![]() 11/03/2016 at 22:31 • Filed to: Miata, Mazda | ![]() | ![]() |
You can make a bad decision with your head and a good decision with your heart at same time.
I bought this very Miata off Craigslist with a salvage title, broken radiator, broken speedometer and odometer, shot suspension, front end damage, no brakes, a cracked windshield and a leaky soft top. Oh... Did I mention it had 300,000 miles too?
1.5 years and 15,000 miles later, I’ve turned this car around, replacing every single component with the absolute highest quality parts I could find. It’s not a garage queen, it’s my current interpretation of the ultimate daily. Xida coilovers (squee!!) and a Fujitsubo exhaust (so jdm) are going on soon. Hopefully I can find a nice pair of s2k seats in the near future as well. We’ll see.
Here’s to many more miles, and many more smiles.
![]() 11/03/2016 at 22:40 |
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This post gives me a smile. Nothing is quite as satisfying to me as reviving a poor old car on life support, and bringing it back to daily driver duty.
You know, this might be some deeply repressed emotional damage working its way up, but I think I like cars more than people because when people die, you lose them forever. A car is always fixable, no matter how damaged. They never really die, people just give up on them.
Thank you for not giving up on that Miata.
![]() 11/03/2016 at 22:40 |
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You know how’s people said “no one is ever going to restore 90s cars, like people restore 60s cars.” Well this proves them wrong. Hell I’d saw it qualifies as a resto-mod.
![]() 11/03/2016 at 22:44 |
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The bodywork looks really straight. Has it been repainted?
![]() 11/03/2016 at 22:46 |
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Oh man. I’m still trying to come to terms with the fact that a 90's car can be TWENTY-SIX years old now...
Hopefully people will have access to restorable cars for many more generations
![]() 11/03/2016 at 22:48 |
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No, just some serious elbow grease with the waxing. Besides the hood alignment, this side’s not too bad.
![]() 11/03/2016 at 22:56 |
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That’s really good for 300k.
![]() 11/03/2016 at 22:58 |
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sounds awesome!
lets see some before pics
![]() 11/03/2016 at 23:08 |
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I dropped my old phone with all the pictures into a lake and they weren’t backed up... I have a few Gopro shots though!
Two weeks in, putting in a new radiator and some new stock calipers behind a Napa. Good times
![]() 11/03/2016 at 23:41 |
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I did the same thing, buying a car that made no logical sense to buy, but did it anyway. Spent way too much money fixing it in the process. Mine had been a ricer’s play thing who put poorly modifying it before maintenance and upkeep.
I gave up and sold it though because I was scared of conquering the bodywork and rust repair it desperately needed. I regret it so much.
![]() 11/04/2016 at 09:10 |
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I can relate :-) I didn’t keep mine for too long after making it a metric crap-ton better though.
![]() 11/04/2016 at 14:17 |
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Here’s to many more miles, and many more smiles.
I just passed one year of ownership of my first Miata, and I can’t believe I didn’t pick one up ages ago. The smiles-per-dollar “value” of this car is unbelievable.
![]() 11/05/2016 at 00:26 |
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Nice!