Free Miata!

Well, not for any of you people, but I could get one for free. It is a '95 M Edition in merlot mica. The car is simply awful cosmetically. It has been on the Mississippi Gulf coast for most of its life. The leather is dried, shriveled, ripped to shreds. The carpet is ruined. The instrument binnacle can be moved away from the dashboard. The radio and a/c are broken. The top still keeps out water but is horrible looking. The paint is sunburned and peeling. The front and rear bumpers as well as the hood have been smacked and scraped by a trailer hitch on a truck. The wheels are Miata wheels, but not M edition wheels. They look like the finish is gone anyway. I probably forgot some stuff, but you get the idea.

Mechanically the story is better. It has a recent timing belt, recent brakes and various other miscellaneous maintenance items. I am told that it runs great. It has been sitting close to a year because it is "really hard" to get into gear. The transmission and clutch were fully serviced (whatever that means) to the tune of $1000 by a mobile mechanic who has since gone into hiding. That kept it working well for about a month before it started not going into gear again.

I would just drag it home if it was anywhere near me, but it would be about a 12 hour round trip on a trailer if I wanted it. It belongs to my brother-in-law who is much more of a monster truck kind of guy. He just wants it to go away. I'd probably feel obligated to give a $100 or $200 for it.

Is it worth the trouble to try to bring it home and turn it into some sort of autocrosser or 2011 GRM challenger? It seems like such a waste to leave it there until it falls apart.

How can you go wrong?

Besides, you can bond with your BIL while there. Most of us only get grief from in-laws, you get a Miata?

do it. Rent/borrow a trailer, and go get it.

With a little work, that car can be sold for over $1,000 to a Spec Miata racer. The gear situation is probably a clutch master/slave issue--fixable for under $100.

Get it now. If it were closer to me, I'd offer to get it.

You, Sir, have mail.

Throw on a suspension package, a roll bar and a set of RA1s and drive it on the track until you're dizzy. Can't beat the price.

I'm with Kramer, check out that slave cylinder. Heck, I think you can get a rebuild kit for about $15.

Well, you guys are getting me excited about it. It seems like it would really be cost prohibitive to make it into anything more than a track rat of some sort. Am I wrong about that?

I don't see why it would be that expensive to put it into reasonable driver condition. There are plenty of northern cars that haven't been sun baked but have suffered the indignity or massive rust, and are dying (literally) to help restore this car! Miata parts can come pretty cheap if you look hard enough. There may be no such thing as a cheap Porsche, but a cheap Miata isn't a fictional character!

A modern day rat rod!!

Or buy the car and find someone else who is turning their car into a track rat. Buy their interior and put it in your car. Either way, less than a few hundred bucks, you'll have a decent car--one that's worth at least $1,000. Spend a few more bucks and a little time, and you'll have a car worth $2,500.

Or you'll have a Miata, which is as good as you've heard it to be. Either for the track, autocross or just joy riding.

I'm in the FL Panhandle, where is this car?

Free - sounds like the beginnings of a $2010 challenge car.

or a Lemons car

No no no, you should avoid this deal like the plague. You're lucky we're such good guys here at GRM. In fact, tell me where the car is, so I can uh, go get it towed to a junk yard. Yeah that's it...

If you don't want it, I've got a shinny new trailer and would be happy to help your BIL out. I'll bring plenty of beer, hell a whole truckload if he likes cheap stuff !

I've got an interior if you need.

Joey

Here's your paint solution:

I would be down for a 12 hour trip to pick up a free miata for sure! I say do it!

Justification for a 12 hour road trip...by Bruce:

You get a car and you get to go on a road trip!

Or you could waffle around for 12 hours and not have a car and you will not get to go on a road trip!!

Anybody got a problem with that?

Bruce

P.S. option 3 is tell me where it is and I will go get it...just unloaded the trailer, got 3 days off and a few extra bucks for gas.

How can you turn down the Answer?

Even if you don't challenge or whatever with it, it's one of the best autocross track cars you can get. Roll bar, and you are done.

Think of it in a different light- won't it be cheaper than a new netbook? And this supports reality.

E-

Otto_Maddox wrote: Well, you guys are getting me excited about it. It seems like it would really be cost prohibitive to make it into anything more than a track rat of some sort. Am I wrong about that?

I drive fully stripped cars on the street.... So in my case, if i had this, i'd probably just rattle can it, or just leave the body the way it is, rip EVERYTHING out of the interior, and throw a decent suspension on it, call it a day.

You guys kill me. I am going to try to see if I can get it. It is in Diamondhead, Mississippi. My brother in law is notoriously difficult to deal with, so it might take a while to arrange its retrieval. He has probably lost the title, maybe even the keys. Nothing from him would be shocking.

I still don't know what I will do once I have it. Probably pressure washing the whole thing is step one since it is so filthy. Step two will probably be to rip out most of the interior.

Otto_Maddox wrote: My brother in law is notoriously difficult to deal with...

Remind him that he owns a purple Miata and then see how tough he is.

Careful, shouting free Miata around here is like yelling free beer in a bar....