Tuesday, 2 June 2026

The (almost) perfect donor

Now with the garage space to fill...  I put a 'WANTED' post on the MX5 owners club... Specifically looking for a rust free, ultra-low mileage NA car....  I had couple of responses, which we're not really what I was looking for...  And one response which had a good feel about it.  

It was an NB2, with LSD, bilstein shocks, heated leather seats, air con, and had only covered 7,565 miles!  It was rust free too, and had the factory hard top...  BUT it was an NB, and worse it was red!

We had a brief chat over the phone, and the car was being offered for a price point which I considered acceptable for it's age, so I asked the seller (Gary) to send me some pictures.

Here she is in all her glory
Here she is in all her glory

The rear - stayin' alive comes to mind!
The rear - stayin' alive comes to mind!

The external pics looked good, and the chassis pics even better...
Original chassis rails - rust free!
Original chassis rails - rust free!

Front Chassis Legs - immaculate!
Front Chassis Legs - immaculate!

Original spot welds on rear arches
Original spot welds on rear arches

And only 7,565 miles
And only 7,565 miles

So the structural condition of the car looked good, and the low mileage was almost unbelievable...  but there were a couple of minor paint problems, mainly from where the car had been sat under a car port for the majority of it's life, which are consistent with a vehicle that had been left dormant.

Extremely faded wing mirrors
Extremely faded wing mirrors

Some mottling on the bonnnet
Some mottling on the bonnnet

Flaking paint on the hard top
Flaking paint on the hard top

Having seen the pictures, I was still a little undecided... Was it the right car?  Did I really want an NA?  Did I want a red sports car?!  There was lots going on in my head!

Nevertheless - the car needed an MoT, so I agreed with Gary that once the car had an MoT, I'd go and view the car and take it from there...

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