Original Mazda RX-7, Five Other Cars Found in a River

Some older cars are not as lucky as others. When they’re not beat up or completely worn down, they’re abandoned in a barn or left to rust in a yard amid the elements.

A few go straight to the crusher or end up… at the bottom of a river.

• Also: Here’s a Mazda RX-7 with Four Rotors, 1,000 Hp and Mad Sound Effects
• Also: A Bunch of Still-new Cars Come out of 30-year Confinement

That’s what happened to six vehicles near Portland, Oregon. The team from the YouTube channel Adventures with Purpose, which specializes in recovering submerged vehicles, dove into the Tualatin River and found a first-generation Mazda RX-7 from the early 1980s along with a 1973 Ford Mustang Mach 1, three trucks and an unidentified sixth car. Can you believe it?

Apparently, only the RX-7 and Mustang were still good enough, structurally speaking, to be pulled out of the river. The former was upside-down and had to be flipped underwater before the rescue, which made the whole task quite difficult. As for the latter, there are no details or images, unfortunately.

Restoring this submerged RX-7 seems like an impossible challenge. The roof is caved in, the sheet metal is in bad shape and the rotary engine under the hood (which refused to open) is obviously useless now. The entire cabin would need to be replaced, as well.

On a positive note, there’s a river in Oregon that now flows a little bit more freely. And if you’re wondering what the original Mazda RX-7 looked like, we’ll leave you with that picture…