Mazda sold cars with rotary engines in the United States from the late 60s to the last RX-8 of 2011, and although you can still buy a new series of Mazda hybrids with a mini-rotary engine now, we can also assume that the days of real Mazda rotary power are over.
Today's scrapyard treasure is an example of Mazda's most famous piston-less model: a first-generation RX-7, recently discovered in a self-service car graveyard in the Denver area.
Colorado Auto & Parts also has a very complete second-generation RX-7 for you to tear down parts, and on top of that, you can see the 1969 AMC Rambler 440 sedan parked next to this car. I used to find a lot of abandoned RX-7s when I traveled around the scrapyards, but now they're very rare.
The car is at the GSL configuration level, which means it boasts luxurious and convenient features. This includes sunroofs, power windows, and air conditioning, which is a good deal for a MSRP of $13,085 (about $39,459 in 2023). The 1984 GSL-SE version was a factory high-performance RX-7 with more engine power and a limited-slip differential, and it was $15,095 ($45,485 after inflation).
I prefer to call these engines "rotary engines" because the true rotary engines are those with a fixed crankshaft and the rest of the rotation (mainly for aeronautical applications, but also for a few road vehicles). Still, Mazda chose the name "spin" from the start, so I'll use their term for the rest of this article.
It was a 12A twin-rotor engine with a nominal displacement of 1146cc rated at 101 horsepower and 107 pound-feet. The GSL-SE is powered by a 13B engine that makes 135 hp and 133 lb-ft. The curb weight of the '84 model was only 2380 pounds, so these cars were fast for their time.
The automatic transmission costs an extra $500 ($1507 today), but in a car that talks about revving the engine to ridiculous degrees, there are few options. The car is equipped with a basic five-speed manual transmission.
With automatic rewind, digital FM, metal compatibility, Dolby noise cancellation, and a nine-band graphic equalizer, this AM FM cassette radio was quite a premium audio equipment in a 1984 new car.
It traveled nearly 200,000 miles in its lifetime. I've seen a first-generation RX-400,000 miles on an odometer, but that's pretty unusual given the usual short life of the 12A top seal on the street.
Why is it here?A VIN search revealed that it had been sold for $400 at a nearby auction service with an "unknown" status, so perhaps no one had tried to launch it.
For the American market car advertising in the mid-80s of the 20th century, these were some good tire screams.
In its own country, it was called S**Anna RX-7.