Brand new 1990 Miata NMNA

For almost the price of a brand new 2019 Miata...

https://madison.craigslist.org/cto/d/cambridge-1990-mazda-miata-mx-5/6867867904.html

These cars do exist. But if you're buying a car to preserve for posterity, why do you choose the base model? No PS, no AC, etc. And you also decide to jam an aftermarket radio in it along with some Pep Boys floor mats. This makes no sense.

That's not a "new" 1990. It's a 30 year old abandoned car that isn't covered in pigeon crap. It would need a full checkup and a bunch of maintenance before it could be driven.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Thinking back to when '90s were brand new, he probably got a base model because that is what came in when his number came up on the waiting list.  As the stories went back in the day, the waiting list for a Miata was so long that customers just paid to get on the waiting list.  Lets say you were number 55.  When that 55th car arrived it was yours to take or to pass until more arrived.  I know of two people who bought '90 Miatas and just took what was offered to them option and color wise.  Afterall, there were really just 3 colors in the beginning and 3 trim packages, base, A & B. 

$13,500 was the MSRP for a base model but also it was common to have $3,000 "price adjustments" added to the sticker by the dealer.  Therefore, this car at $16,000 is just about where they retailed at new back in 1990 when you factor in the $1,000 hard top.  

The shame of it all is that this guy has had a '90 Miata at his disposal for 30 years and he has only enjoyed it for 1,300 miles.  All that while and he will then just sell the car for what he paid for it.  

I am just being paranoid or does the cluster look jacked with the 6 not being parallel .

I remember what was going on in the summer of 1989, definitely. Still, if you're planning on keeping a car for 30 years, you'd think you'd go to a little more effort to get the right one - and then you wouldn't bodge in a non-OE radio.

To use your estimated pricing - $16,000 in the summer of 1989 is equivalent to $32,600 in 2019. Which means he's only selling it for half of what he paid AND he didn't get to drive it. Poor car.

BTW, the Collector's Corner of Miata.net is a peek into a very different group of Miata owners. These are the guys who buy the 1300 mile Miatas and who hoard floor mats. They were quite useful when I was writing one of my books, as I was able to get photos of what amounted to brand new 25 year old cars.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I see what you are saying about the non OE radio but however, a '90 base would have arrived at the dealership with no radio.  True to form would be if he had the blank plate.  It would be period correct for a base then to have an aftermarket radio added.  My base has a Clarion tape player with a Clarion 12 disk changer in the trunk (installed by the PO who owned it for the first 3 years.)  As of last season, it all still worked.  

Interesting about the Collectors corner.  I have in my possession a very rare Miata Dealer option.  As you may remember, in the late '80's the all-white ala AMG was very popular.  As such, dealers could actually specify white daisy alloys instead of the common silver alloys on white Miatas.  About '93 when I began autox'ing my Miata, I found these white alloys on close-out through whomever that big Southern Mazda Dealer was that did a lot a catalog parts sales.  The alloys were only $50 each new at that time.  I then autox'ed my red '90 on white factory alloys.  

There's a difference between a "period correct modification" and "original" to the sort of people who will pay top dollar for a minimal mileage car like this. I know it didn't have a radio when delivered, but does that mean it's okay to have one installed in a collector car? What about Koni shocks, JR sway bars and Katz fog lights? Or a polished valve cover? If you're looking for waaaaaay over market value in a car like this and you're preserving it for future generations, it seems really weird to molest it. With only 1300 miles on the car, that radio didn't get a chance for a lot of use! 

A base with no radio would have had the tall cubby and an "almost but not quite 1 din" blanking plate. I've got one of those cubbies sitting in my truck right now, actually. Looks like this car has one but the blanking plate is NLA and pretty hard to find. Still, it would be worth the effort if you wanted to make this a full on Pebble Beach car. Maybe Mazda has recreated them as part of their restoration program in Japan. You may also have to replace the tombstone, as the opening was a bit less than standard DIN width so it may have been modified and the new ones don't have quite the right graining.

I remember when Tommy blew out those white wheels. I would have put it a couple of years later, '95 or so.

Waste of a car and money.

