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so how to value your FD;
my dads friend bought this guy 250 GT s/n 2617GT
in 1975 for $5000. It was just some used car sitting at an Oldsmobile dealership in San Francisco.
he and his buddy bought it together, and at some point Ron bought his friend out.
I remember the car as a kid because it was under the Lionel train setup they had in the garage.
there was something unusual about this one, i don't recall what. these things were offered in LHD or RHD. this one is a street, Lusso version, so its a steel body with 3 carbs.
the competition was an aluminum body with a 6 carb engine. anyways it was unusual enough where in the late 80's he pulled it out and painted it, rebuilt the engine, and started getting invited to car shows.
(he came in 3rd at pebble beach because he had the wrong head bolts...)
he sold it around 2001, for much monies. today its worth around $8 million.
so to recap, Ron bought a weird 10 year old sports car for $5,000. fixed it up had some fun with it, and then when he was ready to sell it, it was worth a quite a bit more than $5,000.
sounds a bit like our FD's....
so i don't know what the FD is worth, but saw a 250GT SWB in traffic the other day, which makes it as common as the Rx7 around here....
This was posted elsewhere. Is it an S6 with an S8 wing (or mazdaspeed?), or the other way around?
In any event it looks fierce.
My friend here in Thailand has an RZ with full Mazdaspeed aero and wheels, and he still races it. Super cool to see, not much out there like it. It shares his garage with a few other equally cool and rare JDMs.
The rx8 is a steal right now. Stop molesting FDs. Just buy a nice rx8 and go nuts. If I have to hear about how it's a superior chassis one more time...
The rx8 is a steal right now. Stop molesting FDs. Just buy a nice rx8 and go nuts. If I have to hear about how it's a superior chassis one more time...
plus the interior is designed to come apart, you can pull the Rx8 in the workspace and have the interior in the sink ready to scrub the human slime off of it in less than a half hour, with nothing broken
The rx8 is a steal right now. Stop molesting FDs. Just buy a nice rx8 and go nuts. If I have to hear about how it's a superior chassis one more time...
Originally Posted by j9fd3s
plus the interior is designed to come apart, you can pull the Rx8 in the workspace and have the interior in the sink ready to scrub the human slime off of it in less than a half hour, with nothing broken
Ok, you two win . . . . I won't sell mine for the foreseeable future.
(Was gonna pull the trigger a year ago on M2C but the discounts were so piddly I passed.)
To piggy-back that $5k < $734k observation a few posts above. What I can't stop thinking about is that when I was a young man, the FD was a relatively affordable performance vehicle which most people with lots of money would regularly snub. Today they're viewed as 'investment opportunities' and such won't allow a new generation of enthusiasts who can afford to acquire one, let alone take over operating costs. Instead they'll most likely have to settle for video games and pictures.
Imo, the current auto media has created this weird association with what is perceived as 'car culture' and this re-enforcement of an imaginary 'jdm / cool tax'. The crazy part is that people are actually still very much willing to 'pay to play'.
When we blindly equate rarity to value, further down the rabbit hole we go.
To piggy-back that $5k < $734k observation a few posts above. What I can't stop thinking about is that when I was a young man, the FD was a relatively affordable performance vehicle which most people with lots of money would regularly snub. Today they're viewed as 'investment opportunities' and such won't allow a new generation of enthusiasts who can afford to acquire one, let alone take over operating costs. Instead they'll most likely have to settle for video games and pictures.
Imo, the current auto media has created this weird association with what is perceived as 'car culture' and this re-enforcement of an imaginary 'jdm / cool tax'. The crazy part is that people are actually still very much willing to 'pay to play'.
When we blindly equate rarity to value, further down the rabbit hole we go.
that is a good point, my connection to Ferrari's is that there was one living under my friends dad's train set when i was a kid.... he got a second one a bit later, 512BB, which was the DD, and it was driveway parked.
so rather co-incidental!
the point was that from 1975-2005, the Ferrari went from $5000 to a lot, the FD is going the same way, we should be mentally prepared. there are like 10x the number of FD's so we could expect it to be a little slower, but its happening.
the point was that from 1975-2005, the Ferrari went from $5000 to a lot, the FD is going the same way, we should be mentally prepared. there are like 10x the number of FD's so we could expect it to be a little slower, but its happening.
Porsche built 68,881 993 generation cars. Last of the air-cooled, iconic, good performers.
FD Rx7 production numbers are almost exactly the same. It's also an iconic car, the last of the turbo rotaries. And just like the 993, the FD has the looks as well.
I think this where we should be looking for future pricing. Your average FD should cost near the same as a 993. Porsche appeals to more people, but there are many more porsches out there for buyers to consider before settling on a 993. 993s have much more variety in trims with different engines, 4wd, narrow and wide body cars, etc. FDs on the other hand are mostly the same, with slight differences across the years. The Spirit R cars share more with a base model than a 993 GT2 shares with a base 993. 993s have vastly superior interiors, and it's a P car. But, if someone wants an FD, they don't have many other options like Porsche provides.
As long as FDs continue to be shown in social media, continue to appear in video games as a fast car option, and the community continues to braaaap, I don't see why the FD won't compete with the 993s for space in garages 20 years from now.
I think what's being manipulated here is the general publics' perception of demand and its' relation to rarity and scarcity. Yes demand is there but the average consumer does not understand scarcity vs rarity. Just because something is scarce doesn't necessarily imply that it is valuable. Likewise just because something is rare doesn't endow value.
Reminded me of this Jalopnik article from some months ago. There's something for everybody imo, even Geo Metro's.
Now if we're talking 'collectors', that's a completely different bag of enthusiast to talk about imo and aren't making decisions based off monetary value, etc. There are plenty of people out there who don't give a hoot what others think, love a particular vehicle and have tons of fun cruising around on weekends.
Porches were made to a much higher spec(s) and in general were greatly appreciated and well cared for.
The paint process alone separate these cars by miles imo but I think the average person is unfamiliar with this info and instead primarily focuses on the 'jdm underdog now handing big German machines their asses' narrative instead. And business has been great.
On the other hand...
