IDK stands for three profound words that I rarely utter in my travels.
I… Don’t… Know…
I don’t know what this Miata was at one time, or is supposed to be as it basks in the near infernal heat and humidity of a late July afternoon in North Georgia.
Is it a high-end custom creation? An experimental model with strong corporate roots? A racer converted to street use? A badge queen with enough features to be the jack of all convertible trades?
There is so much custom in this ride that, well, I need a few observant pairs of eyes to figure it all out.
Feel free to say Hi Mr. NA Miata.
We know that you’re at least a first generation model. A wonderful lineage that represents convertible nirvana incarnate to thousands of enthusiasts.
You should have no trouble finding a good home. Now open your mouth and say, “Vrooomm!!!”
Hmmm… no cavities. Clean. Dare I say,”Impressive!” I take it you had a prior owner that treated you like a member of the family.
Now let’s open the door and see what awaits us.
Holy frijoles!
Other than the dashbaord and those roll down windows, nothing seems stock.
I don’t even know where to begin?
Okay, let’s look at that trunklid. Maybe that should give us some more information.
EUNOS? In the U.S. of A.? It can’t be. Those are usually right hand drive as well.
It could be an M, or a Nardi, or maybe even a base model tricked out to the extreme.
And what is it with this R.Z. Aizawa fellow? Maybe the trunk has a few answers.
Well, at least I know where the airbag went. That car cover is also a nice site for a sore enthusiast eye, and an Optima battery is hidden in a corner crevice if you look hard enough.
In fact, the owner seemed to have a love for you that went way beyond the usual Miata level love affairs.
It appears to be a custom job to the extreme. The steering wheel, seats, carpets, dashboard trim, innumerable engine components, aluminum alloys and paintwork…
Even the convertible top is not original. No zipper or plastic in the back. Thank God!
For a guy who is known as the keeper of rarified automotve knowledge (call me the Cliff Claven of auto enthusiasts if you must) this circumstance is agonizing to the near point of a Rain Man meltdown.
So help me out here. What is it? Here’s the VIN for the chosen few that may be able to go beyond my Carfax and Autocheck capabilities.
JM1NA353XT0718246
Cost-no-object personalization. I see Katzkin seat covers, I think.. and that instrument bezel is not cheap, I once looked into one.
You sohuld ask at the forum and http://www.miata.net.
It’s Montego Blue (paint code M8). The color was first offered on the ’94 M-Edition. This one is not an M-Edition as it is the wrong year (96 M’s were a darker navy blue) and doesn’t have power windows.
So, you’ve got a ’96 Montego Blue. Probably a base package car. In ’96 they offered a “Popular Equipment Package” which you do not have (again, manual windows are a giveaway). The leather on the seats is aftermarket. The Eunos and Roadster badges are mad-tyte-JDM-yo but don’t mean anything in ‘Murrica.
Air conditioning was always a separate option, not part of a package. Hooray, you have it!
Because it’s a base car, it’s got an open differential. The shift knob is an M-Edition knob. A base car would not have those tweeters on the door panels (and because of the black interior, the panels should be black, too). The door panels are from an earlier 1.6L car – the 1.8’s with tan leather interiors had black-topped door panels (the top-most “bar” that runs across the panel). Those wheels are aftermarket and probably pretty heavy – Miatas are very sensitive to wheel weight, given the car’s weight and low horsepower.
What you have here, in my opinion, is a good car with a nice paint color and a previous owner that tried to cobble together “a nicer version” of it – and didn’t have much taste in the process.
I love the paint color, and if this were mine, I’d immediately start stripping things off of it (badges, chrome bling-bling style bar that will only hurt you more in a crash, gauges back to stock, wheels) and make it a bit more tasteful.
Interesting pickup, and I’m curious to see what you do with it next!
Because it’s a base car, it’s got an open differential. – Hey if I went to all that trouble I’d upgrade that sucker too. Don’t count your chickens until their hatched.
