It’s getting increasingly difficult to find a bone stock FC3S Turbo. Peruse craigslist and you’ll find all the blown apex seals and drift-damaged body panels you can hoard, or an endless parade of motor-less shells whose forced-induction 13Bs have been plucked for other projects.
Once in a while, however, a time capsule of a 1987 Mazda RX-7 Turbo II with 46,000 original miles does emerge from its hidden from its underground bunker.
What appears to be an immaculately preserved Series 4 RX-7 is currently on craigslist Los Angeles for $6,800. The seller claims that it’s been garage-stored its entire life.
A new car smell apparently still wafts from the gray cabin, and the only mechanical flaw is a hum emanating from the throwout bearing in the 5-speed gearbox.
The engine bay is stated to be all original with the exception of the battery. Even then, the seller says one as close in appearance to the original was installed.
The seller even notes that a damaged gas door was replaced, but that they’ve kept the old one to prove that blemish was not serious. Now that’s the level of OCD preservation we like to see!
Personally, the only flaw I see with this car is that’s not a Series 5. Fourteen more horses aren’t the biggest deal, but smoked taillights concealing a set of round afterburners that light up at night are a thing of beauty. I suppose you could swap them out, but then its originality would be compromised.
In any case, that’s a small price to pay for what is likely one of the mintiest examples of a Turbo Era rotary sled left in the US.
nice Porsche! (i think im hilarious…but lets face it, the 944 has nothing on an FC3S!)
Careful, some of us J-Tin fans may actually own one of those Porsches 🙂
haha both are great cars, but for its time i feel like the FC far out-classes the porche. and the porche is still a great car (if a bit unreliable these days)
“Unreliable these days?” has this person owned either a 944 or an RX7?!
The 944 vs. RX7 “debate” is the dumbest pissing contest in the history of sports cars. Besides looking kinda similar if you squint, they are completely different cars. The driving experience is very different going from the RX7 to the 944. I would know; I’ve owned both at the same time.
The only thing I see wrong with it is that its not a series 3. 🙂 More horsepower is great, but less weight is even better. And really, FB’s are just sexy.
Actually, I love this car. I think the worst part is the mileage. I would be loath to accumulate more on the odometer, but then feel guilty about not driving it. One things for sure though, that price is right on.
Derrick – GSL-SE pilot
See this is the problem when you have a tidy old car. My Celica XX isn’t as tidy as this, but still very original and low mileage (56,000mile/90,000km) and I get stuck in this conundrum. If I drive it I’m pushing the mileage up. But it’s wrong not to drive it. Aaargh!
Looks nice, wouldn’t ever change a thing…
Next minute stripped interior, battered panels and LS1 swapped drift car.
Would hate for that to happen. Mazda should buy it for one of their musiems.
Man, that thing is cleaner than my 60,000 mile ’87 Impulse!! Nice.
I’ve seen some pretty sweet FCs, including minty originals. This is a car straight out of my list of childhood favorites. I love the S5 cars and earlier ones all the same. If I were in the market for an FC, however, I’d be too scared to buy one like this. This is one to preserve.
man, that’s clean!!!! a dude in my high school days had a super clean black on black one (but might have been an s5? not sure differences) and he was the man! had chrome momo 15″ 5stars. i still dream about that car.
J.A.C.K the most superficial way to tell is the tail lights – The S4 has horizontal rectangular tails and the S5 has double rounds:
http://img100.exs.cx/img100/7209/rhrear.jpg
So nice to see stock like that………
I just bought a 1990 s5 convertible (I know to new)
Awsome car the fcs…….mine has the common miata/rx7 stuck in reverse shifter in neutral problem PITA…
My friend actually drove this when it was only 30k. Owner wanted 4k at the time. He test drive it, it grinded gears. My buddy walked away.
Yet another person who thinks there stuff is gold, for my 88 T2 Brilliant black with the glass sun roof and all the extras original owner and a warenteed motor with only 10k on new motor and the body only had 30k on it 1500$
You got a good deal but owners like you keep JNC car prices down by not valuing it. So I guess you would not think of your car as gold and sell it for $1500 right? Remember to not offer more than 1.5k for this guys FC. C’mon
I’d more then likely sale it for 2k reason being when it was still as close to stock as possible i had put BBS rims and yokohama tires on it,
but now with a full on bridgeport stand alone bigger turbo and a stance USA suspension, and a way bigger list pf other things i’d probably still let it for around 5-6k reason being who’s going to pay the amount of money i have into it? nobody and thats a fact that people need to understand.
so keeping prices reasonable for a older car is a bad thing now?
i don’t wanna make all of them a collectors item that sits in someones showroom collecting dust i’d rather see them out on the road doing what they were built for
http://www.nadaguides.com/Classic-Cars/1987/Mazda/RX7/2-Door-Coupe-Turbo/Values
Priced perfectly
Clean car, but I’d be worried about those low miles. Hopefully it was driven a little bit every now and then, but if it was just sitting for years the seals inside could “dry out”. Rotaries need oil flowing through them regularly.
My FC has 27000 miles, and I felt reckless changing the wheels!
That is gorgeous! Off to ebay/carsales/gumtree to find one 🙂
It has it’s battery surround but is missing the battery cover.
Awesome car! What is the code of the paint?