Greetings all:

Back in 1985, I bought a new 1985 RX7 GSL-SE. It has about 270 K kms and has never been winter-driven. 2 years ago, I had it repainted.

I was a little disappointed in the apparent resale prices of other 1985 RX7s.

My question is basically this: Does anybody out there have any reason to believe that it might be worth hanging on to such a car (e.g. storing it) in the hopes that in maybe 10 more years, it might go way up in value?

Obviously cars depreciate in value from the purchase time onward. But at a certain point, I can imagine that the "rarity" and the "vintage nature" of an older sports car might cause its value to actually begin to increase.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Well its hard to say. Theres enough around that there not very rare, but maybe over time it will become a sought after car.

Personally I know if I saw a mint GSL-SE in 10-15 years from now id be all over it. But at the same time you can't plan on restoring it planning to make money off it, it never works that way. If you love the car, build it and baby it don't look back and never plan to sell it!

 

Well to tell you the truth, if you did hold on to it and in ten years from now you had two people looking at it they both would think it was worth two different values. You might get the lower offer and take it or you might get a higher offer and be happy. The problem is it is only worth what someone will pay! My gsl-se is almost restored completly. Once it is done I say I will have about 7k total in it and that includes buying it. So if you want more than 5k I would say hold on to it and maybe you will come across that person willing to pay that price.

 

I say hold on to the car,and in the future the values will go up,but who knows for sure how high they will get.There is no dollar value you can put on the fun you can have with a car like these,and you will kick yourself if you sell it.I think the value of these cars will go up in the next 10 years,but the problem is Mazda made,and sold a tn of these cars,so they are not very rare.You fortunatly have a special model,therefore it will appreciate better than say an S model.I personally like the older models,but I realize your 85 Se will be more valuable to most than my 79 GS.

Chris

P.S. Is your forum name refrence to the Montreal Expos?If so I am a huge fan as well,and I miss them very much.

 

My name is indeed a reference to the Expos. I probably have gone to at least 100 games since the early 70's. Thanks for the response to my question.

Thanks to all other respondents as well.....

 

While 1st Gens are plentiful out there they will not become truly valuable, once the rusted out hulks start vanishing and the clean bodied cars are all that survive, then the rarer cars will gain in value as there is a very strong following for the cars, note the Rx3 now.

GSL-SE are a desirable model but again are still out there in big numbers, I'd say we're 20 years away from 1st Gens becoming recognised as collectable and valuable, IMHO

 

yep i agree with that too. if you wanna know how this is going to shake out, i'd look at the mgb market, the rare,and or original cars are worth a lot. the decent clean cars are reasonably priced. the neat thing is that theres a place for the concours cars, and the modded street cars.

 

From what I hear in Canada these cars are worth a bit of a premium. I would hold on to it for a few more years, and enjoy it while it lasts. Then if you absolutly want to sell it.

On autotrader I have seen mint condition GSL-SE go for more then 7 grand CND.

 

You should keep the car because you like it and want to drive it. The cars are going up in price but I doubt they will ever go up enough to make it a real investment. Even if the car doubles in value in 5 years, will you be able to get something as good for what you sell it for? The great thing about classic cars is that you can get something very cool for a fraction of the cost of a newer car. In a few years the new car has lost half of it's value and the classic has gained. You can't beat that.

 

The original Z car represented a whole new class of cars available to the US public. Prior to the Z there were American muscle and pony cars, big family cars, and cheap economy cars. There were also the Fiat X/19, Porsche 914, MGs, Alpha Romeos, and other cars of their ilk, but they were so poorly made, underpowered, and required so many repairs that I think the Japanese represent a whole new level of car.

As a new class of cars, I would think that they will have more value in the future than any other non-American cars of that time. That's the Z. Was there any car between the Z and the 7 that also fit this catagory? What other car won as many races as the 7?

Also remember, that cars do not obtain collector status only because they were high or low production, or because they performed well in any category. Mostly, I think, they become collectors because all the guys who drooled over them when they were pimple faced and didn't have but a dime in their pockets grow up to become doctors and lawyers and other high paid people who can then indulge themselves by getting their "dream car."

I think that time will be good to those 7s that are still in good shape when they are 30 years old.

 

The racing success of the 7 was limited. The GTU class was not really supported by manufacturers, so there was little seious competion in the years Mazda was significantly active. The real publicity was going to the V8s classes.

Thus, at the time the 7 was winning its class races, it was loosing the marketing battle and sales declined.

 

i just got the may 78 road and track, they've got a nice spread on the rx7, and then the next page is an article about the oldsmobile 98 diesel, and how quiet it was.....

or even the cars the rx7 was compared to are just gone, how collectable is a 79 celica?

 

I know this thread is over 5 years old, but thanks for the advice - it really helps.

As per another thread I just started, I still have the car and am thinking about what I should do with it.

Thanks again, everyone.

 

Cars are like kids, any way you look at it they're a net financial drain. The real question is whether they're worth it or not.

A mint or specially loved SE could be like a kid you wish would never leave home.

Then again you might be happy to see it head down the driveway.

Ask yourself: Am I (still) having fun with this car?

If yes, keep it.

If no, sell it to me.