Thanks very much Jake. I am actually going to take some pictures underneath the vehicle as well so that the description becomes a bit more complete.
This one seemed to be the most unique Miata I have ever seen at the auctions. so naturally, I had to buy it.
This is fun, let me try:
1. Headlight louvres
2. Hood pins
3. Tow hooks
4. Tinted lenses
5. Powder coated/painted valve cover
6. Cold air intake
7. Aluminum radiator
8. Strut tower brace
9. Style bar
10. Katskinz seat covers
11. Nardi wheel (wide one)
12. Nardi wood shift knob
13. Aftermarket gauges/gauge lights
14. Aftermarket wheels (don’t appear to be a popular aftermarket miata wheel)
15. Chrome filler cap
16. Aftermarket head unit
17. Misc interior bits (chrome surrounds, wood door applique)
18. Painted brake calipers (poorly)
19. JDM badges and side markers
20. Newish top
I think #s 6,7,8,10,11, 12, and 20 are all pluses; 1, 2, 9, and 14 are negatives (all pretty easy to reverse); and the rest are kind of neutral.
Believe it or not some of those mods are mildly expensive. I’d be curious how the underside looks (suspension and chassis stiffening mods). Also, what does that plaque on the engine say?
I laughed out loud (in the best possible way) at this post because of the trouble you took to break out all the mods. Great job, though obviously a few Miata fans would like/dislike more of the mods than others.
Regardless, here in California a retail Craigslist price for that car in good (not excellent, but good) could be at least $3,500, depending on mileage. And 115K on one of these cars is no problem, as long as you have records of a timing belt/water pump change.
And then all the mods would cost at least $1000-1500 to add. I think a buyer could be lucky to get this car from you for $4,500 or not to much below. (Clean, relatively unmolested NA Miatas are starting to get less common, and these cars are not going down in value!)
All this makes me wonder how a car like this, which would be so readily traded from enthusiast to enthusiast, wound up at an auction. Somebody died?
#2 is not easy to reverse as there are now extra holes in the hood.
#6 the Cheap-O ebay fliter is not a plus it is a big negative since now the engine gets hot air from under the hood instead of cold air like the factory set up. It is a nice cheap, easy way to make the engine ping and lower horsepower.
Stock air box is actually in that same location. With the heat shield I doubt the aftermarket intake would have any affect whatsoever on hp… might be louder though.
> Also, what does that plaque on the engine say?
Looks like “R.S.Aizawa” to me.
Jake, we need you. Please come sign up. That much arcane Miata knowledge needs an outlet!
wow steve. i know it’s against your religion but this one is a keeper. if it’s too flashy for you at least make sure it gets into the hands of someone who will take proper care of it.
That’s always my goal.. I would rather see it on the road for the next 10 to 15 years than to sell it to someone who is just looking for the proverbial flavor of the month.
Looks rather like a Miata with a whole aftermarket catalog thrown at it. That gauge cluster is just wild. I’ve seen that steering wheel before on higher end Eunos roadsters.
I agree with those who say it is just a heavily customized base Miata.
Honestly I think it is really freaking cool. 🙂 If I was in the market for a convertible, I’d be in love. But then I’m an enthusiast and not the average Joe who might walk onto your lot, Steve. I bet you could get a pretty decent price for that one on eBay or by posting it on a forum.
This will be an Ebay/forum deal. I won’t have it anywhere near my lot.
Eunos isnt unusual as a badge on these here we get em ex JDM, and the various non stock items look JDM boyracer too but no airbag would mean no compliance here and it would be a track car or parts unable to be registered. Maybe its been converted from RHD, that might explain the lack of airbag, give it a buff put stupid money on it and hope it goes away.
The airbag was in the trunk along with the original steering wheel.
