I'm an idiot...

"Flavien Vidal" (flyingfrenchy)
07/06/2017 at 00:06 • Filed to: None

As you may remember I recently bought a very nice NA Miata, that I’ll be offering for sale for fairly cheap. Well, I’m an idiot.

The good news: I’ll be able to enjoy the car for a few months...

The bad news: I misread the date of production of the roadster... It was built on October 5th 1992 (10/5/1992) and I read it as May 10th 1992 (5/10/1992).... That means I can’t sell it to an american for 3 to 4 extra months... I feel dumb. It’s still a good nice car, but I’m in Japan and storing cars for a few months just isn’t practical. At least it doesn’t cost me anything, but still, sucks.

Anyway, the car arrived in Amagasaki. Here are a couple extra pics of it...

DISCUSSION (21)

Honeybunchesofgoats > Flavien Vidal
07/06/2017 at 00:11

It’s not your fault for them using commie dates.

cluelessk > Flavien Vidal
07/06/2017 at 00:15

Would it make sense to try and sell to Canada?

Flavien Vidal > cluelessk
07/06/2017 at 00:21

I could but the market is a lot smaller and Canadians are poor now that their currency is back to normal lol... Not to mention import taxes are much higher there than in the US. This 5000$ Miata would end up costing around 5700$ once imported and registered in the US (some states’ registration is more expensive than other but on average, it’s cheap.

In Canada, it would cost around 6300$ + lots of money to register it properly. That’s 8200$ in Canadian money... It’s a hard hit on their wallet.

Flavien Vidal > Honeybunchesofgoats
07/06/2017 at 00:22

Commie dates are logical. But I use your damn system too often and get mixed up too lol

The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock > Flavien Vidal
07/06/2017 at 00:22

British Columbia has huge JDM scene, & gobble it up quickly if it’s cheap enough.

facw > Flavien Vidal
07/06/2017 at 00:51

But even more logical:

Kinja'd!!!

Which of course is used about nowhere outside of the database world...

Steve in Manhattan > Flavien Vidal
07/06/2017 at 01:15

Easy to sell an RHD Miata here in US ‘Murrica?

Flavien Vidal > Steve in Manhattan
07/06/2017 at 01:34

Apparently lol... Bought it just for fun, but got request of quite a few Americans for more... Currently 3 people have shown interest in buying it and I still haven’t put it for sale officially yet lol

DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time > facw
07/06/2017 at 01:48

The correct format is 05 Jul 2017. It’s literally impossible to missread.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Flavien Vidal
07/06/2017 at 04:20

I did something similar at a store that sold food products from overseas. At first I thought they had a bunch of expired product on the shelf and then I realized the date thing. The stuff was close to expiring that same year but was not actually expired. Yet.

And this is why I always write my dates as something like 27 May 2017. Smallest to largest, with clear understanding of which is the month and which is the day. It is understood worldwide so long as you know the names of the months in English...

random001 > Flavien Vidal
07/06/2017 at 06:28

Aw, man. Someone installed the steering wheel on the wrong side. Going to take that long to put it back on the correct side, then?

Arrivederci > Flavien Vidal
07/06/2017 at 09:57

Well that’ll give you some extra time to find a nice black trunk to swap that isn’t adorned with that ugly wing :).

Flavien Vidal > Arrivederci
07/06/2017 at 10:22

It’s really not bad... Not a wing guy but I know I wouldn’t bother removing it if it were to be my car...

Also, 3 bolts to remove, a bit of filler and some black paint does the trick of the song is that big of a deal.... No need for a new one :)

Tristan > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time
07/06/2017 at 10:24

This is the one I use most.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Flavien Vidal
07/06/2017 at 12:00

That is unreasonably nice.

Robert Belvin > Flavien Vidal
07/06/2017 at 20:04

What’s up with the Rolls-Royce lookin’ feller in the left of the first pic? P.S. I might hit you up for that Miata when it’s of legal age.... I owe my mom one for wrecking her ‘91 a few years back :o

Flavien Vidal > Robert Belvin
07/06/2017 at 20:27

It’s an MG TC that’s been stored there for the past 30 years lol. As for the Miata, I’ll get another one before that ;)

MM54 > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time
07/06/2017 at 22:05

This is how I write dates. I often get weird looks from my coworkers, but it may be catching on - I noticed someone else updated a document recently and put the date that way. I don’t know if they were just matching my formatting from elsewhere or what but it was pleasing to see.

SantaRita > Flavien Vidal
07/10/2017 at 11:02

flavian, honestly speaking , what would a middling FD cost to buy and ship over? Are they still somewhat available/common? Id even take one with a bad motor so i could rebuilt it.

did you make it to 7's day in Japan? we did a local version/cruise in the midwest so now I want an FD EVEN MORE.

Kinja'd!!!

Flavien Vidal > SantaRita
07/10/2017 at 11:25

Hey, while I cn indeed find a 1992 RX7, you have to understand that those are not easy to come by here... Not only is it the first year for the FD, but they come out rarely at auction... I can add to that the 50% of those that come out at auction aren’t FD I’d want to buy myself lol (crap bodykits, unknown history, known accident...etc).

So if you want one, RIGHT NOW, I can do that... I wouldn’t recommend it though. FD RX7 are rare in the US, they are seen as cars that aren’t easy to find... They were sold there for like 2 or 3 years only. In Japan they were sold until 2002. Average condition FD RX7 aren’t worth much here (7 to 8000$) and that will flood the US market very soon...

So you could jump on JDM 1992 RX7 and I’d be happy to take your money lol, but I don’t recommend it. A nice 1992 will cost you around 15000$ right now and it’s just not an investment... Prices will go down as american can import all those FD nobody wants here :)

Be patient, wait a little and you’ll get one for quite a bit cheaper in a couple years.. :)

SantaRita > Flavien Vidal
07/10/2017 at 12:00

excellent advice and perspective. i’ll keep saving a little longer. i know i’d prefer a 1994+ anyway with the interior materials updated to less brittle.