1991 Mazda Miata - One for the Better Half

[mlcraven]

My wife has been very patient with my car hobby infatuation over the past 30 years, sometimes even supportive (bless her). There have been a few projects she refused to ride in once I'd finished working my magic on them -- and in truth probably with good reason. But she'd never actually expressed an interest in anything other than a daily driver for herself, until about a year ago. Then an opportunity presented.

The context: friend at work received news in Aug 2014 that he was being sent to Pearl Harbor at very short notice. Basically, a "be there next week or you don't have a job" type of deal. Needless to say, he jumped at the opportunity but -- not being the most organized fellow -- had to dispose of a surplus of personal effects at short notice. One of these was an off-the-road for several months 1991 Mazda Miata. Superficially rough inside and out, he'd put a new top on it 2013. Then it developed a cooling issue and an electrical problem, compounded by failing the annual Virginia state inspection because the driver door window was stuck halfway down and couldn't be moved in either direction, plus a cracked windshield from a stone chip gone wild. As a result, it was parked. And, literally the day before he was to fly out, he offered it to me for $500. I called Mrs Craven, she said go for it -- she wanted the car.

Over the course of the past year I've worked away at it, first fixing the windows, then refreshing the mechanicals, and finally attacking the cosmetic issues. Here is the breakdown:

Purchase price - $500
Virginia DMV title and sales tax - $85 ($10 title, $75 tax)
Mechanical (brakes, battery, alternator, oil and filter, rad fan cooling sensor switch) - $340 (trouble shooting and defect rectification by yours truly)
Windshield - $200 (including install)
Driver and passenger side door top seals - $176
Rear wheel well mud guard flares - $70
Velour seat covers - $170
Leather steering wheel cover - $50
Paint prep items and paint - $535 (purchased from Eastwood, car painted by me in the driveway)
Miscellaneous odds and ends (fasteners, parts to fix side window regulators, etc) - $150
Virginia state inspection - $16
Virginia tags for plates - $51
Insurance (4 months to annual renewal) - $81

Total on the road - $2424 (plus time and effort).

I used to be quite dismissive of these little cars. But it was a joy to work on, parts are cheap(ish) (as long as they're NOT bought from Mazda) and readily available, the driveway body/paint job worked out rather better than hoped for, and Mrs Craven is happy with it. And for the first time in my life I managed to avoid project creep. Pic of the finished product attached.

And oh yes, if the engine ever goes out of it I'll have the basis for a Monster Miata V8 project!

[squirrel]

looks good! My wife got a 95 about two years ago. She autocrosses it pretty regularly. I've done some racing in it too, as well as using it as an occasional daily driver. It gets 30+ mpg, so it's pretty tempting to go zipping around in it. and we get lots of convertible weather down here. It's black with no AC or PS, has some kind of racing package option. she spent $2k on hers, it had a hardtop we sold for about $500, then she spent that much or more on some sticky street tires. No real problems with it yet. I put cruise control on it, and I did take it on a road trip to Texas last year.

Fun cars, I hope she enjoys it!