Over a decade has gone by since I first drove a rotary-powered car. Mazda gave me the keys to its final edition, RX-8, for 24 hours. I spent most of the day taking photos and shooting a video. Next, I kept driving through the night instead of going to sleep.
Fast forward to 2018, I was inches away from buying a first-gen RX-8. However, the seller didn't provide any compression results, and the car felt underwhelming. Five years after owning an FC today, I need an RX-8. While most of my friends own red or black ones, I'm keen on either a blue or yellow model. And seeing this video in my news feed further makes me want to find a solution to own one as soon as possible. Watching this kind of format is pretty satisfying. Rescuing a car from its "dungeon" is heartwarming, especially if you have an affinity for it.
Four years may not sound like a lot, but it's still enough time for dust, mold, and mice to settle in and ravage the place. The best way to go about a project like this is to start from scratch. So the team has to take everything out of the car to clean it properly. It's a split effort to make it look good inside and out. But you can tell from the get-go that the result will be spectacular.
Seeing this video reminds me that a good friend asked me if I'd like to buy his FB RX-7, which has been rotting away in an open field for over ten years. That's going to be way worse than this one. Aurora Blue was exclusively available on the R3 and looks stunning once the pressure washer comes in. The final edition of the RX-8 is costly and could be a wise investment for the future. I have only seen three on a particular auction platform this year, and the most affordable one went for $16,500. The most expensive one featured the same Aurora Blue finish and went for $22,000.
Five years from now, the average price could quickly go up to $30,000, and I'll tell you why. A whole new generation of kids are interested in these, and they will be keen to restore them to their former glory. In time, they will learn to overcome the fear of owning a rotary-powered machine. Most of it is just fueled by people without mechanical sympathy or desire to follow up on required maintenance. Anyway, I hope this video will inspire you for your next build. Sure, a project car will require time and money, but even the roughest vehicles can look amazing if you set your mind to it. I'm off to do some more RX-8 window shopping now.
The things Dragos enjoys the most in life are, in no particular order: cars, motorcycles, diecast cars, and drifting. He's seen (and driven) many vehicles since he started his writing career back in 2009, but his garage currently houses a 1991 Mazda RX-7 FC3S Turbo II and a 1999 Suzuki SV650-S. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News