Why Are Mazda RX-7s So Expensive?

a mazda rx-7 just sold at auction last month for 100 000 10 years ago you could get one for 15 000 so how did mazda's famous rotary experiment go from being an unreliable 90s jdm legend to becoming a collectible that may be about to explode in value well it has to do with the surprisingly german history of mazda's rotary experiments mazda's domination on the racetrack and the now out of control jdm collector car market so let's go over the origin story of the mazda rx-7 and look at the price trends that led us to a six-figure fd i'm guff this is albon let's get started the story starts with the infamous felix vankl a german mechanical engineer felix vancouve was born in 1902 and by the 1920s he had become a member of the nsdap the nazi party but most of the young nazis weren't interested in the same stuff he was namely engineering but while the kids weren't into it another person was that person being adolf hitler so in 1928 at the young age of 26 felix vankel went and met adolf hitler and other national socialists to discuss technology in the nazi party vonkel had some great ideas but he was still young so he got bounced around various nazi organizations over the years and even joined the infamous ss for a couple of years but his real big break came in the form of military contracts for the german air force and navy there ivanka was given a lab where he developed seals and rotary valves for aircrafts and torpedoes and where he started research on a new type of engine long story short felix vunkle started working on his rotary engine then later given some funding to continue working on his projects with a small car manufacturer called nsu motorola fun fact nsu motoren velka was bought by volkswagen in 1969 and it was immediately merged with another small car manufacturer called auto union part of auto union was a little sub brand called audi the nsu and felix vancouver worked to grow the auto union and the audi brand to a point where it became a pretty significant player in the car industry and just a few years later audi split off from the auto union and became audi ag the independent company that we know today anyways rewind in 1960 and felix vancouver's pride and joy the rotary engine was first presented to the german engineers union in munich it was reasonably well received so just a few months later vonkel and the nsu put the rotary engine into the nsu prince a small little two-door car and thus presented to the world the first ever rotary automobile and it was with this car the nsu prince that people began to associate the rotary engine with felix vancouver calling it the vunkle rotary vanco's rotary engine was designed to be a lightweight compact engine that still had competitive power and torque it also had far fewer moving parts than a traditional piston engine which made repairs easy and cheap plus they could rev a lot higher than traditional piston engines thanks to the inherent smoothness of the rotary's circular motion okay so at this point you're probably rechecking the title and wondering why this is another video about the germans and you're probably wondering where the heck does mazda come into this well i'm glad you asked in the early 1960s mazda known as toyo kogyo at the time was desperate to innovate so they could compete in the global car market suneji matsuda mazda's then current president heard about the vanco rotary engine matsuda was really drawn in by the simple design lightweight and high power output of these engines and so in 1961 mazda signed a contract with the nsu to further develop the rotary engine this contract allowed mazda and the nsu to compete to bring the first rotary car to market and mazda lost that race as i mentioned earlier the nsu prince was the first rotary car to market but it kind of sucked the nsu had failed to produce reliable apex seals for their rotors with the seals causing chatter marks or scoring on the inside of the rotary housing not to mention these engines had terrible fuel economy and oil consumption issues and that was enough for the automotive industry to basically write off rotaries entirely monza on the other hand knew about this issue from the beginning and as such they had already set up a team of 47 engineers to solve this issue why 47 engineers well kenichi yamamoto the head of that department compared the mission of the engineers who were venturing into this uncharted territory of rotary engines to that of the shijou shichi shi the shiju was a legendary band of 47 samurai warriors who were on a mission to avenge the murder of their master yamamoto told his engineers from now on the rotary engine must always be on your mind whether you are sleeping or awake and these engineers they were devoted they worked day and night tried everything tweaked everything they could and i mean everything some engineers went so far as to try and make apex seals out of horse and cow bones those probably didn't work that well and then two years later in 1963 they did it one of the engineers proposed a particular shape of apex seal that changed the frequency characteristics of the seal itself they created a prototype and tested it in one of their vonkel rotary engines and it was a success the apex seal left no scoring on the housing and made for an excellent seal by the very next year mazda had perfected this design and