The 77 RX-3 SP..Part out? or sell it complete?
 

Here are a few pics of the SP that I purchased out of state. Its on the carrier now and will be here in the next few days. This is the car smurfy RX3 wants to buy the trunk lid from. I have not seen it in person yet, so its still kinda hard for me to decide..Part it out?? or sell it complete?? It obviously needs a serious restoration...yet its a real SP and its hard for me to just part it out since SP's are so damn hard to find.. Help me decide... Also, based on the pics what should I ask for it, if I decide to sell it complete??

More pics of the SP
 

More pics

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Few more pics
 

Here are 2 more pics.. As you can see previous owner left it outside for far too long....Honestly it is a shame that it sat so long exposed to the elements.. Previous owner had no clue how rare and hard these are to get these days..

It would make a good race car or a good parts car. They are not worth enough money to invest in a full resto and it is not clean enough to drive as is. Part it out or sell it IMO.

Allen

honestly!!!
 

RUN from this project. Im in the middle of a full resto and its pissing me of everyday I find something new to deal with.

First to fight rust you have to sand blast, then
you need all metal that rusted worked or find replace parts. I got lucky but the replacement parts still need work. Do you see were Im going with this. It will be an easy 7 grand making the shell right and a very long wait. I havent even started to add seals, then the motor restore.

race car is the way to go.

Just my 2 cent/

My car is a 69 Corrolla ke15 like CLUBMAN.

Restoring the car, in my opinion, depends on how much you love that car. This one though seems to have alot of rust and would postively need a full restoration from the ground up. Years of work to say the least. If it were me, I would find a another RX3 and use it for a parts car.

Well, if you have time, I highly recommend keeping it. I have restored many old RX and that SP doesnt look that bad. My typical restoration process include removal of almost everything except for dash and some engine harness to expose rusted surface and such. Pay a little bit more for a complete body work. As I mentioned, keep it if you have the time and patience as once its done, its very satisfying. OWNING AN OLD SCHOOL RX IS AN ADDICTION. I just bought another one. :)

You should retore the car or sell it whole to someone who will. These cars are too rare to part out anymore. Restorations either cost alot or a WHOLE lot. This is not a hobby for the faint of heart. Restorations are rarely good investments anyhow, but not everthing has to make financial sense.

The Sp
 

This exactly how I feel about it.. Earlier I was 100% sure I would part it out...but then I started to feel bad as it (based on the pics I have of it) does not look as bad as the previous owner spoke to me on the phone about it..

There are not many SP's left and it really makes no sense to destroy this car... This being said I am seriously considering selling it complete to someone who wants to restore it. It only has 68,000 miles believe or not...

I know that i PM'd you about the parts, I honestly never considered that the car might be available. I could be interested but before I would actually go for it, I would need much more information. This is what I would like to know, #1 build date and last 4 digits of the vin number, also what options does this car have, I know that it is a manual tranny, has the stripe and spoiler package, actually has the wrong ft bumper but that is ok. does it have AC?, how about the orig radio, orig keys. I know the seats have covers how about the rest of the interior. I would also like to get pictures of the floor boards in the pass compartment and the batterbox area/ frame rail in the engine compartment. these are the areas I am concerned with. Thanks for the info and help Dave

Only thing I can answer for sure now is the last 4 of the Vin. All of the other stuff will have to wait until I actually get the car. DUE to arrive here in Los Angeles Dec 2nd.
Last four of the vin 2418

definetly dont part it out if its genuine.

someone will see the value in it and resto her to her former glory

I believe you can get fiberglass fenders for this car. There was someone in NY/New Jersey making them. Australia has them of course. If the body rust is fixable, I'd keep it. These cars are getting harder to find. I've seen them on eBay that weren't SP's, hadn't run for more than a decade and had rust through in the trunk and/or fenders and still got $2k with trashed interiors. I'd sell it to someone out of state though, it's not smog exempt in Cali. It's a bitch getting a carborated car through smog. Or transfer an FI engine and all the smog equipment and go through the engine swap inspection process.

oh my god, I'm restoring a car that's at least 100 times worse than that. And it's not even an SP, it's just a regular plain jane AUTOMATIC rx3.

