It’s Memorial Day here in the U.S. and to celebrate today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Miata is a car pretty much everybody is going to remember. Let’s see if it’s price however, in fact makes it instantly forgettable.
The seller of last Friday’s rare as huhn zähne 1990 BMW Z1 only offered judiciously angled shots of the car in his Craigslist ad. Those specifically omitted the weird custom rearend with its Pep Boys tail lights with which the car has unfortunately been saddled. Who does that? What’s the story behind modding one of only about 8,000 cars so egregiously?
I guess we’ll never know because after it lost in a 59% Crack Pipe loss, we have to move on—ground to scratch and eggs to lay you know. The Z1 was BMW’s first modern shot at a category—small convertible sports cars—that at the time was, and still is, dominated by a single player, the Mazda MX5 Miata.
You know the drill: never speak of the Miata in unflattering terms; never equate anything other than “Miata” as answer to almost any question; and always, always, compare an automatic-equipped Miata with a Victoria’s Secret runway model with a bush like Tennessee kudzu—it’s just plain wrong.
This 1994 M edition Miata has a stick so everything’s right in the world. The Montego Blue over black roadster also has a sweet rebuilt 1.8 under its aftermarket fiberglass hood. If you’re into crank porn then check out the seller’s Photobucket for some shots of the mill on the stand before going into the car. Now that it’s there it also sports a Flying Miata turbo II kit. That includes an intercooler and GT2560R snail, and that’s just for starters. 725-cc injectors feed the kitty through a Vishnu dual-feed rail for maximum conversion of dead dinosaur into pure power enjoyment, while inside, beefed up hardware makes sure it all won’t blown up.
Of course there’s a butt-load of other mods too to help the engine reach its full blown potential. Those include an upgraded clutch and flywheel. This being an M edition—you can read more about ALL the Miata special editions here—it came from the factory with a Torsen LSD.
Suspension updates include Eibach springs, KYD adjustable dampers, a bunch of poly bits, and lots more. Wilwood brakes advertise behind nickel-colored 949 racing alloys to let the neighbors know this isn’t a sorority sister’s ride. That is unless she’s the founder of Kicka-Assa-Delta.
The ad claims that the build was undertaken by a ‘mature owner,’ and it does look like it was put together thoughtfully and with care. It also looks like that mature owner knows how to cut loose every now and then. The bodywork is subtle but features just about every major mod you can make on a Miata without turning it into a doucherocket.
There’s Racing Beat bits front and rear, low profile headlights that keep the NA’s pop-ups but make it look like the coolest kid in class when raised, and a bumped up and vented fiberglass hood because that turbo’s going to make things hot underneath. You also get LED turn signals in the nose vents, a roll bar that hopefully will never be used, and A-pillar gauges to keep tabs on things.
In fact, the interior is probably this car’s only flaw—if you can even consider it to have one. The M-edition was supposed to come with a biscuit-colored interior and top, but here those are both black as a New Jersey pimp’s soul. There’s also a bit of monkeying that has gone on in there, for better or worse. The airbag-equipped tiller has been replaced, but it’s a Momo that now does the turning so that’s a fair trade off, right? The M-edition shift knob is also MIA, and an air vent has been lost to a gauge so the center stack looks a little bit like a pirate. Arr!
That’s likely all a matter of personal taste, and honestly tehre nothing that appears to be half-assed about any of the modifications.
The seller claims this to be one of the nicest Miatas you will find, and that’s a pretty presumptuous boast, especially considering that the car, and hence likely the seller is Canadian. That of course means that the price—$20,000—is also in Poutine, er Canadian dollars. According to my Magic 8-Ball twenty-K Canadian works out to about $15,350 US. That’s also about 13,810€ or 1,692,201 Yen for you Japan-living big spenders.
What’s your take on this Canadian Miata and that $20,000 price tag? Do the mods and condition add up to one memorable car? Or, is the that price making you want to lower your flag to half staff?
You decide!
Vancouver BC Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Adam for the hookup!
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