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Looks nice... somebody is going to luck out.

 

Beauty, but you can import a 99 for 15-20K all day Canadian. So wondering where their price is coming from.

 

Seems arbitrary... it was listed in the evo magazine email, so perhaps they are hoping for an international buyer.

 

The plus(es) over an fresh import from Japan is:


- Its here and registered.
- Provinence of motor is known. Fresh local rebuild by top rotor shop (ForceFed).

 

Yes looking for an international buyer. Plus(es) over fresh import:


1. Here and registered
2. Provenance of motor is known. Fresh rebuild by known local shop (ForceFed).

 

I've only seen about 5-6 99 or newer FD in Western Canada over the last 18 months. Do you see more coming in? 2002 are eligible this year, I suppose.

 

Classic Mazda RX-7 cars for sale | Classic and Performance Car


The above is the new link to the add.

 

Looking at one database it seems about 20 RX7 (mostly FD) come up for auction in Japan each week. There are several 1999 RB coming up this week and one Spirit R.


According to the site two 1999 RB sold just before Christmas:


1. 1999 RBSE Pearl(FR) 68,000 km Grade 4 Yen 1,175,000 (US 10,040)
2. 1999 RBSE White (FR) 89,000 km Grade RL Yen 1,055,00 (US $ 9000).


So roughly C$13,000 before export and other costs.


I suppose those prices are "Compound Gate".


What are the costs to get to "landed in Vancouver". One site seemed to indicate about $1500. But I have heard of people paying brokers up to $6000 extra (perhaps including remediation work for V.I. and or registration)


1999 RB earlier in December were selling around Yen 750,000.


Interesting to see how this weeks auctions will go.

 

So you might build a cost estimate as follows:


Auction Cost: C$13,000
Shipping to Vancouver: $1500
Remediation, etc. for V.I. and Registration $1500


Cost to Home:C$16,000


But at this point you really don't know the reliability of the motor. Budget another $10,000 to r and r the motor sometime in the next three years.


So price to get to a reliable 1999 FD clear title in Canada with a 60~100,000 Km expected life: $26,000.


I invite other persons opinions/insight on this matter.

 

I don't know a lot about most of this stuff, but I think 10k for a rebuild is a bit on the high side. Of course, a number of things could happen. But if you are looking at just doing a straight-forward rebuild, 10K seems a bit high.

 

Nice but for that price I rather have a good old LHD one here. But that's just me

 

...Not just you, me too ;-)

 

Local car traded in at dealer recently here in Vancouver. Enquiry by someone here heard asking is C$30,000.

 

Interesting to hear the range of views on this. You can get a quote of a rebuild at about $5000 locally, but when you get into the thick of it, costs mount quickly, and don't forget sales tax if you go mainstream. Seal kit and replacement gaskets for turbo set up amount to over $3500 alone if you go to Mazda Canada for OEM. You can cut corners, but the comparable here is a result that you can trust to go another 60-100,000 km.

 

I did one just about 2 years ago and there was no cutting corners, plus Power FC, porting, tune, replacing a bad iron and some other things I can't think of now and we did not get to 10K.

Hard to compare these cars, most of them have been modified so much and have such a varying range of chassis and engine/tranny kms that value is a bit deceptive.

I have recently looked at the value and a car in concours condition is worth 25k.

They seem to trade around 18-20. We are talking about LHD cars though.

Personally I would not purchase a RHD. I'm probably older than most in here and maybe that's my old man talk, but I just can't get over the fact that the car is designed to be on RHD roads and it is not as safe to drive it on LHD roads.

I am pretty sure that reselling the RHD car would be much more difficult. I would say that nobody over 30 (and maybe even younger) would go and buy one.
Of course, I don't expect people to agree with my opinions.

 

I am almost 32 and have driven both. I have and will keep my LHD, however in Canada a clean 99 spec will cost approximately the same as a similar LHD.

problem is most RHD's (not all) are beat and highly modified either in Japan to start with or done here as the 92-98's were available at a much lower price point.

92-98 - $10,000 to $15,000 CAD
99-02 - difficult to import clean unit for less than $15,000 CAD

LHD start at 15,000 CAD up to $40,000

 

RHD is fine, as long you don't mind being in a cold sweat every time you drive.