started manufacturing these apex seals in mass for their first rotary engine car and in may of 1967 mazda revealed the cosmo sport it was a sleek two-door sports car powered by a one liter two-rotor engine called the 10-a this rotary-powered coupe made 110 horsepower out of just 982 cc and that was a huge deal to the japanese public because that meant they didn't have to pay the one liter plus engine road tax all while still having just as much power as the bigger one liter plus engines needless to say the cosmo sport was very popular and was a true testament to the engineering and forward thinking that mazda had in 1968 mazda's second rotary car hit the market the familia rotary coupe also known as the r100 the r100 was one of the first mazdas exported to the united states and despite having a tiny little rotary engine the americans loved it too that success followed mazda to the racetrack as well where both the cosmo and the r100 did pretty well in the races they entered the r-100 even won its debut race at the singapore grand prix but mazda's hot streak was coming to an end because in 1970 the u.s congress passed the clean air act this required all new cars after 1975 to reduce the amount of hydrocarbons in their exhaust by over 90 percent the rotary engine was not a clean engine compared to its piston engine counterparts so it was time for mazda to start experimenting again and fast that same year in 1970 mazda released the rx2 or rotary experiment 2 which was just a rotary swapped mazda capela just one year later in 1971 mazda gave us the rx3 which was a rotary swap version of an entirely different car this one being the mazda grand famiglia the us version of the rx3 featured a larger 12a rotary engine which was slightly more efficient and had 125 horsepower but it still wasn't clean enough so in 1972 mazda brought us the rx4 this time was a rotary swap version of the mazda loose and by the rx4 second model year in 1973 it came with an all-new 1.3 liter 13b rotary engine and this was the engine that was finally clean enough to meet the clean air act regulations mazda could finally breathe a sigh of relief after four years of back to back development and then the oil crisis happened gas prices shot up and once again the mazda rotary engine was left behind in favor for piston engines which were far more fuel efficient than the rotaries were mazda blessed their hearts kept trying though and in 1975 we got the rx-5 which instead of being a random rotary swapped version of another car it was the second generation of the mazda cosmo but it really wasn't enough and mazda desperately needed to develop something that would allow the rotary engine to survive this brings us to the rx-6 which was the rotary swap version of the wait the rx-6 never existed rumors say that mazda was working on a rotary swap version of the mazda626 but it never saw the light of day why you ask well that's because the next number was lucky number seven and in 1978 mazda introduced the rx7 and this time it was an all-new totally bespoke rotary powered sports car the first generation fb chassis rx-7 had the perfect recipe it was lightweight front mid-engined and super affordable at a 6400 base price it came with a 1.2 liter 12a rotary engine that made 100 horsepower and 105 pound-feet of torque but the real magic was that mazda's engineers found a way to reuse the heat generated by the engine to aid in combustion this led to an efficiency improvement of over 50 percent and it was this particular feature of the fb rx-7 that kept the rotary from dying altogether well that and the excellent chassis and 50 50 weight distribution that made the fbr7 one of the most enjoyable cars to drive of that era all this equaled an absolute home run for mazda who sold over 72 000 fb rx rx7s in just the first year over the next few years mazda kept iterating on that design with a new five-speed transmission disc brakes upgraded cooling and diffs etc etc in japan a turbocharged version of the 12a was introduced in 1983 which produced 165 horsepower then in 84 the series 3 rx-7 introduced the 13b re a fuel-injected 1.3 liter rotary that made 135 horsepower fun fact it wasn't just on the road that the rx-7 was seeing huge success scottish racer tom wackenshaw saw the potential of the fbr7 right out the gate and immediately entered it into the british touring car championship tom's racing team won the championship with driver wind percy behind the wheel and they won it again the next year after that oh and then they also took first place at the spa 24 hours mazda saw the success that these independent racing teams were having and decided they wanted to be a little bit more up close and personal with the fb's racing legacy so they went and acquired an independent japanese racing team called mazda sports corner over the years mazda collaborated with the team and created some epic rx-7 race cars it eventually grew to the point that they moved the mazda sports corner team to hiroshima in 1983 to be closer to mazda's headquarters and it was there that mazda sports corner was rebranded to mazda speed anyways mazda slowly began to expand their presence across the globe they raced in japan the us europe and now their cars are competing with brands well above their league but to give you an idea of how competitive the rx-7 was the fb took the top two spots in the