They reckon that wont help if you crash it here, but from what Ive seen of them youd be seriously stupid if you crashed one you can steer around anything in one at any speed it will do I meant to look for one today while I was cruising to check the badge placement but work got cancelled.
holy crap, as much as it looks like a custom job, i like it alot. too bad that odometer glass looks cracked.
Not cracked. The odometer reads 113k and it’s only been driven about a thousand miles a year for the last four years.
I wish I fit into one. And before I get the usual onslaught of ‘but I fit!’, I don’t, sorry. Left arm hangs out of the car, my line of vision is about a foot over the top of the windshield frame.
It is funny, however, how the interior looks so much better with an actual steering wheel in it.
Someone went crazy with used parts from Craigslist and some kind of tuner catalog.
All in all I don’t think it would be that difficult to put it back into acceptable shape and get a pretty good penny for it. It looks very clean all the way around. Some of the details need to be put back to stock, but other than that you’ll be able to find a baby-boomer who would love a tastefully customized but clean Miata.
First order of business…take of the stupid badges, put regular headlight covers on it and get rid of the red painted tow hooks.
Lastly, but very important, put the airbag steering wheel back on it and sell the other one on ebay. Open yourself into some serious liability selling a car without an airbag if something should happen down the road.
Untint the turnsignals. All stickers in engine compartment removed, put a factory air box back on it…
oh yeah, spend the $100.00 on and aftermarket white face gauge kit for it to get rid of the stary stary night blue ones that are on it now…that is just weird.
I like the gauge setup and the steering wheel. It’s probably a blast to drive like any 5-speed Miata no doubt is…the round-butt rear end and jellybean taillight styling sears my retinas and ruins what I think is an otherwise attractive car.
I included a thorough write-up on your Facebook page, but this is a stock, base Miata with a boatload of mods. I *think* that power steering was standard by ’96 (mine has it, along with roll-up windows instead of power), and your car appears to have it (the dipstick behind the driver’s-side headlight).
Sadly, the market for “kustom” Miatas isn’t that much better than the market for stock Miatas, for the simple reason that all the stuff on your car is available easily on the aftermarket, with the advantage that you can pick the stuff you like and leave the stuff you don’t (like those “Dreamweaver” gauge faces and the “Eunos”/”Roadster” badges, imnsfho). Still, if it checks out mechanically, you might be able to make a little more selling this to a more targeted market, particularly if the car has any substantive mods to the suspension or chassis. If you can put this on a lift, take some pix of the underside; there are many, many chassis stiffeners (above and beyond the shock-tower brace in the engine bay) that can be added to a Miata, and the range of shocks, springs, coilovers and other suspension mods is vast. Name-brand suspension could help get a couple more nickels out of the deal.
Oh, and the pix are too low a resolution for me to read the odometer — what’s the mileage on this little beauty? To those in the know it’s sort of pointless; my friend and former editor-in-chief, Jeff Z, has a 1990 miata with FOUR HUNDRED AND SIX THOUSAND MILES on the clock. My own ’96 has 143K. These things really are a good-parts version of Every British Sports Car Ever Made with the kind of longevity that makes Volvo owners whimper into their akvavit.
Enjoy yours,
–Scott
Facebook page? I hope CC isn’t going that route, because it would just shut out those of us who refuse to deal with that particular monopoly.
As others have commented, mods don’t generally add a lot of value to a Miata, but they don’t hurt it too much either — except for the “stanced” cars where the handling has been ruined by over-lowering and inappropriate camber, which true Miatistas abhor. My own Miata is a rare laguna blue-and-tan ’94, so I want to keep it almost original, but the Eunos badge on the front and Roadster one on the back (properly placed, not haphazard as on the subject car) are pleasant to my mind.