Edit: for whoever didnt drive the thing

In reply to Keith Tanner :

As I think through the time line a little more...  I bought my 90 Miata in 93. I autoxed it first in 94 on steel wheels (because I already had them) and R1s.  It would have been my second season, so probably 95 that I bought the whites. 

We're also assuming the seller is the original owner.  He may have bought it to flip.  My mom knew a kid from high school killed in Vietnam and his parents put his newish muscle car up on blocks in the garage with no intention of ever selling it.

Seeing this is interesting because I wonder how many there are out there like this.  Plus, I wonder if these low mileage cars will command premium prices like muscle cars do these days.  On one hand I think they will, but then again, we seem to be less of a "car" society, so I don't know.

I have a question for Keith.  I've heard rumors of a low mileage car like this around here, but supposedly, it's extra special because of the color.  Supposedly, there were a very few of the early cars (I don't know if it was the first, second or third year) in "sunkist" orange.  Any truth to that rumor?

-Rob

Mothballing a Miata makes as much sense as mothballing a beetle, they're both reliable, with excellent parts availability. A sub 20000 car is going to have more issues than a 200000 one 

My NA always HATED to be parked.  Even with STABIL and everything else I could think of, it always ran like crap the first tank or two of gas after pulling it out of winter storage.  I can't imagine how cranky it would be with that little driving.  No thanks, even if it was cheap.

Good start for a Spec Miata.

Pete

In reply to NOHOME :

The 31k mile Miata that sold for less than 9.5k (all fees) on BAT would be a much cheaper entry into SM. 

Dropping a new motor in the '90 I'm selling would probably be cheaper yet ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

$16k isn't very close to a new 2019 Miata in cost...

trigun7469 said:

I am just being paranoid or does the cluster look jacked with the 6 not being parallel .

Don't look too hard at Mazda gauges. 

At least Mazda used the same font on everything.  When you notice that a Series 3 RX-7 cluster has a different font on every gauge, or different words/numbers on the same gauge, you can't unsee it.

What bothers ME about that Miata is they didn't put rags on the lift pads before raising it.  Now the undercoating is going to be all berked up on the chassis rails.

rob_lewis said:

We're also assuming the seller is the original owner.  He may have bought it to flip.  My mom knew a kid from high school killed in Vietnam and his parents put his newish muscle car up on blocks in the garage with no intention of ever selling it.

Seeing this is interesting because I wonder how many there are out there like this.  Plus, I wonder if these low mileage cars will command premium prices like muscle cars do these days.  On one hand I think they will, but then again, we seem to be less of a "car" society, so I don't know.

I have a question for Keith.  I've heard rumors of a low mileage car like this around here, but supposedly, it's extra special because of the color.  Supposedly, there were a very few of the early cars (I don't know if it was the first, second or third year) in "sunkist" orange.  Any truth to that rumor?

 

-Rob

The color cars!

I think they all got used as real cars and none were “preserved”. The yellow has an FM turbo and sees track time. The orange has a salvage title. I seem to recall one of the blues showed up a while back with a bunch of miles. They were sold to friends of Mazda and I would doubt that  any are low mileage. 

The low mileage queens do command a premium, but it’ll never be stupid money like muscle cars. I always use the MGB as an example of what to expect with Miata collectors. The biggest reason is that they’re all basically the same. There were no secret packages, no high power options, just different colors and minor package variations that were heavily advertised and easily available. 

If I had the coin,I would be all over that car because I think Keith's people would appreciate a nice clean car to rip apart and squeeze a V8 in.

BlindPirate said:

If I had the coin,I would be all over that car because I think Keith's people would appreciate a nice clean car to rip apart and squeeze a V8 in.

I know, I know, we all want to “piss off the purists” and all that, but it would be a waste of money. Low mileage commands quite a premium, and I don’t think they would have anymore difficult of a time working on a car with say 70k miles.  But if you need to burn money then there are probably worse ways to do it lol

You're not wrong, we wouldn't flinch at a rust-free 100k car.

The big advantage on this car as the base for a conversion would be the perfect interior and body. It's the same reason a lot of people had us molest Mazdaspeeds, not because the platform was better but because it came with a specific interior and exterior. If you're paying that much for a car, it MAY be worth a bit more to you to make sure it's as close to new as is possible.