I'm 61 and have more issue with the speed things come at me on full boost than drifting into opposing traffic.


LHD or RHD, the point is it is FD, and we are lucky to be in that club regardless.

 

I would agree that a clean 99 spec FD is costly to import. The prices will only continue to go up with the demand being greater than the supply. It took me quite awhile to find mine.

I would also agree that purchasing a RHD from auction is a huge gamble. I've bought a few and compression tested them afterwards only to find out how bad the motors were in comparison to the mileage and condition. Appearances can be very deceiving.

 

Extra $ for the Innocent Blue Mica for sure!

 

The following was posted in another thread discussing JDM imports.


Agreed with all your assessments. A little back ground about myself. I am a huge car guy currently in my early 30s and doing pretty well financially. My other cars are a cayman GT4 and a vintage 1971 BMW 2002. I am a huge sucker for a good driver's car. I picked up an FD RX7 recently because of all the attributes you mentioned and hoping to build it into a track weapon. Rotary reliability doesn't bother me because #1 I've done extensive research on the engine and #2 I don't cheap out on maintenance. I feel like I am not the only one out there. There are many 90s Japanese sports car fans that are in my situation are starting do well financially. They will start looking into purchasing an FD as NSX and Supras are too overpriced for what they offer. FD RX7 is offers the best bang for the buck (looks, power, handling) when it comes to 90s japanese sports car. I can only see the value of FD's going up. I consider these 90s japanese cars the 60-70s muscle cars of our generation. Oh and I could careless about RHD RX7 unless it's an RZ or Spirit R so I doubt they will have too much effect on the value of a nice LHD FD RX7.
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He concludes by saying he does not see RHD affecting LHD pricing. Good! But his other points also support a modicum of demand for RHD. These sentiments have also been reported in Keith Marten's Sports Car Market magazine and others.

 

December 2016 1992 FD3S Auction results in Japan.


12-1-16 Osaka Red Fr Type R 130,000 km Rated RA Yen 1,328,000 US$11,460
12-3-16 Kobe Red Type R 83,000 km Rated 3.5 Y 900,000 US$7,770
12-3-16 Kobe Black Type R 147,000 km Rated R Y435,000 US$3750
12-14-16 Sapporo Blue Mica FR 22,000km Rated 3.5 Y875,000 US$ 7730
12-21-16 Silver Type R 70,000 km Rating 3.5 Y1,217,000 US$10,500
12-28-16 Orange Type R 89,000 km Rating R Y600,000 US$ 5180

 

Spirit R with 148,000km graded 4 sold at auction in Tokyo last night for about US$10,800. Hope it ends up here (Canada).

 

1999 - 2003 Bathurst seem to be attracting the highest bids. Maybe they are considered more rare or the equipment package is desirable? Some seem to have been held for speculative purposes from day one. Hence we see 2003 models, which I believed is a result of the Japanese practise of assigning a year by date of purchase registration rather than production date.


Examples of Recent Bathurst Auction Prices in Japan


11-3-16 2003 Bathurst White FC 18,000 km Grade 4.5 Y3,350,000 USD28,920
12-21-16 2002 Bathurst White 47,000 km Grade 3.5 Y2,310,000 USD19,940
12-22-16 2002 Bathurst Black FC 123,000 km Grade 3.5 Y1,160,000 USD 10,000
12-22-16 2001 RZ Pearl 38,000 km Grade R Y1,710,000 USD14,700
1-6-17 2002 Bathurst Black FR 103,000 km Grade 3.5 Y1,075,000 USD$10,410
1-6-17 (year?) Bathhurst White FR 41,000 km Grade 4 Y2,315,00 USD 21,720


Note the high km cars are selling for US$10,000 less. Roughly the equivalent of a new crate motor from Japan CIF USA.


The 18,000 km car was a single owner and registered maybe May 2003. Likely it was made about March 2002 (VIN FD3S 605899).

 

This 2003 Type R Bathurst is up for auction tomorrow in Japan. 52,000 km Rated R. Based on the above, what's your guess? The low price for the Spirit R today may cause concern. But the Spirit R was partially molested and had 148,000 km. Add $10,000 to its sale price for a new motor and I'd get USD21,000 for this very clean single owner Bathurst.