gtu class in the 1979 daytona 24. and in response to that imsa the race organizer decided that the rx7s had to carry extra weight to level out the playing field which unfortunately was enough of a handicap to make them lose the championship so mazda later fought the decision and got it reversed and the very next year they won the manufacturer's title and over the next 10 years the rx-7 won over a hundred races making it the most successful car in imsa gt championship history by the mid 80s mazda had proven the power of the rotary engine and were ready to evolve the rx-7 further so in 1985 the next generation rx-7 was launched the fc-3s while the fb was a very pared-down raw emotional sports car the fc was targeted at a slightly different demographic that focused on a softer more sports touring experience the first model year 1986 brought us a car that had pretty similar styling cues to the porsche 944 mazda figured well the first generation fbr7 was pretty good at competing with porsches at the time so it just seemed right to adopt the styling cues from the porsches as well but although they may have looked like distant relatives the rx-7 and the porsche were nothing alike the fc had a naturally aspirated fuel-injected 13b rotary engine making horsepower it was also fitted with an independent rear suspension rack and pinion steering and disc brakes on most models all for just 12 000 base price but mazda wanted to take things further this time and so they incorporated technology like their dynamic tracking suspension system which had the ability to change the toe in the rear suspension to give the rx-7 a passive rear steering in cornering loads and then there was the aas or auto adjusting suspension this was an early version of today's active damper that changed damping characteristics according to the road and various driving characteristics and on top of all these updates mazda even went so far as to make special editions of the fcr x7 the first being the turbo 2. the turbo 2 used a twin scroll turbo system that minimized turbo lag and boosted the 13b to 179 horsepower and then there was the gtu edition this was released in 1989 to celebrate mazda's success in imsa racing it was a limited edition car built around the base model to save weight it came with manual windows no rear wiper and air conditioning was optional the gtu also took the turbo model's larger front brakes steering system wheels and spoiler and it even got a g2 specific limited slip diff mazda built a rumored 100 gtu cars between 1989 and 1990. whatever trim or special edition you got though the fc was a hell of a car it won motor trends import car of the year for 1986 and the turbo 2 was on car and driver's 10 best list for a second time in a row in 1987 but it wasn't just the magazines where the fcrx-7 was gaining popularity the fc continued to race in the imsa series to great success and mazda continued developing and perfecting their rotary engine in 1990 though coming off the success of the rx-7s and imsa mazda debuted something else entirely the 787 racing prototype mazda had introduced rotary-powered prototypes before but the 787 catapulted the rotary's legacy beyond imagination the 787 and 787b were group c prototypes designed to race in a few different series the world sports car championship the all japan sports prototype championship and the 24 hours of le mans at the heart of every 787 was the r26b this was a 2.6 liter four rotor engine that made 700 horsepower at 9000 rpm the engine used peripheral intake ports continuously variable intakes and three spark plugs per rotor but despite all that the 787 and 787b just weren't competitive in the world sports car championship against rivals like mercedes-benz jag and even porsche and it also failed to keep pace against the nissan and toyota prototypes in the japanese championship as well but there was one category where mazda felt that they were superior reliability it seems ironic considering the stereotype of the rotary engine but the 26b was meticulously designed to handle the harsh climate of racing and in 1991 mazda took the 787b to victory at the 24 hours of le mans with the two lap advantage making it the first japanese car to ever win loma and the first non-piston engine car to win le mans as well but at the end of that very season the group c-class was replaced with the 3.5 liter class and so mazda's 2.6 liter rotary engine wouldn't be allowed to run and with that rule change one of the most iconic race cars to ever come out of japan was retired mazda now keeps that winning 787b at the mazda museum in hiroshima a trophy of a time when the rotary was truly world dominating anyways back to the rx-7 just like with the fb the fc saw revisions year over year that brought better looks more power and better drivability in typical jdm fashion the japanese market received an exclusive special edition fc called the infini this was limited to 600 units a year and featured weight reduction upgraded suspension more power and the infinii was widely considered to be the ultimate rx-7 that is until mazda brought us an entirely new rx7 in 1992 one year after winning le mans mazda brought us the third generation rx-7 the fd3s and this one was the best one yet you know what though we have this beautiful chase white fdr-x-7 sitting behind us so we may as well drive it right [Music] the fdr x7 