I read this, and thought that the price jump wasn't happening in my part of Florida. I went to CL; the nice NA Miatas are indeed priced pretty high.
I was wrong.
I read this, and thought that the price jump wasn't happening in my part of Florida. I went to CL; the nice NA Miatas are indeed priced pretty high.
I was wrong.
I passed a nice BRG NA during my ride this morning. A good looking little car.
I was all set to buy one at some point soon, probably in the fall. But now I'm looking at a new home air conditioning system next year, goodbye ~$4k that would have bought a fun toy.
If this is true, it would be the first time I've ever had the opportunity to "buy low - sell high". That's the good news. The not-so-good news is that owning a 20+ year old car is full of hidden costs. Sure I bought mine for $2300, but since then it's had metal work, paint and a new top. I've put a fair amount of money into a set of Koni's, FM sways, etc. I've also slowly addressed all the typical stuff that a Miata needs: new radiator, timing belt/water pump, window switches, power antenna, etc., etc., etc. I've done as much of the work as I know how, but still have more into it than I like to admit. To be a "top dollar example" I'd probably need to replace a few things like the window seals. In short, the appreciation in value, if true, might just mean it's worth roughly what I have into it.
Wonder if clean high-mileage NAs will ever be worth anything? Got a rust-free '91 Smurf with 126k miles, runs great, all original or OEM equivalent, and I doubt I could get more than $4k for it.
From 10 feet away, it looks new. You get up close, and you see the little dings and scratches from 27 years of fair-weather daily driving. I'm kind of glad; if it were a low-mileage show-condition car, I'd be afraid to take it anywhere.
Those are the best ones, Barchetta. Drivers. Cars you can use instead of just preserving for the next owner.
Much as I hate door dings, scratches, that sort of thing... imperfections free me to enjoy the car to its fullest. Besides the cost, that "perfection" fear is part of why I'm reluctant to actually "finish" my Supra project. It's too much fun to be able to do a quick inspection, hop in, and drive the piss out of it.
I don't wanna lose that ability to just enjoy my car. Especially not at my own doing...
In reply to Keith Tanner :
I had the chance to drive Project: Survivor, the magazine's car from our "Forever MX-5" days, on vacation last year. It's an early 1990 with the 1.6... and 406,000 miles.
After owning two NA8 Miatas (both '96, for purely coincidental reasons -- the second one was an M Edition that I bought when my wife sent me pix of the car for sale and said "I think you should buy it," so what else could I do?), I love the zingy feel of the 1.6L. This one just has an exhaust, plus Konis on stock springs. It's so damned RIGHT.
Yes, the 1.8L is torquier -- but I distinctly remember the first day I drove Project: Survivor and thought, this engine really makes absolutely no torque whatever! Then I looked at the speedo. Torque, as I've always written, is how you open a stuck pickle jar; horsepower is how fast you make the lid spin. As a guy who loved his 1275 M.G. Midget, his Alfa Romeo GT 1300 Junior, and still loves his 1250cc M.G. TD, sometimes it's really fabulous not having anything to compensate for.
Best of all possible worlds, my next Miata would be the limited-edition black with red interior. I parked the M Edition next to one at the 25th Anniversary meeting at MRLS in 2014, and it did nothing to abate my desire for that color combo. But they're ALL good.
Oh, and thanks for everything you did to make them that way. I often recall a piece of advice you wrote (for GRM, I believe): "The rev limiter is your friend. Visit it often."
The 1.6 is a fun little engine. It's the cam choice. I had one with Web Camshaft 505s, high compression and throttle bodies that was a riot. My own 1990 has that 1.8 swap for practical reasons, it's turbocharged and I wanted the capacity to spin up the turbo better.
I've said for years that I think the black/red cars are going to be the most valuable in the long run.
The black/red, Sunburst yellow, and Racing green ones seem to pull the premiums.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Black/red doesn't surprise me, it seems there are more interiors floating around than actual cars.
This gives me hope that I might one day be able to get my money back out of my car...
... who am I kidding *looks at xidas, turbo, vvt swap, megasquirt....*
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