Re. air bags, it’s of course a common mod to replace the relatively unattractive air bag steering wheel with one of the nice Nardis that were fitted in other markets. Until recently I thought this would be “unsafe” and a bad thing to do, but now I’m not so sure since my car needs a new air bag module and the air bag wouldn’t work at present anyway. Many in the Miata community have questioned whether one would want a 1994-tech air bag firing that close to your body anyway. As for “liability,” sure, anyone can sue for anything, but in the unlikely event I sell my car, the buyer would be asked to sign a form recognizing that the air bag is no longer functional. I think they’d be laughed out of court anyway if they got in a crash and tried to claim damages from me.
CC has had a Facebook page since almost the beginning, since there are some folks who seem to prefer not to leave that village. But since I don’t fb myself either, and the fb comments don’t show up here, it’s sort of a parallel universe.
Thanks, Paul. Sorry to get off topic here — I was just so surprised to learn that there’s a CC fb connection. You probably publicized it but I was too old and curmudgeonly to be paying attention.
He is probably referring to Steve’s post on his personal facebook page asking more or less the same question.
Thanks for the thorough write-up on both sites. You removed an awful lot of haze from my previous understandings.
For those of you who are wondering where my Facebook page is, look no further.
https://www.facebook.com/steven.lang.923
Oh,since a couple of y’all bring it up, here’s the conversation with the shop I had change the timing belt & water pump on mine shortly after I bought it:
“And can you tell me whether this car has a limited slip or not?” I asked the shop owner
“It doesn’t have a limited slip,” shouted his tech from the shop.
“Why do you say that?” the owner asked.
“Because of the way it drives,” said the tech.
“That’s why I asked,” I said. “If it DOES have a limited slip, it’s busted.”
(The Miata had two styles of LSD, one that used non-Newtonian goop to make both wheels spin on ice instead of just one, and later on a Torsen. The Torsen diff is wider than the stock diff and therefore needs its special half-shafts, which is why I haven’t swapped mine yet. Well, that and because I’ve always had an AWD car around for winter.)
Do you do eBay Motors? Somebody out there just might want it exactly like this.
In the meantime, I assume it’s your summer “company car”?
Yes, this may likely go there if I don’t sell it to a Miata enthusiast first.
Enthusiasts are always my first choice when selling these types of cars.
That thing looks like it’d be a blast to drive. I wouldn’t want to depend on it as a daily driver, but definitely a cool weekend toy.
Its a Mazda it doesnt go wrong if you do a pulse and vital fluids check every new moon or so.
http://www.vindecoder.net/?vin=JM1NA353XT0718246&submit=Decode
I’ve seen the Eunos badge in some of the local ones.
Those wheels look ugly. Get some futuwatayanabes or something along those lines. I’d get rid of the headlamp covers too.
It should clean nicely. I’d enjoy it for a couple of months or years. Even use it as DD.
I think it looks pretty cool. Those first gen Mazdas are cheap but wonderful to drive fun toys. I think I would dump the hood pins(only 1960’s-early 1970’s muscle cars can look good with pins) and the tow hooks. Seriously, I never figured out why people seem to like those things and what message they are trying to convey with them. To me it looks likes like you don’t have too much faith in your ride if you have tow hooks(just seems to scream possible breakdown at any moment)
(just seems to scream possible breakdown at any moment)
No man I drive so hard I’m going to spin off the track and the crew is going to have to rescue me!
Chipped and worn ones scream POS / I cant drive for nutz
The gauge faces and cluster surround are from AWD. They make nice stuff. They have some alternative faces that are patterned after those in MGs and such and are much more attractive. The cluster surround and wheel are something different entirely, in that they’re both really badass. Love the jewel lights replacing the factory warning lights.
I’d replace the gauge faces with a better choice from AWD, get some nicer factory leather seats from, say, Planet Miata, and replace the wheels with one of the nicer knockoffs of Wanatabes or Work Equips. Rota makes the former and Drag makes the latter.