was a big leap forward from previous generations mazda dropped the boxy styling of the fc and went with a totally new approach the body lines of the car were smoothed out and the shape of the car flowed with no sharp edges to be seen it was starkly different compared to the styling of the nsx fairlady z or skyline and when it debuted it made a hell of an appearance when it came to performance well if the fb was the raw rx-7 and the fc was the performance gt rx-7 this this was the best of both worlds a properly focused sports car that was still easy to drive and comfortable on the streets and the fd was superbly balanced thanks to its front midship engine 50 50 weight distribution and double wishbone suspension but of course we can't forget about the fdr x7 biggest party piece the rotary engine [Music] under the hood was a 1.3 liter twin rotor engine just like the fc before it but this time it was the 13b rew and this came standard with japan's first ever sequential twin turbo system developed in collaboration with hitachi this sequential turbo system was very complex and was comprised of a system of electronically controlled vacuum actuators the result was quick spool up in the low rpms while still retaining that big turbo thrust you got at the higher rpm output was 252 horsepower and 217 pound-feet of torque which was enough to propel the 2 800 pound fd to 60 in 4.9 seconds pretty damn fast for the time and all that for under 30 000 in the us that was nearly 10 grand less than an equivalent supra turbo this car of course is a little bit modified it makes closer to 350 horsepower but it still retains that fd drivability needless to say everyone loved the fd after its introduction in 1991 the fd won a bunch of awards including the automotive researchers and journalists conference car of the year in japan which apparently was very coveted and of course motor trends import car of the year hell even playboy magazine pitted the fdr x7 against the dodge viper and the fd1 so then the fd was awesome out of the gate but as with its predecessors it got minor improvements year over year but mazda enthusiasts in north america didn't get to see very many of those improvements because mazda stopped exporting the fdr x7 to the us and canada in 1995 that was just its third model year oh i'm getting too excited i gotta go home i gotta go home i gotta park this thing in the garage and i gotta start talking sitting on the bucket i gotta sit on a bucket again [Music] that was fun declining sports car sales and the shrinking viability of the rotary engine were the main culprits of the decision to pull the rx-7 from the u.s market in addition to that the obd-2 standard was going into effect in 1996 and mazda would have to spend millions of dollars updating the fd just to get it compliant to sell it in north america all that led mazda after three decades of success to finally abandon the rx-7 for americans but back east the rx-7 was just getting started 1996 brought us the series 7 fdr 7 facelift this featured an updated 16-bit ecu that netted an extra 10 horsepower as well as new lights brakes spoiler and 17-inch bbs wheels 1998 brought us the series 8 the final rx7 series and this one was only sold in japan this had new turbos better cooling different arrow and in its top trim made 276 horsepower but even in the japanese market the fd couldn't last in 2002 with the end of the famed rx-7 in sight mazda decided to give the world a final swan song to their legendary rotary experiment this was a best hits version of the rx-7 featuring all the best parts from previous versions of the fd including bigger 12.4 inch brakes the full fat 276 horsepower engine and bbs wheels they called it the spirit r the spirit name came from the fact that mazda considered the fd a pure embodiment of the sports car spirit and when they announced it they called it the ultimate rx-7 with the most outstanding driving performance in its history ultimate was right because mazda only made about 1500 of them before ending production of the rx7 for good the next year in 2003 mazda brought us a new rotary experiment called the rx-8 like the rx-7 before it was a rotary powered sports car but had a number of fundamental differences to the rx-7 mazda now under ford's ownership wanted to make a more practical down market version of mazda's rotary sports car and so the rx-8 featured a non-turbo 13b renesis engine that made 189 horsepower in base trim and 237 horsepower in the upper model 6-port version it was also technically a four-door with rear suicide doors that could open backwards only after opening the front doors though and honestly it wasn't bad it was a balanced sports car that was fairly well thought out and pretty practical too it had some reliability concerns but if you maintained it properly like you should with a rotary it was fine and compared to the fd it was a real sales success having sold almost three times as many cars in the same amount of time but for some reason it never really managed to capture the hearts and minds of car enthusiasts and when people thought of mazda's rotary they always envisioned the gorgeous curves of the fd rx-7 which is probably why today the fd rx-7 remains the most valuable of all of mazda's rotary experiments but before we talk about how much fds are going for now let's quickly touch on the first two generations