Vin #1 for the 77 Rx3sp was 1903 so this was right at #500, the date should be 11/76 and the first 78 was 3776 in 8/77 so in theory there were only 1873 made to begin with If you figure that a little over half of them were either wrecked on the street or the track or scrapped then there are only 900 or so left from 77, but if we start talking about 78s it gets even worse.

Mazda only made them for 3 months 8-10/77 now mazda did not say what the last serial # was so i can't say for certain how many were made, but here is the speculation and how I got there.

Mazda gives the production number for Rx3s Made in 1977 (not model year but made in 77) as 1606 for 1/77 the serial number was 3164 to start the last month of production 10/77 it was 4459 (for a total of 1395) yes I know there is still a difference of 211, follow with me guys.... 8/77 #3776, 9/77 #4254, 10/77 #4459.... so in 10/77 they probably made 200 but no more than 500 given this information (esp mazda 77 total production numbers) I am guessing that only 900 78s were made...... but def not more than 1200 and of this I am guessing less than 500 left now

Ok now that is all the bad news since we all obviously love the rotary and hold a special place for the Rx3s....... Worldwide total production of the Rx3 for all models (coupe, sedan and wagon) 1971-77 was 285,887 this total production number has only been surpassed by the Rx7 which through 2002 had a total of slightly over 800,000 units


Obviously I have nothing better to do with my time than developing conspiracy theories i will now go back inside and take the aluminum foil off my head.

I think its worst than that.....I am willing to bet a large sum of cash that there are less than 300 total 1977-1978 RX-3 SP's left in the USA... probally even alot less than that too...

Just try looking for one...

In a way I like your thinking (only 300 left) makes mine even rarer but it also makes a shame that we couldn't save more of them.

I personlly know of 15 that have been scrapped (although not by me).

I would agree that a smaller number is more likely i was just trying to be as optimistic as possible

well....... there's like 6 in the wrecking crew / wacky family already. that's excluding the rx2s and rx4s

why arent there any of these in or near ohio? i want your SP. i would restore that thing, graphics and all if it were mine. i love the last oil filter change in 1991!!!!!!!!!! does the car run? seriously if i were closer i would be at your house with cash. nice car though.

Part it out or sell it to a good home if possible. I'm almost sure someone would be happy to make a project out of it.

As for SP's being rare... well RX-3's are rare so obviously SP's are desirable. Honestly though the RX-3 wagon is probably way more scarce nowdays. Even the RX-4's, RX-2's and any old Mazda rotary car with more than 2 doors are more rare. What about R100's? I would love a RX-3 coupe but there are probably more of them left in the States than any of the other models.

Either way, R100, RX2, RX3, Rx4, All very rare...

you better save that beauty!!!
 

ill just got my 73 rx3 beautyfull condition.i been looking since 1994 for a clean rx3 .finally found one,no bondo,no dings, just a beauty.so let maybe some body take care of it ,thats my opinion.

Although I need my trunk lid... I've got to admit I would hate to see another RX3 torn to pieces. That being said I also recognize that sometimes pics often hide the extent of rust damage on a car. My advice would be to wait until you have the car in front of you so you can physically see how bad the (structural) rust really is (frame rails, strut towers, etc)... then make a realistic, educated decision.

I agree across the board on all of these. You were talking about how rare Rx3s with more than 2 doors are (fchoncho) I can count on one hand the number of Rx3 sedans I have ever seen (in the US) and have fingers left over. I personally have 2 wagons, 1 sedan and a nearly complete collection of coupes 7 in all (no they are not great and in need of resto)

Still looking for a 72 coupe and a 77 Sp (that isn't a racecar, i have a racecar already)

The way I have seen it many of the wagons i have know about donated lots of parts to their 2 door brothers.