Found a '97 Miata w/blown HG and head removed. Dark green, cloth seats, hand crank windows, 115k, aftermarket wheels that look like the lightweight American Racing wheels the Neon guys used to like in the past. I'm waiting to confirm price but guessing less than a grand and the head has been removed and checked but not yet reinstalled. Crusty on passenger rocker ahead of rear wheel and bubbled in the same spot on drivers side.
I know the answer (buy it!) but what is good price for it?
I hate it when they rust there. It's hard to fix properly and it's going to get worse. With the head off (missing parts?), probably no Torsen and the rust, I'd walk away.
It comes down to whether it has a Torsen. If it does, that's worth close to a grand on its own :) I'd probably go for it, but that's because I have approximately 500 lbs of random Miata nuts and bolts to make that head replacement easy.
Call mazda with the VIN to confirm Torsen or not. We'll assume you're looking at a 5-speed car. Hardtop?
honestly, if it has the Torsen, buy it and part it out or make a tube frame frankencar out of it with an interesting engine bolted to the Miata 5 speed, or something (my Miata ended up getting a whole new passenger side rocker panel, fender to fender to get rid of the rust... it didn't need it but it was easier than patch panels since at least 3 layers of metal were rusted through... why does iron/steel have to rust? why can't it emit a faint scent of chocolate when exposed to oxygen rather than going straight to E36 M3 and taking your structural integrity with it?)
if it doesn't have the Torsen, I'd be tempted to still get it and still part it out, scrap anything that doesn't sell or is too damaged to sell (that you don't make a table out of, cue the TG engine block table 
) and you stand a chance of breaking even, depending on how much you bought the car for in the first place
It's a 97. Unless it was installed by the PO, given the options, it does not have a torsen.
In 94, they were giving the torsen away with almost every car. By 97, you had to add a huge options package to get the torsen.
Price is everything. I bought a 97' recently with a begi turbo set up,99' head, FM dual exhaust, rollbar, FM swaybars, tokico's, torsen, etc.etc. for $600. Needed an ECM cause it was missing and a valve cover as well. Also found a great deal on a 10AE because it had a minor porblem that the previous owner didn't know how to fix. 20 min of labor and I had a great car.Should of kept it.
Anyway. If it is a steal then by all means do it. If it's just a lil better than the average deal then I would hold out for the steal. They're out there.
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