maxg765

Hello All,

Thanks for all the comments.

I will do my best to answer all the questions here in this one post instead of adding 20 different replies. If I missed one just re-ask.


PLANS FOR "IT"
I have none. "IT" will remain 100% stock minus AST and wheels. It will be enjoyed only on nice sunny dry days as a secondary/thirdary family car, no tracking.


WHAT I PAID
While I hate to answer this question I have opted to do so. After all a car's value is only what someone else is willing to pay for it. However, what I paid ended up not being my final price or true cost as I need to factor in all the repairs, transport, taxes, duties from USA to Canada, and whatever else... Here is the breakdown
$20500 for the Car
$500 USA storage for nearly 6 months (committed to the car in Dec 07/Jan 08)
$400 in Misc fees and exchange rate charges
$700 Private closed transport to Canada boarder
$1358.13 of 6.5% duties and AC Tax of $100
$1099.16 GST tax
$1546.88 of PST (Quebec) sales tax that it will cost me at time of plating it
-------------
$26104.17 CAD was the real cost of the car after getting it here and adding up all that dam tax and duties. Plus I few down to see it in May


MY LOCATION
Yes I am in Montreal and not in St-Michel/Villeray, the picture was taken at my Mother -in-law's house on my way home from having picked her up at US customs


THE TIRES
I knew I would get slack for that one. I have no intentions of driving her with them like that. They are actually not that bad or too dry since the car was kept indoors but they are 15 years only and just starting to show some very minor cracking. I will actually keep them on the Mags as is to keep everything stock and have all the original stock parts stay with the car. I will get new "mesh style" mags and tires to use regularly which will be my only mod other than the AST that I just changed.


COLOR COMBO
Silver on Red Leather is mu first choice color combo. If I could order a new FD today thats what it would be. I know some do not like it but I find it a striking contrast. Its a deepish red and I love it so I lucked out even more so finding my first color choice. That does not mean that I do not like the other combo's as this car looks good in all its released OEM colors.

IT IS NOT A "SHE/HER" BUT AN IT
Ok, I get it. The car is not a female. Its an "it" but not made in Italy


SUGGESTED TO KEEP ANY AND ALL PARTS CHANGED AS REFERENCE
I have been and will continue to do this, including the above mentioned tires. I have done some other work at KDR with Dave that was not required but optional. Sonce I wanted the car to be perfect. I have kept all the parts for future reference.

What was changed by Dave at KDR and all the old parts kept was:

One right Front Break Caliper for a new OEM unit not a rebuilt one
Just a few vacuum hoses with new OEM ones & some ties added for additional security
Driver Door weather strip rubber - someone tried to steel it and damaged it a little
Driver door black key hole trim and handle area - triangle piece was changed
I was told that the front Sway Bar Supports Brackets bend easy since they are very low to the ground, KDR said "not required" since it was really not bad but I opted for it
Front Sway Bar link Brackets - while changing the support brackets its better to do this
A new OEM front lip (I went stock and not R1 to keep it original but that killed me) - the original was a little scratched
The above was not factored into the above mentioned cost of the car

I hope this answered all the questions and again, those tires will not be used, I have a wife and children to go home to every night and I like my life and those around me.


Best regards

Max

ZumSpeedRX-7

iTrader: (12)

wow! awesome find! thats a great price for what you got. i demand more pictures! congrats and good luck.

mrb63083

iTrader: (4)

Very nice...

RX7 RAGE

iTrader: (22)

I think you should get a downpipe at least to remove some of that underhood heat.

MrNizzles

iTrader: (5)

^^ There was an FD on a Barret Jackson auction? Anyone have a link to it or photos of this? $72K huh? not bad...

RX7LINK

iTrader: (3)

great find! congrats!!

Mister Destiny

iTrader: (1)

That is not a bad price to pay. Especially if it is your color combo of choice.

moconnor

iTrader: (14)

Pretty decent price. Good that you are going to keep it well maintained - though I would install a downpipe. The stock downpipe both robs power unnecessarily and causes premature war on engine components.

trickshot

You're dreaming. This car shows precisely the opposite. It's at the top end of the market. How many 14,000 mile cars in excellent condition are out there? And it topped out at $20,000. I happen to know something about this sale and it dragged out. It's not like the seller got insistent, escalating offers.

Face it Gentlemen, it's a soft market. Current owners on this Forum bitch about it and try to talk themselves into believing in a forthcoming price escalation but it ain't happening.

On the plus side, if you're in the market for a cherry FD, it's a good time to buy. The welcome sign is out for new owners ready to take the plunge into the FD pool.

moconnor

iTrader: (14)

Predictions that FDs are about to become rapidly-appreciating collectibles have been rampant since even before the car was released. I remember reading lots of magazine articles in the early '90s breathlessly predicting $100k+ prices within a decade. A lot of wannabe collectors bought this hooey, which is why < 5k mile FDs appear on eBay every few months. The really sad thing is that most of these cars have the most rather than the least common option packages and, worse still, a fair number are automatics.

