For $2000, Is Miata Still Always The Answer?

"JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!" (jqj213) 09/07/2013 at 14:29 • Filed to: NPOCP, Miata, MX-5, crashed, wreck. for sale

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Anyone that has been on either jalopnik or Oppo for an hour knows how we feel about Miatas. They are simply a great car. I'd love one if I wasn't such a big guy (I look ridiculous driving one around town).But for many other people, they love it as a daily driver. I'm sure the owner of todays NPOCP loved his too, but now its for sale and up to you if his $2000 aksing price is worth it.

The 1999 Miata was a great car when it was new. Hell, its a great car today. This example has (read: had) a very nice white body with beige top and beige interior. I know this is a personal preference, bit I prefer white and beige to whte and black. These rims, although not stock, are not ostentatious and work well with the car. Suposoedly, it still has ice cold air andthe engine runs great. It does have a manual transmission too. This is a great drivers car; if you can get over the body.

This example also has plenty of upgrades including: k&n cai, ecu chip, roll bar, ceramic headers, flowmaster custom exhaust and muffler, new spark plug wires, water pump, timing belt, brad new rotors slotted and drilled, new ceramic pads, 6 month old tires, aftermarket rims, have new stage 2 racing clutch brad new in box ($300) value , new cam pos sensor, new fuel filter and pump. The owner claims it was meticulously cared for; always babied and maintined.

According to the seller,

car has moderate-severe body damage

but to me, it seems a bit worse than that. The windshield is cracked and bent out of place and the front fender is horribly smashed. I cannot tell if it is purely cosmetic or if the damage is more serious.

The asking price is $2000. What do you think? NPOCP?

RMudkips > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! 09/07/2013 at 14:33

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Huh, a little Bondo'll do.

I think it's CP in this condition, the damage seems very severe. Might as well part its salvageable stuff.

desertdog5051 > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! 09/07/2013 at 14:33

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CP. That "A" pillar is going to cost a fortune to repair. Not to mention the top will probably leak from then on.

. . > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! 09/07/2013 at 14:33

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If the windshield frame is bent then it's always gonna be a write off.

JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! > . . 09/07/2013 at 14:34

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I wasn't sure if it was that serious or not..

JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! > desertdog5051 09/07/2013 at 14:35

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I never knew how important that was. I thought you could just rip it out and drop in a new one. maybe the damage is quite serious

. . > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! 09/07/2013 at 14:35

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It's terminal.

945T > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! 09/07/2013 at 14:46

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Sell some ($1500?) in parts, convert to a roadster by chopping the top and putting in a little piece of lexan, and giggity giggity giggity let's go racin'!

Bird > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! 09/07/2013 at 14:48

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I think he's actually not far off. Maybe it's because I live in LA where Miata prices are stupid high. Key is it's a 1999 (one of the most desirable engines because of the head).

Did he say 6-speed or 5-speed manual? If 6, he's almost on the money, for a 5 talk him down to $1500-$1600. Then buy a clean 1990 shell (lightest year). I bought a clean 1990 runner for $1k, put another $1k into to make it a decent driver. Instead you could buy something like this, swap all the mechanicals and be done.

It's a parts car, but the parts are fairly valuable. Depending on who made the rollbar it's worth $300-$400, engine, trans, and brakes are desirable upgrades for earlier cars...all in all I'd say not a bad price if that's what you want to do. Just a small market for that.

Edit: Interior is valuable too...

. . > 945T 09/07/2013 at 14:50

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A pillars on convertibles are very, very strong. They are your roll cage and a key point of the chassis. If the impact was strong enough to bend the windshield frame there's a good chance the rest of the chassis is not straight either, even if it didn't score a direct hit.

Right now this Miata is nothing more than a bucket of parts loosely in the shape of a car.

Corey CC97, MAZDA DPI IS STILL BAE JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV VISIT FLORIDA RACING LIVES FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! 09/07/2013 at 14:52

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NP. Here's what you do with it.
1. Purchase.
2. Remove A-pillar (so you don't have to fix it and you get something like the MX-5 Superlight concept from a couple years ago), windshield, roof, and anything else that is unnecessary.
3. Repair any remaining damages.
4. Install roll cage, LS/13b/2JZ/some other amazing engine, race tires, etc.
5. Take to track day (will probably need a trailer at this point since I'm guessing it wouldn't be road legal anymore).
6. Race.
7. ???
8. Profit.

Bird > Corey CC97, MAZDA DPI IS STILL BAE JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV VISIT FLORIDA RACING LIVES FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS 09/07/2013 at 14:54

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I was just collecting these photos to post the same thing...

. . > Corey CC97, MAZDA DPI IS STILL BAE JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV VISIT FLORIDA RACING LIVES FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS 09/07/2013 at 14:57

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I don't think just a rollcage would be sufficient. Since the A pillar and strenghtening points around the firewall are such a key point in a convertible's construction I'd say the car would need some strenghtening braces. Povided the rest of the chassis is straight of course.

GhostZ > . . 09/07/2013 at 15:05

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A good roll cage would be sufficient. But it would have to be something fabricated and welded, that went deep into the body, not just some bolt-on kit.

