Cheap? Thrifty? It's more complicated than that. My original misty blue 83GS is only worth $1600, says AAA when I filed a claim after an oak branch fell on the frontend. So I took their $1600 payout (and the Salvage Title that goes with it), fixed the busted headlight and antenna and now I can get a quote for about $1600 from the best bodyshop I know around here to have the rest de-dented and color matched. I love this car and spent $3700 the last two years on 'deferred maintenance'. It'll soon be even prettier than before.

My 85GSL only cost me $1700 last year, and it's almost pristine. I put in a new clutch and I'll put in new Tokico Blues this year. I think that's cheap for such a nice car.

My red 83GS was FREE! My project is to do the cheapest restoration I can on the car. So far I spent about $300 and it runs and looks great inside and out, tho the paint needs to be rubbed out. Now all I hafta do is pass smog!

I got the last two cars cheap because their owners looked at Misty Blue and decided I'd give their vehicle a good home. I almost picked up a very nice white 85GSL last week using the same 'good home' swindle (heh heh heh) (so that I'd have red, white and blue 7s) but the guy wanted $1500 for a good car with 180k. Maybe I'll call him back: he already turned down offers from doubtful car homes.

B

 

Yes, it is more complicated. There's no formula for determining the value of these cars. Maybe there is for insurance companies, but to the drivers it's really more like the saying, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." That's why some people get 'em for free and others are willing to pay.

 

You may want to refer to the attached image RX7Carl.

 

 

i paid 3800 U.S. and consider it a bargin for my own pristine 81' gsl with 58000 miles original .you people pay 1000 and less are the same putting out post like "this dosen't work " or " i need a new this because mines broken or dosen't work" or my carpet is thrashed and my tach dosen't work ,im sittin on an eggcrate and ive got missing trim pieces and broken tail lights... but im savin to get a bridge port and twin apex'i ax75s on a 20b then i'll be be able to pick up strippers OH YEAH! then there are thoose who get a great car for nothing im not saying it dosen' t happen its just not common and that most cars that are 1000 or less are for a reson (usally many) and besides Fbs are underrated value wise there are many cars not near as fun or as unique as an Fb but go for much more and actually in the september 2000 issue of "automobile" magizine they feature it as a "collectible classic " which reads " A superb rx-7 should cost just $5000 to $7500; don't waste your time considering $1500 dogs that litter the classifieds."so really we are under rating them let alone thoose who know anything know that you get what you pay for . buying a cheaper rx is like buying jensen speakers(the crappiest ) over polks (the best) and it not an opinion its fact its like buying a kia over a mercedes and it disgust me you are the people who don't buy name brand food you buy like sams select soda over coke spend a little and taste the difference a few dollars can make and yes cheapskates is the correct terminology or maybe POOR is a better one ....

 

Rx7carl, what do think?
My son purchased a 1979 RX-7 (GS or GSL) for $500. Now he wants to spend $5,000 refurbishing it. Is it worth it? What is the value of a premium 1979? It looks like $5k might be too much to invest. The car has 149k miles on it, needs body work, headlight motor and other small misc. but it runs.

 

posting pics would really help us know more the condition of the car, if you have a digital camera that would be great, or try to find someone in this forume that's pretty good with rx-7 and live close to you to see it up front and personal

 

I paid $800 for my car. Does that make me a cheapskate? If so, then I'm proud of it. The greatest satisfaction I get from my car is when I have just fixed something, I crank her up, make sure everythings alright, and go for a cruise. I guess you won't have that feeling, though, will you? Because you wanted to spend the couple extra bucks [excuse me, couple extra thousand.] and not have to deal with all that stuff. That's all up to you.

And '$1500 dogs that litter the classifieds'? What the hell is that? A 1st gen RX-7 for $1500 to me should be in pretty good condition. What you don't understand is that not everyone on this board has the cash to just go out and buy a $5000-$7500 car. I'm not bashing those that do have the cash, and do spend it on a $7500 car, I'm just saying that you can't fault people [such as myself] for buying an rx-7 for under $1000.

P.S. Actually, I just read that last part after the cheapskates, and I hope you know that you're a ******* jackass. Just because I buy an $800 car doesn't make me poor. My family is upper-middle class, and I'd say we're pretty well off. Yea, we buy the "Sam's Select" soda over brand name sodas.

And what the hell is this about buying a Kia over a MERCEDES? Holy ****. Get your head out of your *** dude.

[edit] Just to be spiteful, brush up on your grammar/typing skills some. It's hell reading your posts.

 

and actually polks aren't the best speakers either...

 

I paid $4100 for my 2-owner 80GS with 64K miles (not including what it cost me to fly to SoCal and drive it back to Alaska). Worth every stinkin' penny!!
Stu Aull
80 GS
P.S. We will all **** on your grave if you don't post some nice pix of it once you buy it...

 

I paid $2500 canadian for my 83 gs and sold it for the same the next year when I found a "sweet" 84 SE, garage stored in winters, perfect interior and beutiful body with only 134,000 km (95,000 miles) for $3200 canadian. I am planning on installing a camden 7" running 5-7lbs boost in the spring (I can afford it). I'll bump up the boost with next winters engine rebuild. Instant boost is the way to go for me, lots of torque and greater engine life.

 

Here's what she looks like with the rims I found for $85 each. I stuck with the 14" since the tires were already new and the rims were such a deal. I also included a pic of my olds rx too. The guy I got it from was about 60 yrs old and babied it for the past 9 years. He had the drivers leather seat recovered last year for $700, perfect match and smooth as butter. The car already had a complete 1 year old racing beat header and exhaust as well. I change the **** and boot because the pins were broke off the old plate so the boot was loose and the **** was faded. I just dremelled many tiny holes and carefully stitched the leather boot down with the stitching concealed.

 

i am amazed that these "7's" are so cheap..I think that have that classic design and they are so sweet to look at ...why they do not catch on, I don;t know...I love'em. and I have those classic mustangs the othetr guy speaks of, but I bought them years ago...they have skyrocketed in price...hope the rx7 does too...who knows....cjf

 

just another comment...as for buying a inexpensive rx7 ( ie: 450.00) and throwing thousands at it fixing it up is not worth it...I think it best to but the best car you can, pay a little more for it and go that way..I would stay away from the rusted, body damaged cars unless you can do it all yourself...just my .02 cents worth...

 

I agree . As long as the body is straight and complete interior, who cares about the engine/tranny. it will be ported anyway.

 

My rant was more geared towards the low priced 7's that are in fair cosmetic condition, but have something else wrong with them such as a blown engine, bent suspension, etc. As long as there's no need for a complete teardown, rebuild, and restoration, then it's fair game in my book. Schwarzer ritter's post just pissed me off because of the 'if you're not rich, then you don't deserve to live' attitude he portrayed.

But eh, I'm over it now. He can keep his head up his *** for all I care. I'll be just as happy fixing my car than buying a new car that will eventually break, at which point I would have no clue how to repair it, and end up spending thousands on something that I could have done for MUCH MUCH less.

 

Everybody take a deep breath...

Different strokes for different folks.

 

amen...................cjf

 

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hello

 

my past car was a 300zx, it was my first car. I sold it and looking in the paper i found a 84 GS with only 44,000 miles a one owner car. The husban bought the car for his wife was what the wife told me but they have a son that i think drove it quite a bit. But what do you guys think i should be consinerd about with this car? any opions??

 

If you are looking for an investment - then get the 84-85 GSL-SE as they are the more sought after 1st gen Rx7's. I say get a fairly good looking one for under $1500 with a bad engine - then spend another $1500 on a rebuilt engine.