The Mazda RX-3 SP was a US-only appearance package that included unique blacked-out bumpers trim and louvers, a snazzy decal package, and a jutting chin spoiler. Though nothing of note was added to the 12A rotary engine within, the SPs have become highly coveted cars amongst early Mazda collectors just for their sheer rarity and embodiment of 70s styling. Now there’s that has reached $24,000.
The ad itself is horrible, with only four photos and precious little information. The car, located in Puerto Rico, is said to be an unrestored original. The car features all-wheel disc brakes, an LSD, and aircon.
The Impulse Blue color (paired with white decal outlines) is one of the more striking of the six colors available on the SP. This particular example does look very clean, with a rust-free undercarriage and the underside of the spare tire well still as blue as the shiny side and an un-cracked SP air dam. A few years ago, we featured a white one that sold for approximately $11,000.
Despite the sparse information, however the car has already reached over double that number with five bids and three days . Where will it end?
Full Disclosure: JNC is now an eBay affiliate; when you click on an eBay link from JNC, the site gets a cut of the proceeds from whatever you buy.
All wheel discs. Must be a derivative of the Cosmo from the previous year. In which case, it is a weird system and good bloody luck finding rear break pads. 🙂 Love the blacked out bumpers and trim. Such a nice look on a blue car.
aaroncake!
No issues finding rear brake pads for my 78 Cosmo. The hand brake shoes on the other hand….
The rear brakes are probably gsl rx7 pretty common and easily changed to oem rx3 drum . The car is mint and original , I own the same car in the same color lightly modified . This car is a true collectors item as there are estimated only about 400 or so left in existence . They only built a little over 1500 sp’s .The rx3 v100 is the jdm version of the sp. I think it was done to sell the remaining stock of rx3’s to make room for the debut of the rx7 in 78 ,79 in the US market .Some Mazda dealers did the same thing to the repu in 77(Freeway mazda made the “freeway hummer” I have also seen the “California special” or something to that effect ) to get rid of the old repu models
The only things that are not correct but easy to correct are :rear brakes , the antenna base should be black , the trim above the headlights should be stainless steel and chrome colored , and the exhaust is modified .The front spoiler looks like a re pop because it does not return to the fenders , but I could be wrong about that .The car is still beautiful , and well worth the asking price for such a rare bird .
Too many bits have been changed to be an unrestored original. The factory exhaust and thermal reactor is a pretty robust piece and rarely needs replacing except to add more power. Center wheel caps are from some other earlier rotary Mazda. Before I would place a bid, I would want to know the VIN # as many of these are cloned 808s or Mizers. So much missing information in the listing! Good to see such strong money though.
The bidding pattern on this one seems a bit sketchy too.
That’s a nice SP example…. unfortunately the decals are not original. They’re not the correct decals.
R100guy the vin # is a good point , when I bought my sp I verified the vin to make sure it was real . If its a clone someone really got ripped off for 25300.00.
Yeah lack of pictures is scary…
You would think a car like this would be a camera whore.