me 7 stitches and a very sore finger for 4 weeks (lost control of the tranny as I lowered it to the ground). Oh well! The body has 127,000 but the parts, (all) are new-you name it, I replaced or re-built it. I kept most all of the Oem interior as I stripped it. I would like to be done with this car-would anyone hazard a good asking and selling price or am I going to be hanging on to this til my dying day? Help please.
speaking of extra money you have to spend on a FD, does anyone know how much an inspection is? I've seen a few FDs that I like, but before anything I'd want to get the entire thing inspected to make sure there aren't any problems, no rust, etc.
speaking of extra money you have to spend on a FD, does anyone know how much an inspection is? I've seen a few FDs that I like, but before anything I'd want to get the entire thing inspected to make sure there aren't any problems, no rust, etc.
speaking of extra money you have to spend on a FD, does anyone know how much an inspection is? I've seen a few FDs that I like, but before anything I'd want to get the entire thing inspected to make sure there aren't any problems, no rust, etc.
It depends on who inspects it. I had a friend and fellow FD owner come with me when I purchased my last FD. Alternatively, you can have a fellow forum member or local rotary shop check it out. In my experience a pre-purchase inspection (PPI) can range from free (friend/generous forum member) to a couple hundred bucks. It completely depends on the shop. Elephant in the room: rotary shops are in short supply and your average mechanic may not be well equipped to do a proper FD RX-7 inspection without guidance. A specific rotary compression tester, for example, is preferable to a regular compression tester.
The issue I found when purchasing my first FD in 2020 was that the cars were selling before I could even see them or get them inspected. It seems like that situation has only gotten worse. That said, I strongly advocate a PPI. You're doing the right thing--just make sure you get it done quickly. Chances are that the FDs you like are already sold unless they're sitting unlisted in someone's yard.
Getting a vid of them conducting a compression test, is a good start. A serious seller should provide that. Otherwise assume a $10,000 engine rebuild in the near future. Spot buyers are likely assuming that.
speaking of extra money you have to spend on a FD, does anyone know how much an inspection is? I've seen a few FDs that I like, but before anything I'd want to get the entire thing inspected to make sure there aren't any problems, no rust, etc.
I think some of us can agree...if you have to ask how much it cost the get the car inspected, this probably isn't the car for you. You're going to be spending A LOT on owning a FD if you can't do the inspection yourself. I'd be in well over $100k if you factored in the labor cost since I've owned my FD.
02-07-22, 09:59 AM
