Back in 1979, you may have seen this flash across the TV while kicking back in your rec room. But don’t think of it as a commercial, think of it as a public service announcement ensuring that you don’t miss out on a guaranteed money-making investment!
Mazda’s RX-7 had just come out, and you were probably still kicking yourself for passing up on the MG TC, ’53 Corvette and 240Z. We’re not sure what’s bolder, proclaiming that the RX-7 would be an instant classic, or acknowledging the classicosity of Nissan’s direct competition. Can you imagine Mazda calling any Nissan product “extraordinary” and classic in an ad today? Keep in mind the 240Z was only 9 years old at the time.
Which leads to the inevitable question, if you were making this commercial in 2008, what future classic would you have, say, an RX-8 pull up next to?
I hate to say it, (I really hate to say it) but I think that the car that we will look back on ten years from now and say, “Don’t you wish you would’ve bought one of those when they only cost $25,000?” is that Plymouth Prowler….. Oh my Goodness,…(Urp!)… I must leave now, the planter in the back yard awaits my half-digested dinner.
I’ve been thinking about this topic a lot recently. I’m going to have to, um, respectfully disagree about the Prowler. I think a Shelby GT500 Mustang or 2010 Camaro would be better domestic candidates for a future classic.
Also, any of the 90s Japanese sports cars (there were so many! Where have they all gone?) such as Nissan 300ZX and 240SX, Mazda RX-7 and Miata, Toyota Supra and MR2, Mitsubishi 3000GT and Eclipse, Acura NSX and Honda Prelude… the list goes on and on.
I’m disappointed that even after hearing the Prowler and all the Imported suggestions, I don’t think we created any unforgettable classics in the past few generations of cars. I’m talking about cars that are cool just as they roll off the assembly line. Some classics continued THROUGH the 90’s (Corvette, RX-7, Supra, Eclipse, ETC), but no new ground was made.
Car manufacturers are becoming less and less inventive, and they all seem to be driving toward the same goal in their new designs. That goal is what I refer to as the “takuro spirit” (an ultra-generic Japanese econobox, I stole the term from Stephen King’s the Dark Tower), and is an uninspiring lump of metal. If auto designers would take a break from thinking about the bottom line instead focus on building a reputation and being innovative, I might be able to offer some suggestions for this discussion, but this article definitely opened my eyes to a problem I’ve been watching develop since … well, since I started paying attention.
Hey that was shot at SIR, my neck of the woods! Cool.
The 1979 model started the revolution of the first generation Mazda RX7 (1979-1985) with its aerodinamic desing and the well displacement of the engine in the front of the car. I personally like the models before the RX7 from the R100,RX2, RX3and RX4. But any rotary powered model today is becoming more and more collectible.
Wow Jesse. If you exclude any cars that aren’t truly innovative that sets the bar pretty high. Perhaps the only cars that qualify for that in recent years are the Prius/Insight and, to US audiences, the Evo/STI.
Hopefully we’ll see some more sporty imports coming down the line soon… 370Z, Silvia revival, Toyobaru, Lexus LF-A, and new NSX. Some of them are rumored to be hybrids.
What I meant, was that it is so funny that what we wouldn’t be caught dead driving today somehow, through the passage of time gains some weird cultural cache, or kitsch, or whatever. A lot of people like my car, and many people tell me they had one, and when I ask what happened to it, they say, “Oh, we wore it out, probably ended up in the junkyard”. It is a collector car simply because it was the one of the first disposable cars. In another variant of this theme, my sister in 1974 traded in a 1968 Camaro RS for a FIAT X/1-9! In ’74 there were still lots of Late-60’s muscle cars, and the First Oil Crisis made a lot of the JDM stuff in general and small cars in particular attractive. She liked the styling and exotic nature of the little Italian car, and while everyone else had a vague, uneasy sense that this was a bad idea, no one could go up to her and shake her by the shoulders and scream that Camaro will be worth Many Thousands thirty-years from now, and that Fiat will be scrap in five!” Sure is funny now though!
Not relevant to this thread, but newsworthy nonetheless, is that Eric B., the fearless pilot of the Evil Tweety, set a World Record for a 600cc or under car at Bonneville this week, in his Coupe Z600, with an official top speed of 106 (and some change) M.P.H.! Congratulations Eric, I’m gonna drink one to you!
coupeZ600 – got a link to those results?
Naw, it’s still going on through next week I think. My buddy told me on friday that he came back early. Another buddy, Greg Feldman, made 198 last year in a street-legal ’77 Datsun 280Z, and had a bunch of people helping him cuz’ he got so close, and he isn’t answering his cell phone, so he must be there, too. I’ll see if the buddy that came back early can E-mail me (us) some of his pics that he took. There was all kinds of weird stuff up there, a rubber-band powered car that he thought didn’t actually run, an EXTREMELY modified Motobecane moped/car that set a world record for a 25cc car (50 mph gets you the record if your the first, and only, competitor in your class). He was showing me all this on his lap-top, but as he is the Snap-On Tool salesman, and as it was a Friday afternoon with the sun shining and the birds happily chirping, I found it necessary to beat a hasty, (and economically sustainable) retreat. My usual rule is to only talk to him on Monday mornings before I’ve had any coffee. That makes my marriage sustainable.
Sorry, just checked the Bonneville Web site http://www.scta-bni.org and no word of the posting of any results, and it ends today (8-24-08), not next week, that’s Burning Man http://www.burningman.com and maybe they’re all heading there before they post the results!
Noice! I’d love to see pics of those Bonneville cars, especially the 280Z. And land speed record cars at Burning Man? Now THAT I’d like to see 😛
I think it’s sad how many cars have become so overvalued by aging baby boomers looking for nostalgia, so you have 1968 plymouth ‘cuda’s selling for $300,000 to a guy who thinks “440 Six Pack” is a type of beer. I love japanese cars first, but i appreciate muscle cars i just dont think that after thirty years of age theyve achieved that sort of value. The same thing happened with the italian car craze of the 80s and when that tanked, you have ferrari 250 GTO’s selling for less than $100,000! for the same 300 grand, i could have a whole collection of my favorite japanese cars who’s value and importance stands much taller than that of an american car that goes fast but cant stop or turn…
Following that pattern, Japanese are probably about to skyrocket in value, eh? Buy em while you can!
Hey Ben! Check out 19 & 20 near the bottom of the page.
http://www.scta-bni.org/SCTA-NewWeb/Bonneville/SpeedWeek_08/records_event_cars.html
My buddy with the 280 didn’t go, but he has a bazillion pics of his car, and he knows how to get a hold of Eric B., so I’ll let you know. I had my coffee before I left for work, so I couldn’t talk to the Snap-On guy (for sure tomorrow).
Awesome, Ill be posting about this shortly. Thanks!
Hey Ben! You should also check out Jalopnik’s take on how Mazda’s have won three of the last four 24 hours of LeMons
http://jalopnik.com/5041103/and-the-winner-is-the-team-endurance-karting-mazda-miata
I posted on LeMons when the 1st gen RX-7 won: http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/blog/2008/07/30/lemon-fresh-rx-7/
but the Miata is probably a bit too recent. Still, this makes the Mazdafarian in me happy. Keep those tips coming! 🙂