I originally planned to buy 1, drive it a little, let it appreciate and sell it for a profit but all I wanna do now is drive the hell out of the car. So it will be with me along with 2 or 3 other FDs hopefully.

 

I've had my FD almost 3 years already. It's only been driven about 500 miles since then, and has been a royal pain in the ***, but I still love her. In 10 years, I'll hope to have completely restored the interior, gotten her painted a better color, and stuffed a better engine in her. 500rwhp on pump gas shouldn't be too difficult it's the time and $ that's holding me up right now.

There's no way I'm getting rid of the FD though. Might sell the C5 down the road, but it would get replaced with a ZR1(ha like that'll happen anytime soon). But the FD is the sexiest car on the planet as far as I'm concerned.

 

in ten years my fd will be in a ditch and i will be dead beause i did something stupid....

 

In ten years time they will more than likely be illegal in the UK cause of how much the pollute & their fuel comsumption. Their look is timeless...Most people think its new when they first see it. I hopefully will still have my moneypit.

 

That's a very good point. It won't surprise me to see the U.S. follow a similiar pattern now that Obama and his crowd are in office. Expect to see more restrictions on, and regulation of, automobiles and some punative taxation too.

It's unlikely many owners will still have their same car a decade from now.

How do I know?

From looking at the ownership patterns of other cars. When you look at the registries of other marques, or the owners listed in the sale records of collector cars, it's suprising how often they change hands. And these are collector cars. The 3rd generation RX-7 is far from obtaining collector status. So far, it's just another used car.

I know of one original owner of a 289 Cobra. I met him once at Lime Rock. And the Cobra was a legend in its own time. I'm sure there must be a few more original Cobra owners, but not many...a literal handfull. Sorry, but our FD's don't carry the same rep either new or now that a Cobra did from day one. So, if Cobras and other classics change hands over time, FD's will as well. That is, if enough survive. Reading this Forum over time, the crash, and or, burn rate seems rather high.

I had researched the history of one exotic car I owned. It occurred to me I wasn't really an "owner." The car was like a work of art, and I was a "custodian." That is,
the car would go on beyond my ownership and I was just part of a chain.

I'm the original owner of a '95, so I look at most other posters here as short-termers. And it surprises even me that I've kept it this long. Like many things in life, it's always subject to change.

 

I plan on owning it until Someone Crashes into me or I crash it.... once the frame is done / fubar, it's over... but that doesn't mean I wouldn't own another... it's already happened once... although age is supposed to make you wiser, it did make me more careful, and I know these cars are money pits, but I'll probably switch if I get into another crash...

But so far I've been an FD owner since 2002, so seven years already.... damn ! how time flies !

 

shell will be rusting in the junkyard!

 

I've had mine since 1995 (it's a '93) ... not sure about 10 years from now , it keeps getting faster and more fun !!

 

will engine parts like rotors and housings even be available?

how about in 20 years?

If possible, I will retire with a phat RV bus that has a race trailer for my race/track FD and I can just drive around the country tracking my car

 

I think the next decade the appeal for the FD will dwindle and later grow like crazy

This is my take on the FD purchase history:

1993-2004:
Badass car original/second/third owners getting older having other responsabilities sell it off.

2004-2012:
Kids who grew up wetting their pants for an FD can actually buy one (but not afford one) get them. I expect this trend to last another 2-3 years with the new broke *** kids who bought them end up selling them due to financial strain.

2012-2018:
As our FD's get even older the newest generation won't care for them as much and the FD will be be in cool car limbo. Think mid to late 80's and a 1969 camaro (insert GTO, charger whatever muscle car). Cool car but for the majority it wasn't hotness

2018 and beyond:
The FD will be like just like most muscle cars of the late 60's early 70's, by the mid 90's to today they are pure porno! (as FDSeoul would say lol)


That's my prediction for the FD and it's collectible status. I think it will comparable to what muscle cars are now.

