Da Groj

Friends of mine have a Miata from the first year they came out, whenever that was. It is white, has a hardtop, and is a 5-speed, they think.
It had a "new" low-mileage Japanese engine put in a few years ago. The car has not been driven much in recent years. As I understand, the car is running, but the A/C doesn't work.

If anyone is interested, more details can be made available. They live in Bradenton.

Does anyone know how to get in touch with Todd Byram?

Let me know if you have any interest.

Hmmm...

Do you know if it's a manual transmission? Any idea what kind of money they're looking for? Alex is forever looking for a fun car.

Yeah, it's a manual. No idea what they want for it. I can give you a phone number to contact them if you are interested.

Sure, PM it to me. Or email or text or carrier pigeon or whatever.

PM sent

Gracias!

Gave them a call. They're going to send me some pictures when the car gets out of the shop. They had it towed this morning due to the clutch failing. (knowing Miatas, it's very likely the slave cylinder)

A little more info if anyone's curious:

It's not the mythical "cream puff" Miata that we all hope for. It's got something close to 200k miles, the engine has about 50k less. It's got some minor rear end damage, and a little rust around the windshield. Hard top hasn't been off in years, but there is a soft top under it. Windows don't want to roll down. Second owner. Bought in 1995 at about 75k miles. Sounds like a good runner with typical old Miata problems.

Pending the photos, I might go look at it. Stupid repair bill will probably drive the price up.

Sale of that hardtop to me would offset some of those repair bills.

Picking it up Saturday, sight unseen. They say it needs a clutch, and the pix are terrible... a little rust, though. The deal was too good to pass up. Absolute worse case, I sell the hard top, sell the car for scrap and still more than break even. Wish me luck!

Oh, and Alex is interested in the car... so, it will likely get the clutch fixed, and then go to Kansas... where it won't seem so rusty compared to most of the old Miatas there.

Thanks for the tip, Eva!

Cool.
Enjoy the drive!

It's coming home on a trailer. It could very well be that it's just hydraulics and I could drive it home, I'm just being lazy. Word is that "the clutch failed" and the shop quoted almost $1100 to fix it.

We'll see what it all looks like tomorrow!

Keep us posted. Inquiring minds want to know.

Man, this car was a rust-bucket! Terminal cancer between the door hinge area and the windshield frame. It probably had 3-5 years left in it. Definitely not worth the very expensive repairs it would need to get beyond that.

I threw a bunch of basic parts at it. Clutch, brakes, shocks, new top, shifter rebuild, driveshaft, timing belt, water pump, oil seals, hoses, fuel pump, etc. Made it fun to drive again and fairly reliable.

Sold it to Alex pretty much at wholesale. I think I had about $1800 in it, gave it to him for $2k. I drove to Knoxville to deliver it to him, and flew home. (he flew there, and drove it back to KS)

Did have a cooling problem in the way there. I cheaped out and didn't replace the smaller hoses that go to the throttle body and such. Of course, one of those popped. Rust in the fuel tank, so it would fuel-starve if you ran it below 1/4 tank, especially if you drove a tight corner while low. Needed a new fuel tank.

Alex drove it for a few months (barely). First he rattle-canned the hood in white because the paint was peeling. Then rattle-canned the wheels with red, then rattle-canned the whole car flat black with stripes and then sold it for $2500 and bought an only slightly less-rusty MG Midget. Go figure. I was kinda pissed because I'd put a lot of work into that Miata!

But, it gets worse... then he straight up traded the running MG for a NON-running 1989 Camaro.