of the rx-7 fbs were produced in the highest number with nearly half a million of them sold worldwide add on to that the fact that they're all nearly 40 year old cheap japanese coops and well you can imagine that most of them have disintegrated by now but for the ones that are still in one piece you could almost always pick them up for about five to ten thousand dollars for the nicest one interestingly enough they have been gaining value as of late with a few going for over twenty thousand dollars in 2018 and then a 1983 gsl five speed with just 4 700 miles selling for 47 500 that's the most any fb has ever sold for especially considering that the base price new was about 6400 a few more have sold for about 30 grand since then so the fb is really starting to come into its stride as a classic collectible car as far as fcs go well they've always been kind of in that same range as the fbs just five years ago five to ten grand could get you a very clean fc but unlike the fb which have gone up in value 5 to 10 grand will still get you the same fc today prices have stayed mostly flat for most models but a few special editions have sold for about twenty thousand dollars well with one exception in may of 2018 the imsa gtu fcr7 race car yes the same one that won the 24 hours of daytona went up for auction on bring a trailer this legendary tube frame race car had recently been refreshed with a rebuild of the peripheral port rotary done in 2017 along with a whole slew of updates this was a real piece of mazda's history one of their most important race cars perhaps second only to the 787 needless to say it sold for an amount that any piece of history should 150 000 but like i mentioned in the porsche 911 video i don't count race cars as record sales so while this technically might be the most expensive rx-7 ever sold well it's not a street car so it doesn't count and so now we move to the generation of rx-7 that does hold the record the fd rx-7 going all the way back to 2010 the fds were an interesting proposition in the used car marketplace most fds in pretty good condition went for about ten to fifteen thousand dollars with plenty of non-running cars that could be had for about five grand and that was the big thing tons of fdr x7s just sat rotting in people's driveways with blown apex seals and low compression and most of the time those cars just got sold to other fd owners who would piece together one working car and hopefully get 10 or 20 000 miles of happy rotary motoring until it blew up again you see the aftermarket for fds was in a weird place where plenty of people were happy to screw and boost and make plenty of power but very few people really took the time to properly modify and tune their fds for longevity all this led to the fd having a seriously bad reputation in the car community and most people coming from other brands just saw the rx-7 as a platform to swap in 2jz's or ls's and so over the next six to seven years fd stayed in that 10 to 20 000 range with most clean somewhat modified cars going for about 15 grand and plenty of blown up projects selling for 10k or less but just like with the fb market the fd saw a little bit of a late renaissance around 2017 a few unmodified very original examples of the fd found themselves on auction selling for over 20 grand with some even selling for 30 000 why the random jump in price well firstly it was that same exploding jdm collector's car market that took supra and nsx and skyline prices to the upper stratosphere but in addition to that the bad rap that the fds held was slowly starting to erode away thanks to both the aftermarket tuning coming really into its stride and creating reliable packages for rotary engines and the sheer fact that the fd was graduating to classic car status and so its image began to be more formed around its cultural impact rather than performance or reliability alone all this meant that in 2018 the market was ready to explode first a red 1993 touring model with only 17 000 miles sold for 39 999 followed by another red 93 touring with under 9 000 miles that sold for 49 000 then a 94 turing in chased white with under 30 000 miles selling for 40 000 and one dollars the fds just kept on coming and by the end of 2018 nearly a dozen fds had sold for over 30 grand the fd was finally on a hot streak and all of this newfound interest finally culminated in 2019 when in 1994 montego blue touring sold at auction for seventy thousand dollars the highest price for an fd yet this was a market-setting sale so it was no surprise that another 2800 mile 93 fd sold for 52 500 just a few months later over on the other side of the pond fds found themselves hitting the auction block for big money too most notable of which was a 2002 spirit r with just 16 000 kilometers that sold for 41 625 pounds or about 57 000 us dollars this was a pretty good deal for all intents and purposes especially considering that it was the ultra rare spirit r model and especially considering what was coming up next 2020 saw a lot of fds come out of storage and put on sale with most of them selling between 30 and 40 000 this year 2021 is already off to a screaming start with plenty of cars selling above 40 grand and even a 1995 silverstone metallic fd selling for 57 000 1995 by the way was the rarest year in the united states with an estimate of only about 500 exported to the