Bird > . . 09/07/2013 at 15:21

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I think you're overestimating the damage. You're absolutely right that it's designed to be very strong, but I doubt that accident severely warped that car. The cable hit that pillar midspan, and rode up the pillar pushing it downward. That's one of the weakest points of the pillar. A downward force would have been much harsher to the rest of the chassis. You'd need to inspect it for sure, but the door and hood gaps still look reasonable from the photos.

As for running it speedster style, all you need is a welder and some tubes! People race them like this as well. No, a bolt in rollbar won't suffice, but a properly designed cage will.

dsigned001 - O.R.C. hunter > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! 09/07/2013 at 15:37

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CP. That car will a) cost more to fix than it would be to buy a clean one and b) never be worth what a clean one would be once it was repaired and c) is quite expensive for a car in such bad shape (at least around here).

Takuro Spirit > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! 09/07/2013 at 15:46

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I love these ads, with pics from the accident scene.

"Yeah, hold on, officer, just one more angle for Craigslist..."

Squid > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! 09/07/2013 at 19:59

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Hay guise, it doesn't have a roll bar, it is a shitty style bar. this car is a CP all day long. Parts car is all this will be and for the sum of its parts it is not worth this price. . .

JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! > Takuro Spirit 09/07/2013 at 20:24

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That was my favorite part... I guess it proves that it was safe though if he could get out and take pictures before any emergency crews arrived.

Takuro Spirit > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! 09/07/2013 at 20:31

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Yeah but with a little more speed or a different angle those cables might have decapitated the guy before he could even think of selling it.

Wonk Unit > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! 09/10/2013 at 10:26

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its a little steep for 2k, but if you do get it, get this as well.

http://www.flyinmiata.com/exocet/

Casper > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! 01/29/2014 at 15:29

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CP at that price for me. The car wasn't worth a whole lot more than that before it was wrecked. Unless he was able to be flexed down under $1500, I wouldn't really even think about it. If it were cheap enough, you could cut the pillars off, put a stubby lexan window on, and make it a racer. The problem with "mods" is when added to the fact it was crashed into a cable, you get a picture of an owner who wasn't too bright and was probably hot rodding it a lot.

The only way to know for sure if it was worth it would be to get brands of all the parts, receipts, etc. Prove he did things right up until the crash, then decide what the parts are worth. Things like "aftermarket rims" and "slotted and drilled rotors" mean very little. There are good and bad versions of all parts.

Fuel_of_Satan > . . 01/29/2014 at 15:42

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Most American states will allow quite severe hacking of unibody cars, I'm sure there is some full-on roadster potential here if you're handy. Some states are more sensible and require the unibody to be intact for the car to be considered a car.

Still, not at two grand. There is some pretty good potential for structural damage up front as well where the fender is fastened.

On another note, this guy ought to thank his guardian angel, he was this |—-| close to decapitation-by-wire.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! 01/29/2014 at 15:43

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I drive a 99 Miata.

Actually, I share it with my wife. She drives it 3-seasons of the year, because she loves it.

I drive it in the winter, because I can, and because she prefers the AWD car in the winter, when she commutes... and we use it to carpool when it really gets bad, since unfortunately, my old SVX is down, and I don't have the money to fix it now.

I am 6'2" and not what one would call 'thin', yet I drive it fine. it is tight, but cozy, and workable. I don't frankly care what it looks like to others.

But this car is either a track roadster without a windscreen, as cory cc97 suggests (roll hoops instead, though...) or a parts car.

If the driveline and most of the interior is good to go, it is probably worth the asking price in parts value... the top skin is probably decent, but the top frame might be bent.

If it were just the front-end damage, the under-structure could be straightened and new panels put on, and it would be fine.

The windshield frame damage is what might make the car's resale afterward not measure up to the cost of structurally repairing the windscreen frame, and putting a new windshield in the car... and it would probably be weakened in terms of safety for the next time.

hethoughtofcars > Takuro Spirit 01/29/2014 at 16:10

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I would guess they are insurance photos. Regardless though the guy was very forward thinking....

puddler > Bird 01/29/2014 at 16:15

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the d-type-esque miata is all the tits.

daender > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! 01/29/2014 at 16:19

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CP, only worth maybe 1k$. Then approach it like this.

1) Strip interior and sell for $ although black interiors usually go for more.

2a.) Convert into speedster like others have mentioned.

2b.) Or part out engine, transmission, and diff for 1.5k$ and make a nice profit.

. . > Fuel_of_Satan 01/29/2014 at 20:28

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True. My write-off comment was more in the sense of safety than the impossibility of putting the car back on the road. There are bodyshops that could hack that thing back together, but the car would be an utter deathtrap.

Murray > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! 01/29/2014 at 21:09

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The engine by itself is worth half that. You could easily sell the rest and turn a profit. I'm actually surprised one of the salvage companies hasn't picked it up already.

Fuel_of_Satan > . . 01/29/2014 at 22:38

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I only just noticed this is a relatively old article, sometimes my sidebar sends me the strangest places...

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Wonk Unit 01/30/2014 at 10:57

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awesome

colorfulyawn > Corey CC97, MAZDA DPI IS STILL BAE JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV VISIT FLORIDA RACING LIVES FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS 02/07/2014 at 15:02

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While I would totally do that to a Miata, I don't think I'd want to pay $2,000 for the car I'm starting with. I haven't looked at the market lately, but something tells me that there are still $2,000 Miatas out there with significantly less damage than this.