Junkyard Find: 1979 Mazda RX-7
First-gen RX-7 s aren’t uncommon in wrecking yards in the western part of the country, as demonstrated by this ’79, this ’80 with incredibly of-its-time custom paint, and this fairly solid ’85. In fact, I don’t bother to photograph most of the examples I see. Today’s ’79, with its brown-and-beige tape stripes, seemed worthy of inclusion in the Junkyard Find series, though.
It’s fairly complete, the body is straight, and there’s no rust.
It’s difficult to get these cars through the California emissions test, though, even with the not-so-stringent requirements for the 1979 model year.
Looks like the dash and the door panels have been pulled.
Poor doomed RX-7.
The car you’ve been waiting for is waiting for you!
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
More by Murilee Martin
Comments
Join the conversation
My wife was driving an 83 (?) GSL-SE when we met. It was a great car and held up well when it was her daily driver. When her commute changed and it was relegated to fun and weekend duty, it fell apart. Apex seals and flooding became a big problem. It needed work about every 700 miles and her mechanic said it has to be driven regularly. Final straw was when we moved to the country and its sporty ride became punishing on washboard dirt roads. We sold it with about 70k mikes and used the money to buy a generator (it was 1999). So long story short I can definitely see why it ended up junked.
15 years at 5K per year? Doesn't sound so bad to me. I haven't tried one, but If I were in the market, I'd definitely give their products a test drive. There's a Mazda Millenia in our parking lot. Average to good condition for its age. No show car. Just a really handsome practical and comfortable looking car.