I had a 1990 Miata with a Flyin’ Miata II turbo kit, most of the drivetrain out of a 2001 Miata six-speed (including Torsen diff) Wilwood big brake kit, etc. It had been shorn of most sound deadening, made 217 hp at the rear wheels, and weighed out at just about 2050 lbs with a 1/4 tank of gas. It was a rocket ship, when it ran right. I had to sell it when I moved from PA to CA as the FMII is definitely NOT CARB legal.
http://artworksdewa.com/ – for gauges
CAN a dealer even SELL a car that came with an airbag, when the airbag’s not installed? Does that require a salvage title or notation of non-compliance?
I know a private owner can sell pretty much anything, but someone with a dealer’s license…?
A very good question! Hopefully a lawyer will chime in …
As long as the airbag light will cooperate I’d leave it alone these things drive like a comfortable go kart just steer coz it will corner I chased a Miata Eunos in my Xsara on a local targa stage road we had a ball my car did its high speed forklifting tricks and he was sideways 30kmh recommended corners @100kmh only doin the speed limit officer, great little cars but most x jdm are autos not my kinda car.
2 minute googling in Japanese brought this:
http://www.rsaizawa.co.jp/
A family shop in a town of Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, that since 1977 does customizing, as well as regular maintenance, shaken (inspections) and repairs.
A discussion on the Aizawa parts availability:
http://clubroadster.net/vb_forum/22-suspension-sponsored-flyin-miata/6816-where-can-i-buy-rs-aizawa-parts.html
Silly! What a silly car. Especially those star-crossed gauges. It’s too bad when a natural beauty gets all tarted up.
The sort of person who appreciates a car like the NA Miata and will pay good money to own one is turned off by this custom-Camaro crap.
Fortunately most of it is only skin deep. Get a great big jar of cold cream and clean it up.
Mike
I think you need to change “custom-Camaro crap” to custom Civic/Lancer/Integra crap. Camaro owners tend to have alot more taste than that/them.
Bizarrely I don’t mind it that much – the red roof is particularly appealing. I’d change the gauges to another of the AWD designs,and add electric windows and cruise control (hey, I’m lazy!) but other than that I’d leave the rest alone.
When it comes to gauges, most designers strive for maximum (“at-a-glance”) readability. But the “Texaco Starburst of Bonuses” patterns on this aftermarket tach and speedo seem to be striving for maximum UN-readability. “I’m sorry, Officer, but I couldn’t tell the difference between 65 and 80 mph because that area of my speedometer is located right in the middle of the Milky Way.”
As someone whose eyesight is no longer 20/20, these “Across the Universe” instruments alone would keep me from buying this car — no matter how much I liked everything else about it. Truly one of the dumbest “upgrades” I’ve ever seen.
I would encourage you to start an intro thread on http://www.MazdaRoadster.net this is a great find with lots of rare goodies from Japan. Seeing as this Miata is from Georgia my guess is that the owner of this Miata visited with Rspeed.net a LOT. as they are the importer for a lot of those good parts. The untrained eye of the new owner won’t see much. However for those that have been into modding these cars we can see some good parts, several that are now out of production. KG-Works, AW-Dewa, RS-Aizawa, Maruha Motors, Koyo, Eunos/Enfini parts as well as some great Stateside parts, DDM, Katskin, Racing Beat, Nardi, etc. Have you looked under the car to see what upgraded suspension is there? This looks like a 96 base with tan leather interior swap as well.
My guess is the owner just switched the badges for Jap ones. The Miata/Eunous Roadster? MX5 must be one of the most “moded” cars on the market so its hard to tell what was a LTD edition or just owner fitted.
Our “toy” is a 1990 Roadster V-Spec,stock save for wider wheels . Paid £750 a fair price not give away. Whats that in dollars?… Must be one of the few cars that are cheaper in the UK than USA.
Interesting. On the whole, I like it, but the hood pins, tow hook and fake hood scoops in the headlamp doors are pretty tacky.
I’m sure it will be a fun summer driver until you sell it!
I’m pretty sure I sold most of those parts to the owner of that NA…LOL. Some expensive stuff there!