1st Gen Register - Update September 2019

[ian65]

I've been updating the register and have run every car through the DVLA vehicle check to ascertain their current tax status... with some surprising and alarming results.
The table below shows the current results and also the last totals posted by Dave 18 months ago and there is a marked drop in the number of cars currently licensed and on the road.
Dave used to lump together the cars on sorn and cars just listed as unlicensed. i've broken this down further and listed these 2 catagories separately as most of the unlicensed cars have been unlicensed for many years, in some cases 10 - 20 years and they are probably long gone or very unlikely to be put back on the road.



Even if we allow another 20% for cars we don't know about but which may be out there on the road we would only have an extra 12 road going cars and another 43 on sorn..... no wonder you never see any 1st gens on the road these days unless you go to a show.
Spares in the UK are also becoming scarce compared to 6 or 7 years ago and parts cars that we used to buy for a 100 quid are now getting expensive.
The days of cheap 1st gens are long gone.

[myatt1972]

Wow, makes interesting reading !

[DKWW2000]

Pretty sad reading
I hope the rate of decline will stabilise..................good work Ian

[Casey]

Thanks for doing this update Ian

Wow, that's a surprisingly big drop in numbers

[gt_james]

Blimey, 125 on the road down to 58 in 18 months what’s even more surprising is that interest in retro models like these Id expected to get better and more people looking after and restoring these cars. After all there’s an abundance of retro car programs on telly, asking prices shooting up and all the publicity from the 40th Anniversary.

I should make an effort to keep mine on the road, currently 2 on SORN!

[rotarypower]

I think a lot of people are put off by the rotary engine.
12a parts are getting rare now (as are 13b to be honest) so you're potentially looking at expensive rebuilds or an engine swap.
That and the fact that for its power level the 12a economy is really quite bad

I hadn't realised there were as few cars as all that though, explains why I can't find repair panels, I guess there's just not a market.

[liondogs]

I wonder if this is one of the reasons Mazda when they announced the restoration program for RX7's they only included the fd and fc models and excluded the fb's. Here in the states prices for fb RX7's are increasing with even poor examples going for much higher prices than a few years ago. What you used to pay for a running RX7 say 5 years ago now will only get you a parts shell which is a good thing if you already own a RX7 but a bad thing if you are looking to buy your first one or add to your collection.