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the miata story all started a while back in my teens making a list of the cars i would attempt to own before i was old. My friends gave me a hard time (and still do) when i mention the word miata, but the combination of rwd, lsd, and half the weight of the normal daily driver, and i knew at some point i would have one in the stable, even if only for a short while - didnt think i would fit in it comfortably enough for me to keep it being 6'3" /175lb.
October_2014 - the bmw touring went off to its new owner, and i started putting some money aside for the next daily driver / parts hauler / whatever else i needed out of a daily driver. my mind had narrowed it down to a new subaru brz or a 535xi. two completely different things but both seemed like a good thought.
looked at a 1 year old brz, made an offer, guy accepted offer... then for some reason i just didnt feel right about the purchase. so i thought it over a ton, declined and moved forward.
last week of october 2014 - took a drive out to the hamptons with the girlfriend as i had to take a few measurements at the house out there for some exterior work and decided to stay the long weekend while i was out there. might as well make a weekend of it since the house was not being rented to anyone that weekend. Little did i know, this would be a pretty funny trip.
on the way out there i was doing the normal 1 sided car discussion and I remember mentioning that since we were driving around the north and south forks "might as well keep eyes peeled for an old porsche or other cool cars" just in case as there are always older cars tucked away there and with some discussion any of those cars could be purchased even if not for sale.
little did i know my girlfriend and I would be taking separate cars home that weekend haha.
9pm saturday driving around after grabbing some food. good day at the wineries, overall good quick trip so far. driving down some unnamed road with no where near enough street lights, and i see a white miata sitting on the grass in front of a beautiful house sort of aimed toward the street. I cruised by and stared for a second and the car looked brand new for some reason. most seem like panels are falling off from rust and tops are torn etc. but this one seemed like it came off a showroom floor. decided to turn around after a quick discussion and said "this may be the next car purchase"
turns out it was.. '93 white/tan 1.6 5 speed 1 owner (75yo lady) and this is the best part. 40k original miles, original everything, not a scratch on the car as it had been garaged since new. The car was their "hamptons car" and it was basically driven for about 1 month out of each year, and garaged the rest of the year at the house. Apparently her daughter used to pick the woman up from the LIRR train station in it, she used the car for the next few weeks, and back in the garage it went.. since '93 lol
the dealings sunday morning were hilarious with the very nice old lady, wound up taking out the cash that day, driving without plates to the house we were at, and then driving it home that monday night on the way home from the long weekend. The best part is that the old woman just kept asking me if i knew it was a manual transmission and if i knew how to drive it. haha
first thing i did was get it up on some stands to check everything out.
underbody doesnt have any rust or damage, pinch welds are clean as if its never seen a jack, and the suspension bushings look great. not that this really matters cause you know the suspension is the main thing getting upgraded
obligatory first real viewing of the engine bay in sunlight.
shocked once i saw it in the sun how clean everything in there was. there isnt a drop of grime on just about anything. all of the plugs, wires, wiring looks brand new, not a drop of oil on a single thing in there either. i guess its been a very soft 40k over the past 22 years..
interior before the seats came out and everything was looked over and scrubbed
more to come
October_2014 - the bmw touring went off to its new owner, and i started putting some money aside for the next daily driver / parts hauler / whatever else i needed out of a daily driver. my mind had narrowed it down to a new subaru brz or a 535xi. two completely different things but both seemed like a good thought.
looked at a 1 year old brz, made an offer, guy accepted offer... then for some reason i just didnt feel right about the purchase. so i thought it over a ton, declined and moved forward.
last week of october 2014 - took a drive out to the hamptons with the girlfriend as i had to take a few measurements at the house out there for some exterior work and decided to stay the long weekend while i was out there. might as well make a weekend of it since the house was not being rented to anyone that weekend. Little did i know, this would be a pretty funny trip.
on the way out there i was doing the normal 1 sided car discussion and I remember mentioning that since we were driving around the north and south forks "might as well keep eyes peeled for an old porsche or other cool cars" just in case as there are always older cars tucked away there and with some discussion any of those cars could be purchased even if not for sale.
little did i know my girlfriend and I would be taking separate cars home that weekend haha.
9pm saturday driving around after grabbing some food. good day at the wineries, overall good quick trip so far. driving down some unnamed road with no where near enough street lights, and i see a white miata sitting on the grass in front of a beautiful house sort of aimed toward the street. I cruised by and stared for a second and the car looked brand new for some reason. most seem like panels are falling off from rust and tops are torn etc. but this one seemed like it came off a showroom floor. decided to turn around after a quick discussion and said "this may be the next car purchase"
turns out it was.. '93 white/tan 1.6 5 speed 1 owner (75yo lady) and this is the best part. 40k original miles, original everything, not a scratch on the car as it had been garaged since new. The car was their "hamptons car" and it was basically driven for about 1 month out of each year, and garaged the rest of the year at the house. Apparently her daughter used to pick the woman up from the LIRR train station in it, she used the car for the next few weeks, and back in the garage it went.. since '93 lol
the dealings sunday morning were hilarious with the very nice old lady, wound up taking out the cash that day, driving without plates to the house we were at, and then driving it home that monday night on the way home from the long weekend. The best part is that the old woman just kept asking me if i knew it was a manual transmission and if i knew how to drive it. haha
first thing i did was get it up on some stands to check everything out.
underbody doesnt have any rust or damage, pinch welds are clean as if its never seen a jack, and the suspension bushings look great. not that this really matters cause you know the suspension is the main thing getting upgraded
obligatory first real viewing of the engine bay in sunlight.
shocked once i saw it in the sun how clean everything in there was. there isnt a drop of grime on just about anything. all of the plugs, wires, wiring looks brand new, not a drop of oil on a single thing in there either. i guess its been a very soft 40k over the past 22 years..
interior before the seats came out and everything was looked over and scrubbed
more to come
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