Miata Hunting pt 5

Good ol Craigsnotifier lights up like the Bat Signal, and it’s a white roadster, steelies, ac, a kinda beat top, bump on the decklid, broken finish panel, but otherwise pretty clean.  Talk to the guy a bit, take a gander under the hood, looks like something leaked at one point.  Seller seems like a straight shooter, so we take it for a spin.

I hear an exhaust leak, but car runs well otherwise.  But at this point I’m thinking that it has no LSD, needs 250-350 in parts to get it to good shape.  Then my ringer goes off, which is currently the Top Gear theme.  The Seller is a car guy, and we can smell our own.

We chat about his Cobra, Galaxy, folks we know in common, etc.  He’s a good guy.

Upon stopping to talk numbers, we realize we aren’t going to come to an agreement.  I believe it to be a $1700-$2000 car, and $2500 just isn’t going to work for me.  C’est la vie.

Miata Hunting parts 2 & 4

Pt 2

I have the awesomely addictive app for my Android phone called Craigsnotifier.  I have it set to notify me on Miatas, among other things.

I get a buzz. Miata, unknown milage, then the pictures.  Dreadful black stripes on red paint, horrid chrome aftermarket wheels, and mentions of a bump on the front fender.  Ok, he’s asking $1400, might be worth it.  I call up, and the seller quickly strikes me as a legit guy.  He’s a cop, got the car on trade, tells me the milage is unknown, tells me about the bump in the front, and said someone called him just before me and has first dibs.  Fair enough.  I tell him to give me second dibs, and he does, tells me to roll over at a specified time.

I get there a bit early, and the gold wheels, bright blue, and boy racer wing of the STi is noticeable, so after everyone looking at the car eyeballs me I go ahead and turn around to park.  Getting out I see a rifle case, and cash, the seller tells me the guy is taking it.  I give it a look-over, notice a busted tail light, finish panel, and the atrocity of the wheels.  The car is running, and sounds slightly off, not ‘on its last legs off’ but off.

..oh well, it’s sold.  This was Sunday.

Pt 4

Back to Craigsnotifier, I see a Roadster, no price, figured I’d call.  Call the guy up, ask him to tell me about the car ‘Red, black stripes, chrome wheels...’  I interject, and ask if he just bought it, then tell him I’m the guy that rolled up.  Alarm bells go off, either this thing has bigger problems, or he’s flipping it for profit.  He then tells me he didn’t realize it was so small, and he’s not comfortable in it.  Ok, buyers remorse.  The guy then tells me he was just looking for wheels, not a sports car, and not the rather austere, very small, and epically trackable car that is a Miata.

…I know at least some of the issues with the car, it’s cheap, but now I need to figure out if it’s worth it. This was Tuesday.

Miata Hunting Part 3

Parusing the good ol’ CL, and I see pictures of a Red roadster, a 94, with 100k miles at what looks to be a salvage yard.  My interest is picqued, as is my skeptiscism. I give the seller a call, chat with him briefly, he says he closes at 5pm, I ask if he’s a business rather than a private seller, he explains it’s at his truck/heavy equipment shop. 

I head right over.

I check the car out a bit, he flips me the keys and tells me to check it out, I comply.  No power steering, cool, crank windows, hmm, were those underbody spoilers I noticed?  This might be an R, I’m not sure.

The car was repainted, but was honestly in killer shape.  The price is a bit over the FMMF, but I may have to make a concession and pull from savings for this one.  The Seller was a car guy to boot, I’d rather keep the money among car folk.

hmmmm.....

Miata hunting pt 1

After hitting about $1800 I knew it was time to start shopping.  First one was a BRG car.  Upon initial inspection it looked to be in good shape, leaking around the master cylinder..  Knowing possible rust issues I asked where the car was from, and he said he didn’t know.  Took the car for a spin, and the seller spoke about numerous Miatas he had and sold, which of course raised some flags.

The car felt good, sounded good, no blown shocks, steering felt tight.  After getting back for a post drive inspection I noticed a spot of rust on the door, and at this point I was unfamiliar with the roughing on the lower half of the door, so I mistakenly thought both sides may have had issues.  After pointing out the rust the seller talks about the car being from the Mid-Atlantic… wait… I thought you didn’t know where it was from.

Between the red flags, the price, and the rust I had to pass.  It wasn’t worth trying to haggle from the price, even if it would have wound up in budget.