country this silver car was just one of 34 in its specs so the buyers definitely showed up but this was still far from the most expensive fd sale that sale happened down under at the 2021 shannon's auctions in sydney australia a 2002 titanium gray spirit r with over 70 000 miles mind you went up for auction on 420. as with most of these cars it was in fantastic shape with all of the service history and records you could ever want the hammer price 125 000 that's australian dollars though so with auction fees that came out to about a hundred thousand us dollars it's interesting though maybe i'm just jaded after making all these videos about the supra and nsx and skyline but 100 grand doesn't seem like much these days the fd certainly has the rarity and to many people the social value that its other jdm counterparts had but throughout history it always seemed like the rx-7 was treated as a class below the others perhaps it's the fact that the fd was a cheaper car perhaps it's still the lingering averseness to the rotary engine or maybe the rx-7 just hasn't hit its stride yet as a collector car like the supra and nsx and skyline have whatever the reason may be the fd finds itself in sort of a strange middle ground many of them are still cheap enough to be accessible to regular people but they're overall not desirable enough to command the eye-watering prices that we see with some of the other cars how cheap are they you may ask well let's take a look at a few examples here are a few for sale for pretty reasonable prices this 1995 touring in texas is a decent looking car with only 52 000 miles for under 29 grand but here's the thing it's a jdm model and jdm cars usually sell for about 20 percent less than their usdm equivalent so at 29 000 this is probably a pretty average price next up is a montego blue 1994 for sale on hemming's website it has 78 000 miles and it's listed for 39 500 not a bad price for a very original looking car but let's look for the real cheap stuff the diamonds in the rough let's go to facebook marketplace here's a 1993 montego blue card that's in pretty god-awful shape but hey it runs and it's a manual for fifteen thousand dollars it's not a terrible deal assuming it's mechanically sound but it definitely needs a lot of bodywork this one is a little bit more reasonable a 1993 with 125 000 miles a little questionable on the modifications but overall it looks like a decent runner for under 30 grand it ain't a bad deal but you could probably haggle them down another couple thousand and make it a great deal one thing you will notice though is that there are a lot of jdm cars for sale now that they're importable and as i mentioned before they're about 20 percent less valuable than their equivalent us-spec car but if it's a clean affordable rx-7 you're after these are definitely the way to go so then the rx-7 certainly has found its way into the collector's world with some example selling for 50 60 even a hundred thousand dollars but despite these headlining sales there are plenty of rx7s out there for prices that anyone can afford with the average transaction happening somewhere in the 30 000 range the fd then still straddles the line between a sought-after collectible car and a affordable tuner car in many ways the market looks like the supermarket did a few years ago with clean low mileage examples coming out of the woodwork and selling for big money but also a decent number of project cars up for sale waiting to be restored and turned for a profit those project supras though were quickly snatched up by collectors and flippers and restorers over the last five years and today you'll be hard pressed to find a cheap usdm supra anywhere online so what about the rx7 will it do what the supra did well it's tough to say this market may well be a rocket waiting to launch and the cars selling for 20 to 30 thousand dollars now will be selling for super money in a few years time or perhaps the fd is another jdm collectible hitting its peak just a smaller peak than everyone else all i know is the fdr x7 and all of the rotary experiments that came before it are some of the most ambitious and exciting sports cars to ever come out of an era that i'm extremely nostalgic for i know that i have to own an fd sometime in my lifetime and with the way the current price trends are going i should probably act fast otherwise just like with the supra nsx and skyline the market just might leave me behind thank you guys so much for watching if you guys liked what you saw please do give us a like it does help the channel quite a bit and make sure you subscribe we've got album shirts for sale at a link in the description as well as a link to patreon if you want to support the channel i'll see you guys next time

Channel: Albon

Views: 372,771

Keywords: wrecked supra rebuild, rebuilding a wrecked 2020 supra, rebuilding a wrecked toyota supra, toyota supra, tj hunt, car repair, b is for build, cheap supra, donut media, jr garage, hoovies garage, top gear, salvage rebuild, supra rebuild, 2020 supra rebuild, 2020 supra crash, salvage supra, toyota supra 2020, toyota supra mk4, toyota supra review, toyota supra build, toyota supra 2019, cheap supra build, rebiulding a wrecked 2020 supra, rebiulding a wrecked toyota supra

Id: 2EF2nOyfew0

Length: 32min 5sec (1925 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 06 2021