SOTW: Mazda RX-7

It's the little Mazda with an engine that made schoolboys laugh...

To look at the first generation RX-7 it is difficult to imagine it dates back to 1978. In Britain the Austin Allegro had only just been launched and the Sex Pistols were changing the face of modern music. But at the same time Mazda was busy bringing out a car that helped bring one of the funniest engine names to the masses – the Wankel rotary engine.

Some people said the inspiration for the little Mazda’s styling had come from the Lotus Elan 2 + 2, but I always thought it had more than a hint of Porsche 924. The Porsche had come out two years earlier and no doubt was seen as a clear rival to the Mazda, but it was also destined to compete with the Nissan 280Z.

Mazda’s first rotary engined vehicle, the Mazda Cosmo Sports 110S, was launched in 1967. The company stuck with this technology, and indeed still uses it now, and put it in the first RX-7.The car took the world by storm and even though the engine was not all that powerful the car was quick and a lot of fun.

The car was said to have a near 50/50 weight distribution and the original twin-rotor 100 bhp model apparently was good for more than 120 mph. To drive the car was well balanced and many people said that the RX-7 was a true sports car, unlike the Triumph TR-6 or other so-called sporting saloons.

By 1980 Mazda had made a few changes to the car, including making the radio antenna about eight inches longer. In 1984 the car was getting a little long in the tooth but had been received well by British enthusiasts. It was a time when Japanese car manufacturers were getting a foothold in the European market and the RX-7 could be seen as an early pioneer of the sports car assault from the East.

We’ve managed to find a later model 1984 version on a B plate with just 98,000 miles on Autotrader's website and seemingly in good condition. Considering these cars are getting rarer and rarer this original model with 12 months MOT seems like a bit of a bargain. The best (or worse) part, depending on your taste, is the interior. Someone at some point ticked the ‘maroon everything’ box on the options list, that is unless it was a different colour and it’s faded drastically.

The car looks tidy and the alloys look mint, although there does seem to be a bit of non-standard two-tone paint on the front wing. It says the car has been well looked after and it is difficult not to agree. So go on take the plunge and rescue it from the camper van it doesn’t seem to be able to escape.

In case you were wondering what happened to our little Pug GTI by the way, we've still got it. That's not because we can't sell it but rather we have only just got round to selling it and not driving it around enjoying it. Now we've got the keys off RacingPete it's gone on eBay and we've already had a couple of calls about it. Fingers crossed this time next week we may have (sad) news of its sale.

Ad says:

98,000 miles
Manual
Silver
Petrol
Coupe
1308 cc
Manual, 98,000 miles, mazda rx-7,excellent car,well looked after classic,12 mths mot,undersealed,stainless exhaust,bargain price for enthusiast. £995.