At $10,000, Could This 1984 Mazda RX-7 Get You To Join The Rotary Club?
Today’s Nice Price or No Dice RX-7 is a time warp both in condition and in the fact that it has a Wankel rotary engine nestled behind its pointy prow. Let’s see if its price is equally old-school.
The Mazda MX-30 Is No More (In The U.S.)
I remember from my misspent youth, commercials for Imperial Margarine that showed people taking a bite out of a slice of bread slathered with the vegetable spread, suddenly sporting fancy crowns. This was alway accompanied by a “bum-bum-bum-buhhh” orchestral fanfare. Sadly, the same effect wasn’t used in the ad for the 1983 Chrysler Imperial we looked at yesterday. Such a missed opportunity. Another miss was the car’s $9,500 asking price. As nice as the old cruiser appeared to be, few of you would be willing to pay that much, giving the Imperial a 74 percent No Dice loss.
Today’s 1984 Mazda RX-7 GSL-SE is a year newer, much smaller, and five hundred bucks more costly than yesterday’s Imperial. It also trades the Chrysler’s big, loping V8 for a diminutive, high-revving Wankel rotary as was Mazda’s custom at the time.
This was Mazda’s later take on the first-generation RX-7. The changes were limited to revised facias and lights at both ends and a spruced-up cabin in the middle. This one being the GSL-SE model means it has a number of mechanical updates over the lesser models, including fuel injection for its 1.3-liter two-rotor Wankel engine, a standard five-speed manual, and disc brakes all around. Stiffer springs and revised shocks also served to improve the RX-7’s handling, although it remained a live-axle car.
The 133 horsepower motor could move the diminutive coupe to sixty from a standstill in under seven seconds, not a bad effort for the time. The price to be paid for that is the car being hard-pressed to break 30 mpg on the highway.
This one seems to have lived a charmed life. The paint appears to be in great condition and without age-related issues. Aftermarket wheels underpin the car and are arguably too large for it, lending it a bit of an air of Donk-ness. Fortunately, the factory wheels will come with the sale. Another frustration is the missing MAZDA badge on the car’s booty. On the plus side, there’s a large, lift-out sunroof above the seats.
Things seem even better where those seats reside. The seller claims the car to have been garage-kept, and the interior materials show no sign of fading or wear. A panoply of buttons, knobs, and sliders resides in the center stack, the result of the common practice of most Japanese car makers of the time to make their stereos look like breakdancer boom boxes. The shifter for the five-speed sits readily below that, accompanied by switches for the power windows and a swizzle stick for the mirrors. There’s A/C (R12, most likely) and a center-mounted digital clock as well.
According to the ad, the car sports a modest 127,000 miles on the clock and comes with a clean title. It’s further described as having no mechanical issues or body damage. What should this classic—and apparently classy—Wankel wonder reasonably cost?
The seller is asking $10,000 for the car and it’s now incumbent on you all to decide whether that’s a fair price or not. What do you say? Is $10K a deal for a solid old RX-7? Or is that too much to go Hmmmmmm?
You decide!
Facebook Marketplace out of Birmingham, Alabama, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to MrMikus for the hookup!
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