by "AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
Published 08/26/2017 at 00:08
by "AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
Published 08/26/2017 at 00:08
Tags: Is this how e30 guys felt?
STARS: 2
Miata hardtops have become incredibly difficult to find near me. And they’ve more than doubled in price. There used to be 15-30 on the Seattle Craigslist any given day at $700-1400. The last few months? I’ve seen no more than 2 at a time. Prices I remember from this week have been $2000, $2500, and $1600—for a beat to shit black top with no window—what a steal. Excuse me while I cry in the corner.
I’m semi-smashed, working on some whiskey & coke’s and this topic popped into my head and made me sad. Be sad with me Oppo, feel my anguish.
Even the forums aren’t helping much. The pricing is better but still rising, and availability has plummeted there as well. Best bet seems to be buying from a Canadian forum member and driving across the border. Unfortunately they all seem to be near the east coast...
Hardtops are literally getting more expensive than a decent running car was a few years back. Sadly.. After being cheap so long the cars themselves are getting pricier too. The guy asking 10k for a clean, stock NA with 70k miles isn’t insane anymore. It sells. Special editions, yellow paint, purple paint, blue paint? Tack on another couple grand. LSD? Yep, that’ll cost ya.
I was hoping the Miata would stay cheap forever. Mostly because at 350k miles none of this changes the fact that my car as a whole has zero value. But hey, some of the most expensive parts on it will sell for 90% what I paid for them so that’s good, right? Not so fast. Unfortunately that just means if I ever decide to sell, I’ll be parting the car out just like everyone else in my situation and thus further contributing to the problem. Eventually the only 1st gen Miatas for sale will be the pristine garage queens at unholy prices and the heavily modified racer/autox builds that are way too much car for most. But can you blame me when I’d be lucky to get 3k for the “car” and could easily get 4x that with almost zero effort by putting low supply, high demand parts on the forums?
Tl:dr
I want a hardtop, but don’t want to spend the rediculous amount of money people are asking now. But I don’t have a choice, because rallyx rules require an oem hardtop to compete. Also, Miatas shouldn’t appreciate in value. It’s bad for enthusiasts looking for cheap, fun cars
"Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo" (thetomselleck)
08/26/2017 at 00:14, STARS: 1
I can get my mom to sell you hers. Interested?
"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
08/26/2017 at 00:36, STARS: 0
Very.
"Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo" (thetomselleck)
08/26/2017 at 00:44, STARS: 0
Perfect. The clearcoat is shit but is otherwise flawless. I’ll talk to her this weekend. She can make a larger profit selling her NA and hardtop separately too.
"Eric @ opposite-lock.com" (theyrerolling)
08/26/2017 at 01:07, STARS: 1
It’s sad, but I bet the Miata through some model (NC?) will probably be the last cheap and plentiful fun car that will ever be available. No other fun cars have sold in large numbers and no version of the Miata sold like the NA. I don’t think the NDs will ever drop to basic transportation prices since the Miata cat has been out of the bag so long.
"Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo" (thetomselleck)
08/26/2017 at 02:10, STARS: 0
Gimmie your email so we discuss this under more gentlemanly circumstances.
drzoidbergoppo@gmail.com
"ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com" (ita97)
08/26/2017 at 03:34, STARS: 2
Spec Miata is what happened to all the hardtops, especially since not all places to play will let them run the newer, super lightweight aftermarket one that came out a few years ago.
"daender" (daender)
08/26/2017 at 09:25, STARS: 1
West coast prices suck, especially since a lot of them get stolen. Hardtops are still around 1k$ in the southeast and you can pick up Canadian tops east of the Rockies for under 1k$.
You might want to start looking at hardtops in neighboring states. I drove seven hours to grab mine.
This years ago before I got it painted black.
"Scary__goongala!" (corymagee)
08/26/2017 at 10:45, STARS: 1
Damnnn, the most expensive hardtop I’ve seen on Craigslist was $1200. But it was Montego Blue Mica like my car, which is way less common. So for that one I thought the price made sense. But 2 grand for a plain ass color? GTFO
"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
08/26/2017 at 13:07, STARS: 0
I’m about ready to wire someone money and have it shipped over here. I saw a 1900 Miata with hardtop and it got snatched immediately, then the hardtop went up for 1500 and sold. Dude walked away with a beat up, but functional and 97 Miata for 400...
Montego Blue. The jealousy is real
"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
08/26/2017 at 13:12, STARS: 1
I was hoping the Fiesta ST could... And then Ford had to go and axe it. Other than that, I don’t know. Base Mustang’s don’t really seem to have the same “fun car” cred that made the Miata, and the Z’s before it so great
"Eric @ opposite-lock.com" (theyrerolling)
08/26/2017 at 13:47, STARS: 0
The problem with the Fiesta ST is like most interesting cars these days: They didn’t sell enough of them and definitely didn’t sell them to non-enthusiasts.
The problem with Pony Cars is that they retain value and they’re too large/heavy. The reason the Miatas and E30s are so popular is that they sold in large numbers (mostly to non-enthusiasts), they dropped to very low prices as used cars, they’re really light, they’re RWD, and many were sold with manual transmissions.
The changes in the car market in general result in almost no manual cars and tons of CUVs, which doesn’t bode well for future auto enthusiasts.
"Scary__goongala!" (corymagee)
08/26/2017 at 16:25, STARS: 0
Reread my comment and realized it probably sounded like I bought the hardtop I saw. Definitely not the case though, I dont want a hardtop for my car but I look them up occasionally out of curiosity.