The Future Classics Car Show takes place this Sunday, hosted by ClassicCars.com, so I thought the Pick for the Day should be an up-and-coming classic sports car, and a fantastic example in amazing condition that costs less than a used Rolex watch.
The car in question is a 1981 Mazda RX-7 sports coupe offered by a private seller in dry Tucson, Arizona. The pictures in the ad are decent but the description is nothing less than perfect.
This is a true one-owner RX-7 finished in its original Maya Gold Metallic paint and original brown vinyl and velour interior. This car has every record since new, right down to its original window sticker and invoice, according to ad on ClassicCars.com.
“I am the only owner of this car,” the seller says in the ad. “I have all of the original receipts for the purchase of the car and all of the parts and repairs, owner’s manuals, and even the original dealer brochure that are organized in a notebook.
“Everything is original; the paint, seats, carpets, headliner, etc. The car has never been left in the open without a cover, not even for 1 hour! In fact, the car is even covered in the garage! No rust, no dents, dings, etc. It is completely dingless.”
The seller says it “took a lot of time and effort to keep the car scratch and ding free all these years.” I believe it from the pictures of this clean time capsule of a car.
While the Mazda has more than 150,000 miles on its odometer, it shows the extremely high level of maintenance and care that has gone into it. The engine was completely gone through, the seller notes, when there were 149,373 miles on the car, with that and previous work done by a Mazda-rotary-only specialist garage in Tucson called RX for Your 7.
The car is said to start and run well with no issues whatsoever. Every system on the car works as it should and the car needs absolutely nothing, according to the ad.
When launched, the RX-7 sport coupe was such an amazing car that there were year-long waiting lists to get one, and people paid thousands over the invoice to move ahead on the waiting list.
The high demand was simply because you could not get more sports car for less money; when tested against cars such as the Porsche 924, Datsun 280ZX and Alfa Romeo GTV 6, all of which cost more, the Mazda consistently came out ahead.
Survivor RX-7s such as this are incredibly hard to find, when you consider that most people drove the wheels off these cars back in their day.
The asking price of this RX-7 is only $5,000, and being in Tucson, it would be a perfect car to buy this week and drive to show in the Future Classics Car Show in Scottsdale, Arizona, on Sunday, January 13. This stunning survivor could win a class award.
To view this listing on ClassicCars.com, see Pick of the Day.
This is a car that I would be really interested in if I had the spare $5k that I wasn’t doing anything else with. I always really liked these cars and this one is in exceptional condition. The rotary engine would present some learning opportunities for me as I’ve never had the chance to work on one before. The first-gen RX7 is such an entertaining car!
Yes, the car may look the part and may be cheap. What won’t be cheap is the bills to keep it running. These things were and are nothing more than a novelty which wears off quickly once you own one. The rotary engine was a great idea with a poor execution……
Outstanding info.
How bad is CA emission control on this?