First-generation Mazda RX-7s aren't difficult to find in big American self-service wrecking yards because these cars retain enough enthusiast interest to keep potential projects sitting in driveways and backyards for decades -- but they aren't sufficiently valuable to get rescued when such projects get abandoned. I have documented plenty of discarded 1979-1985 RX-7s during my years of junkyard exploration, and it takes a special example to get me to reach for my camera these days. Today's Junkyard Treasure in Denver is such a car, with its astonishing odometer reading.

Murilee Martin

The Mazda Wankel engine made tremendous power for its small weight and size, but its insatiable thirst and fragile apex seals made RX-7s unlikely candidates for the kind of odometer readings you might find in, say, a Mercedes-Benz 190E or even an Olds Calais. Most of the junkyard RX-7s I find show more like 110,000 miles, not 393,854 miles. If we're not looking at a defective odometer, then this car was something special.

Murilee Martin

This car has some nice custom pinstriping, indicating that at least one owner really prized it, and the severe wear on the pedal pads suggests that it got a lot of driving during its life. The crash damage combined with wheel well rust doomed it after a long and -- we think -- extremely well-traveled life.

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