Porsche 928 owners have been making similar predictions since the early '80s. The time has passed for the 928 (decent early cars can be had for $6k or so) and I think it has also passed for the FD. We should be glad that we own cars that pretty much don't depreciate - but predictions of rapid appreciation are getting a little old.

wack0aznboi

grats

mrb63083

iTrader: (4)

must have more photos.

Red95FD

iTrader: (3)

Congrats on the new FD! I really like the colors. I wanted one like yours but came across a vr 95 with 6,500 miles. Had to get it. Keep it stock and very clean and in two years or so, if you still love the car as much as you do now and want to mod it, mod it. I did, but like alot of guys say, reliability mods are the way to go. I have AST, Bonez coated dp, M2 intake, Racing Beat duel exhaust, Powerfc, Banzai diff brace, and next month I'm getting Koyo rad., ACT clutch, walbro fuel pump, and a PFS smic. No midpipe or injectors. Yes it would be faster but it will be plenty fast enough with a good tune. By the way, Meguires #26 is my favorite wax. Enjoy! It looks beautiful!

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

Remember there is a stickied thread for those pics.

Welcome again.

Dave

jojodotcom

iTrader: (6)

Nice FD~ keep it stock, and turn it into a collector's car~

trickshot

Indeed they are.

The experts in the collector car field will tell you that there are several well established and generally accepted factors that make a car collectible. Unfortunately the 3rd Generation RX-7 doesn't meet all of them. Not even all Ferrari's are collectible. Some of them are just used cars.

No use crying over this or trying to talk up the price. Such efforts are futile.
Look on the bright side, I say. Insurance rates for the car are reasonable. Parts, although they can be on the expensive side, still don't rival the price of jewelry.
And you don't have to be afraid to drive the car in public.

(I recently talked with a body shop owner who had pictures of a mid-60's Corvette plastered all over his walls. I asked him about his car. He answered, "Oh I sold that. I really couldn't drive it anywhere. I'd park it and walk away and spend the whole time worrying if it was going to get stolen.")

trickshot

LOL! And how many of these are there? 3?, 4? (If that.)

One or two outliers does not make a price trend. An eccentric individual may pay top money for a Trabant because his family owned one in East Germany. It doesn't mean anything for the marque.

You're ignoring the evidence right before your eyes. Here's a 14,000 mile car in about as good condition as you're going to find and it sold for $20,500.
Notice the comments in this thread? They're saying, "Hey, good price."
The translation for that is, "Gee, I thought such a car would cost more."

The market for FD's....even very good ones...is soft. You're looking at the top of the market in this thread.

trickshot

BTW, the price for this very same car three years ago would have been around $25,000......correct? Wouldn't that be what the proponents of "the collectible FD" would have argued back then? So, it's depreciating, isn't it?
Case closed.

maxg765

Hello All and Trickshot,

First off still more and many thanks to all of your for your comments. Once I get "it" plated and ready for the road I will grab some since photos. I will post here advising that I posted them in the appropriate thread.

As for values.....

I do tend to agree with both trickshot and gmonsen but more so with gmonsen that values will go up. And, maybe thats because I am now more biased then before since I now own one, who knows.

I do know that my own car just went up in value in the market place. The car ended up costing me just shy of $27000 landed and I would not sell it for less so its now $27000 vs $20500. I did get offered $25000 USD for it before importing it and almost did sell it in the US (just flipping it) but that was not why I bought it so I chose to incur the additional costs of import and repairs to get it here. I also did that accepting that fact that I may not be able to sell the car for more than $20000. Also, yes I did pick it up for $20500 but months before the seller had bought it for $24000. Also, when I traveled to meet the seller I just lost out on a 2004 convertible Porsche that he bought for $60000 and sold for $57000 to a Leasing company in Ontario who flipped it for $69000 the same day. Thus, I consider that I got a deal at $20500 since I was unable to find another car in this condition and mileage for less than what I paid.

Either way for me it was this.

-I wanted one (had a 1990 Turbo II that I have always regretted selling)
-I found the color combo preference in excellent low mile condition
-The perfect shop to check out the car's mechanicals and mileage claims was by chance in the same state and only 2 hours away (KD Rotary with Dave)
-the seller was willing to hold the car for me for a few months while I got my things together and waited for it to mature to 15 years status to avoid bumper changes etc...
-It was off season when I made the deal
-I paid for half the car in Feb and the balance in April while only bringing it in now due to lack of time and transports falling through

I also wanted a performance car and did not want to dish out 40 to 50K at this time. Here I had a car that looked new, acts new, and actually still has some new smell. I figured any car I buy will lose value in the first two to three years. List of value. Here I had a car I love that would cost me some $25K that I would be able to sell for at lest $20K if my expectations were not met, life changes, or I got bored of it. Seemed like a better financial decision to go this route.

I am happy either way. Obviously if the value goes up and if time came to sell it I broke even I would be happy but if I lost some I will have been prepared for it and not surprised or disappointed either.

All that said, I would not sell my car for less than $26K today, so "gmonsen" may be right, the values may go up as exchanges like mine take place to the "higher" end examples. Is it a collectable like a Ferrari or Muscle car, no. Are Mazda's collectable, till this day not so much but I have seen a recent huge shift in the old skool Mazda's becoming more scarce and higher priced exchanges happening. I saw "My Classic Car" on speed review a Mazda for the first time last week, it was an RX3. So you never know what the future holds.

