My, my how fast plans change. Just last night at 6pm I was in the basement with my son just start to remove the front bumper cover on my...uh his...'90 Miata so that we could take it to the body shop for a frame pull. An hour and a half later I was on my way to buying a different Miata. Buying the '94 that was posted here last night. It'll make a better starting point for having him build an autox/HPDE car...since neither of us have a ton of mechanical aptitude. So the Miata we just bought a few weeks ago is now up for sale. Here are the details of what I know.
The car had been at IAA. My best guess is it was bought by a flipper, and he sold it to the poor girl I bought it from. She paid $1100 for it, and all he gave her was the salvage paperwork from IAA. She get lost trying to jump through the DMV hoops to get a rebuilt title, so she simply gave up and dumped the car. Just like this car, I saw her CL add minutes after it was posted and got there first.
From 10 feet it looks good-ish. Fairly shiny paint (though not the worlds best job), newer top. It starts, runs and drives. I drove it onto the tow dolly and have driven it up and down my neighborhood. Engine makes no horrible knocking noises, no terrible ticks, etc...sounds like a typical NA 1.6L (I've owned several). It had a sputter at 2000-4000rpm before it would come to life, but it wasn't making ugly sounds, just no power. Transmission shifts smoothly. Steering feels fine, brakes feel OK. Odometer shows just under 161,000 miles. It's a power window car, which both work...just slow. Interior is pretty good. Seats are in good condition. Dash and center console are good, it's missing the instrument panel cover. Well, we have it, but my son sat on it and broke it in half. It has 14" daisy rims on front and unknown brand 17" on the rear. However, I do have the other two daisy wheels, also painted black. Tires are still black, that's the best thing about them, figure you'll want new ones (one of the spare rims has a shredded tire).
It has a nasty ol' kink in the right front rail. It can be pulled out, we were about to have that done, but I suspect that's why it was at IAA. Oddly enough in the little I drove the car, it tracked nice and straight and felt fine. However, it's pushed back enough that the alternator pulley is rubbing, as is one hose.
The only thing my son and I did to it was put NGK plugs and wires in it to see if that would correct the engine stumble, but honestly haven't even fired it back up since we put them in last weekend.
One thing I really like about it is how rust free it is. I don't know if I've ever seen a 29 year old car with this little rust. It's amazing. Had to have been a southern car its' entire life.
I paid $300 for the car, plus renting the tow dolly, plugs/wires, etc... It's my son's money so I'd really like to get it back for him. I'd think you can probably get a title for it, but know that right now it only has salvage papers. Maybe use it as a kit donor, parts car, LeMons, whatever.
It's in the northwest suburbs of Atlanta. The car I'm buying is in Dayton, Ohio. I can go pick that up myself with my minivan and a dolly, but if you happen to be in Ohio and want my car, I'll take a less for the car if you wanted to bring the Ohio car here and bring my car home with you.
Shoot me an e-mail at SKJSS0307@gmail.com or reply here. Photos.... The 15 year old isn't included with the car, but for the right price....