 

That's cool that you still have the car you bought in '85! Ray is right, cars are a financial drain like kids. The only difference is that cars are actually worth something

I would hold on to it. It's a legacy if you've had it that long. It may be worth more to you than what someone would give you for it. If you do decide to sell it, sell it on a national site like eBay rather than locally. A collector looking for a one owner car will give a lot more than some idiot just looking for "one of them wankel cars."

 

Heck the car may be worth more to your family then you realize, sentimentally speaking you've had it all these your's.

 

When I got my 83' GS a smidge over a year ago I made the immediate realization that there was a chance it may never appreciate in value like my dad's 68' el Camino has however I love older imports and the little 7 just called me and I haven't looked back once through all the work and frustration I STILL enjoy it and never intend to part with it. I didn't go in expecting to make a profit later on but, just to enjoy rebuilding and modding a cool oldschool car and a rotary to boot. I say do what tickles your fancy with it be restore, mod , or a combo of both and enjoy it.

 

Expos4ever, I hope you've been a good patriotic Canuck and been reading our own forum board where I posted this:

https://www.rx7club.com/canadian-forum-42/1984-gslse-tops-bids-ebay-961570/


A low mileage, truly mint and unmolested car will always fetch a premium, just surprising that a 1984 GSLSE went for over $16,000 already!!!!



Jim

 

actually since this was posted our local concours has gone from ONE nissan Z car, to a whole ROW of them. if the Z is worth the expense to restore to 100% showroom original, there is hope that the Rx7 will be too.

 

i could honestly see sa's and fbs increasing in value pretty well in like 10yrs, seeing as they were the beginning of a true rotary sports car.

 

The 1st gens are similiar to the MGs and MGBs of the 60s. There have been so many
produced that they will never be that rare and so they will probably never escalate
in price the way some 60s muscle cars have or what not. They are appreciating
slowly and I would expect them to top out around 10 or 15K in the future (10 - 20
years) if you can still get gas and such. Right now a nice GSL-SE like the OP would
fetch easily 5-6K and as someone pointed out even 16K although, that to me
would be a very unusual sale.

If you like the car keep it, otherwise sell it to someone that values it. Letting it
sit in storage and not driving it will make it be worth less, not more, to anyone
interested in it.

 

BUMP DUE TO TIME RELIVENCE!!! OP said in 10 years... welp, it's here and YES the prices have gone up.

I bought my '85 GS for $1100 back in '13 and my gf's '79 LE (beat black) for $400 in '14 !!!

now a days... late 2016, first gens are going for 2k needing work! $3500-6k running well and clean! good and bad... as ive been buying parts cars over the years from people yards for a couple hundred bucks and occationally i'll get the crazy who said well it ran when parked 20 years ago and I want 3k for it,,, which WAS crazy in 2013/2014 lol but now those SOB's are getting more realistic to what they might actually be worth in the next year or two.

hang on to your first gens! prices are still on the rise!

 

Unlike some of the cars compared in this thread (MGs), many many 1st gen rx7s have been drastically modified (many in ways that have quickly become dated). Thousands of 1st gens were sold in Australia but standard looking ones have become quite rare and series 3s are regularly selling for AUD15,000. Thats around USD11,500. Low km or restored factory examples are going for more. Not the same crazy prices as rx2s and rx3s but definitely increasing in value.

US is obviously a bit different since most 1st gens were sold there.

 

one word>>> spec7

Also, the rotary won the 24 hour Le Mans Grand PRix 1991. No not the LeMons, but the French one, the one that Henry Ford spent millions or billions to win. Rotaries were banned since.

And that peeling decal on the quarter window says it was SCCA champion multiple years.

Back to the here and now, yesterday two people complimented my 33 y o rx-7, and my neighbor bitched about his buick. When I was in NJ, after barely passing the emissions test, the technician told me there is no way it will pass next year and to start saving for another car. So I decided to stop all maintenance excpt for keeping the fluid topped. Rented a car for an out of town/state training symposium. I think it was a Chrysler or GM POS. When I got back home to the seven, I then decided to double down on auto maintenance.

 

I think there are two main things keeping values of first generation RX-7s down: 1) high production numbers ~500,000 and 2) people are scared off by the rotary. The average person is almost always of the opinion that rotaries are unreliable and thus should be avoided.

My daily driver (I have a different car for the odd snow days) is a very clean, original (minus some suspension modifications that I could return to stock in a weekend if I ever choose to sell the car) 83' GS. I drive the car because it's fun to drive and I love the uniqueness of the rotary. If it ceased being fun I would sell it and get something different. I just don't see it being worth much in the future. And I'm okay with that. There are very few vintage cars that I could purchase for cheap and drive on a regular basis, expecting them to be reliable.

People commonly use the 240Z as an example, but there were also considerably less 240Zs produced. I think a better comparison is the NA Miata, which has similarly high production numbers to the RX-7.

I rarely see rotary cars on the road, much less RX-7s. I like driving an interesting part of history, and enjoy the unique driving characteristics of the rotary. I get comments and compliments on my car on a weekly basis. I get a lot of enjoyment out of driving my car in a sea of boring, uninteresting modern cars. I can't think of anything currently on the market as interesting as my RX-7.