At $29,000, Could This 1987 Mazda RX-7 Turbo Make You Go Hmmmm?

With extremely low miles and an almost as-new appearance, today's Nice Price or No Dice RX-7 is a blast from the past rotary rocket. Let's figure out whether or not this time capsule is worth opening up.

When you look at its specs—Ferrari-family motor, svelte Italian styling, and an interior swaddled in only the finest of dead cows and felled trees—yesterday's 2005 Maserati Quattroporte holds a lot of appeal. Unfortunately, less-positive aspects of the model include a confounding Ferrari transmission, potentially iffy durability, and the prospect of wallet-draining maintenance costs looming in the Magic Eight Ball for any new owner.

Based on the comments, those negatives outweighed the Maser's positives and raised red flags over the seller's $14,900 asking price. While arguably a lot of car for that kind of money, it was also a lot of car to maintain as an owner, with the potential for a clutch job costing almost as much as the purchase price somewhere down the road. Not unexpectedly, a majority of you felt that was not a risk worth taking, giving the Quattroporte a 53% No Dice loss.

For the most part, the Wankel engine is dead as far as automotive applications are concerned. That wasn't always the case. Lured by the Wankel's compact size and mechanical simplicity, a number of manufacturers not only embarked on rotary engine development but also designed entire cars around the engine. Among the cars intended to go triangular piston power were Chevy's Monza and Corvette, Citroën's GS (of which a number of Wankel examples were built), and the American Motors Company Pacer, which was going to use the Chevy rotary under license.

Germany's NSU did manage to get working rotaries into the market with the Spider and Ro80, but it was Japan's Mazda that took the triangle and ran with it. Mazda introduced its first rotary-engined car in 1967 with the debut of the production version of the Cosmo coupe concept. The company's last production rotary-powered car was the RX-8, which died in 2012. Somewhere in the middle, the company built this 1987 RX-7 Turbo II, which has a 1308cc 13B two-rotor Wankel and a twin-scroll turbocharger feeding its hungry, hungry, hippos. With the air-to-air intercooler, mounted below the wide hood scoop, the engine produces 182 horsepower and 183 pound-feet of torque.

According to the ad, that power and torque have been woefully under-enjoyed. With only 24,646 miles on the clock, the car hasn't been beaten up and shows in extremely nice condition. Painted black and still rocking its original badging decals, the exterior shows few signs of its age thanks to those low miles and a two-owner history. Below that, it wears later alloy wheels that the seller says have been refurbished. Those are also uni-directional, but don't appear to be staggered, so they can be switched front to rear, just not side to side.

The cabin is even more impressive, featuring a burgundy color scheme and grippy velour upholstery on the heavily-bolstered bucket seats. This is a five-speed car—another plus—and both the shift knob and steering wheel are leather-bound. As a car from the '80s, it boasts an over-the-top stereo system in the center stack, featuring a full-range graphic equalizer and an AM/FM/cassette head unit.

Things look just as clean under the hood, and the ad claims a recent oil pan re-seal and the installation of a new set of spark plugs. There's more original stuff to come with the car, though. That includes the dealer window sticker and purchase paperwork, as well as the factory owner's manual. The car has a clean title and vanity antique vehicle plates that read TURBOII.

Those plates, however, expose a frustration about this car. Those are Illinois plates. That's not a big deal, but the car is being advertised on the Los Angeles, California Craigslist. The LA ad makes no mention of the car's actual location. It requires clicking through the link for the seller's other ads to see a second ad—with a $500 higher price—that reveals the car's true location. To be fair, the seller claims they will ship the car worldwide. They also have an ad for RX2 parts showing a rusted and denuded hulk of a car, so it must be all-Mazda, all the time at the seller's house.

One other weird thing about that original ad is the incredibly long list of tags the seller has added. It starts with some competing cars—Datsun 240Z, RX8, etc.—but then goes off the rails with pretty much every word or phrase in the English language.

We're not interested in RX2 parts or reading War And Peace at this moment in time. No, we need to refocus our attention on the RX-7 Turbo and determine if the $29,000 price (from the initial ad) is a fair deal for this classic sports car.

What's your take on this Land of Lincoln RX-7 and that $29,000 asking price? Is that a fair deal, given the car's parsimonious odometer reading and overall condition? Or is that way too much for even the nicest second-generation rotary rocket?

You decide!

Los Angeles, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Don R. for the hookup!

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