The Mazda RX-7 tops our roundup of Price Guide Movers On The Up this month, beating many more popular models. These pretty, revolutionary coupés have always had a niche following here in the UK and survival numbers are poor thanks to the fragility of the twin rotor engine and Seventies corrosion resistance.
It’s the first-generation cars, built from 1978 to 1986, that are doing most of the running, with a 94% sprint in prices since out last update. That takes typical prices to the following condition-based levels:
• Rough project £1250 • Good usable £4500 • Mint £10,000 • Concours £15,000
Anglia Car Auctions recently sold the car pictured for just over £25,000, an exceptionally sharp example with lowish mileage and plenty of recent expenditure, including an engine rebuild. You’ll notice that, despite significant movement, our top condition price is remains much lower than that – one exceptional result doesn’t make a trend. But if we see enough similar results repeated over the coming months, when more examples are sure to be encouraged onto the market, we’ll revise our figures again.
The second-gen models, built from 1986 to 1989, that bore more than a passing resemblance to the Porsche 924/944, are moving more slowly, up 4.3% to:
• Rough project £750 • Good usable £1750 • Mint £4000 • Concours £6000
The third-series cars are holding steady for now, though they’ve previously showed strong gains but the four-door coupé RX-8 has lost 6% this time, dropping to:
• Rough project £600 • Good usable £1350 • Mint £2500 • Concours £3650
The first two series of RX-7 are in good company this month, with the R32 and R33 generations of Nisan Skyline GT-R both showing gains strong enough to put them in our top 20 climbers.
Price Guide Movers On The Up is part of our regular 16 pages of coverage in Classic Cars__, which also includes smart buying guru Quentin Willson’s Hot Tips, market-watcher Russ Smith’s Chasing Cars, a detailed four-page buying guide and Ads on Test evaluations of four classics for sale.