Like I said in my first reply, a car is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

Again, thanks to all for the posts/comments.

As well, a big thanks to trickshot who put me on contact with KDR and provided me with a wealth of information before my purchase. I prob would not have bought this car if it were not for him.

Best regards


Max

trickshot

It's very simple, isn't it? What would you say would have been the selling price of this car 3 years ago? $22,000? $25, 000? $26,000?

(If you say $18,000, no one is going to believe you.)

So, it's depreciating, isn't it?

Case still closed. :-)

DRTHVDR

iTrader: (7)

I guess that means you'll be selling the RX-4....Sigh....FIIIIINE, I'll take it off your hands, if I must.

trickshot

More evidence of a declining FD market.

trickshot

There's an old saying, "Money talks and sh-t walks." People say a lot of things about cars.....I've had offers too.......but until someone actually shows up and plunks down the money all you've got it talk.

People see asking prices, or hear talk of offers, and think they know the market.
What's interesting about you as a new owner is that you're open, honest, and detail oriented. We don't often get info about actual selling prices. The asking prices and other talk, because we see more of it, give a distorted view. Your actual buying price is much more solid info.

Not too long ago someone posted info from e-bay about several decent and even desirable 3rd Gens that did not meet their asking prices and went unsold. It was eye opening. This kind of hard info shows you what the market is actually like.
Gentlemen, it's a soft market. Some may not want to hear it, but they're going to have to live with it.

maxg765

Hello,

At this time I am hanging on to the RX4. They look cute together in my garage. 1st 13B ever and last 13B side by side. I am trying to get my wife to like it and use it on occasion but that does not seem realistic.

Thanks

Max

BillM

iTrader: (4)

I'll post it here again:
Ebay listings from the past year or so. Obviously this is no indication of what any of the winners actually paid or even if they did.

That said from my observations - a very low mileage car will always bring top dollar but if you buy it and then put mileage on it the price will drop from the 25K range to the 20K range. So IMO if you are not gonna mothball a low mileage car, dont expect it to keep its price. Better to get a good condition 30K mile car for 15-20,000 and drive it. If you keep it up the price would still remain in that range.

Number year model ext/int high bid mileage Advertised trans outcome date state comments
1 1995 R2 red/bk $22,100 10900 Modded engine manual RNM 10/5/2007
2 1994 PEP BL/TAN $18,700 24000 original manual RNM 10/21/2007
3 1994 PEP BL/BK $13,100 24400 original manual RNM 10/25/2007
4 1993 PEP sl/red $20,600 14000 original manual RNM 10/31/2007
5 1994 PEP bk/tan $24,000 17600 original manual S 11/18/2007
6 1993 BASE red/tan no bids 16000 original auto RNM 11/16/2007
7 1993 PEP bk/tan $19,351 15500 original manual S 12/2/2007
8 1994 PEP silver/black $19,500 34000 original manual S 12/21/2007 NJ
9 1995 PEP BL/BK $19,700 9000 original auto S 4/25/2008 CA
10 1994 PEP red/tan $20,100 15300 original manual RNM 4/25/2008 AL
11 1994 PEP BL/TAN $17,500 23900 original manual RNM 6/1/2008 NJ
12 1993 r1 red/bk $16,500 32300 original manual S 6/1/2008 MD
13 1993 PEP Silver/red $11,100 26900 original minor damage manual RNM 6/1/2008 AL
14 1993 PEP Silver/red $13,750 26900 original minor damage manual S 6/20/2008 AL Relisted from 13
15 1993 PEP silver/black $15,200 60000 riced manual S 6/27/2008 OH
16 1979 silver/red $8,000 19000 original manual S 6/27/2008 FL
17 1993 PEP red/tan $14,100 23000 original manual RNM 6/27/2008 CT
18 1991 convertible red/black $4,550 39600 original auto RNM 6/27/2008 CA
19 1987 sport blue/blue $4,050 23000 original manual RNM 6/28/2008 CT
20 1984 gsl-se white/red $6,000 47600 original manual S 7/2/2008 KS
21 1994 touring red/black no bids 41000 original auto RNM 7/3/2008 NY
22 1984 gs red/black $5,807 34200 original manual S 7/4/2008 CA
23 1988 turbo 2 black/ black $- 32000 original manual RNM 7/5/2008 PA 14,000 bin
24 1985 gsl black/red $4,900 53000 original manual S 7/6/2008 TX
25 1987 gxl red/black $5,900 23000 original manual S 7/14/2008 MI
26 1981 black/red $4,935 34000 original manual S 7/15/2008 DC
27 1994 R2 red/black $13,000 20000 original minor mods manual RNM 7/16/2008 Canada
28 1994 PEP montego/black $24,100 5051 original manual RNM 7/17/2008 NC 35,000 bin
29 1990 convertible white/black $5,300 48000 original auto RNM 7/18/2008 TX 6700 BIN