 

Definitely... The FD simply doesn't carry the racing heritage or limited production numbers of the most collectible cars. Keep in mind, while they stopped shipping them to the US in 1995, Mazda continued to build tens of thousands of FDs up until 2002. However, I do think that, in time, FDs will become a prized item of sorts, but I imagine it will be models like the Spirit R that will be the most highly sought after and valued.

 

I sorta agree montego but not really.

As the innovation of cars happen in a decade, technology triples in that time.

Look at cars from the 80s and cars of today.

Cars @ 2020 will make cars of the 90s look like cars of the 50s to us now.

I think all the FD will have in a 10-15 years is good looks, THATS IT IMHO.

Cause the powerplant will be like LOL to people @ 2020 with the super advanced automotive technology.

lol idk thats how i see it.

 

Interesting topic. Heh heh.

 

I'll drive it until it fails and then I'll get a GT-R

 

My thoughts exactly, my car's days are already numbered. When I graduate I'm going MR(read NSX/Elise) and I wont look back. The FD makes that part easy...

 

I hope to be done with my rebuild by then....

 

I'll probably be rebuilding the motor.

Seriously though ill be getting older and and so will the car, i've had mine since I was 17 so i guess we'll be growing old together.

Who knows maybe Mazda will start reproducing chassis and engines like Ford did with the 60's era Mustangs...

 

The E-Type isn't the proper analog. The 240Z, as you later suggest, is. And we're not seeing real collector price appreciation there. And when is this takeoff for the FD gonna happen? Some posters keep predicting it, but it's been more than 15 years now for most of these cars and they're worth less than they were 3 or 5 years ago. It's getting to sound like the promised second coming of Jesus. Always promised, but it never arrives.

 

if my car is not in my garage with everything i ever wanted on it in ten years, its because i got an mk4 supra

 

Yes, prized, but not collectible (in the generally accepted meaning of that term in the collector car world.)

If you read something such as Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car magazine you can get a feel for how these things go. There are cars, such as say a Triumph TR6, and MGC, some Alfa roadsters that people treasure. They may even do full restorations on them. But they're not worth a whole heck of a lot, especially when you adjust the price for inflation.

Then there are other cars, Shelby Mustangs, some of the European brands, etc. that you can take one that's been completely trashed, pay the cost of a restoration, and still make money on the sale, or break close to even.
Taking a trashed FD and restoring it to showroom condition is a recipe for a financial reaming.

 

I wasn't trying to make a direct comparison between the Cobra and the FD.

My point was this: When the Cobra was new it was generally acknowledged to be exceptional and highly desirable. In the performance doldrums of the '70s people thought we'd never seen such high performance again. Still, these cars changed hands rather frequently. Relatively few original owners were left.

So, when this thread poses the question of how many will still own their FD's 10 years from now? I say if people didn't hold on to their Cobras it's likely we'll see FD's continue to go through numerous owners.

In fact, a question that interests me is what is the median number of owners for these cars? From reading this Forum, I'd guess it's at least 3. Could be even higher, for all I know. Original owners has to be a relatively small group. Even the number of 2 owner cars is probably on the rare side.

 

hopefully my car will be gone this year.


uhhh..... i firmly believe i will sell it.

what? well if blasting through corners in a 4 door sedan constitutes a driving style change then yes.

obviously it will become rare. they're more ending up in junkyards than being built.

no its not going to be worth more.

 

^ lol... you sound as if you were offended by the questions

 

As the parts become more rare, I think people will definitely be going LSX. I know I definitely plan to get another 7 and do that now in the near future.

 

I totally agree. I was around when Mopar was king in my neighborhood.
Cudas, Road Runners,Chargers, Prestine examples go for 100k and more in a booming economy.

The kids playing video games now with this car will be 30 or 40 in 10-15 years with the money to pay big. If the economy allows.
But like it was said before, The Obama crowd could spoil this prediction.