The ‘hairdresser’s car’ image keeps mk1 values at rock bottom. Sooner or later the ‘ooh, pop-up headlights?’ factor will prevail. Well that, a goverment-funded scheme for compulsory forced induction and a surprise decline in the price of petrol relative to diesel…
I think the difference might be in the age of the design. In 1998 your friend’s MG might have been 18 years old but the design of the car (save for the bumpers) was getting on for 40 years old and it looked it. The MX5 is only 23 and has aged much better, I think. Give it a few more years of graceful ageing and for attrition to have its effect and I think it’ll be considered a genuine classic.
Funnily enough, most people who ask about my cars when Im out and about cannot believe just how cheap MX-5s and Eunoss can be picked-up. Quite often they then go and buy them, then ask me to look after the car for them. If more non-owners tried one the demand (and therefore values) of Mk1 would go up.
Dr. Eunos
Condition is the key word now, as there are loads around,but as more and more are broken for parts and scraped, the more they will become more classic with good ones getting harder and harder to find from the flashed over rot box, i can see them being exported back to Japan in years to come?for the Sp Ed’s, but they will only be worth what someone is willing to pay.
M-m
Just like anything else Beauty & Value are in the eye of the beholder! The Mx5 is no different to any other mass produced commodity item it is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. Most sellers have a greater value in thier mind then the buyer. So when you buy only pay what you must and when you sell get what you can. Only then will you know what the value is. As for the beauty you only have to look at the Mx5 Mk 1!!!
Regards Julian
That’s true, but I’m pretty certain I could dig up one of my early 80s copies of Classic Car, and find examples of early 60s MGBs (which were at the time, 20 years old) going for decent 1980s money. MX5s are woefully under valued. I suspect the main issue is not their age, nor their design values, but because they are a Mazda. Just because something is old, does not make it valuable; otherwise an old Marina would be worth a fortune. Demand is the intangible; what makes people want a car, and thats not necessarily related to whether a car was good or not. MGBs, Spitfires, Elans et al., have taken on an iconic status that goes far beyond their supposed capabilities. In a more modern example; the mid-1980s Toyota Corolla GT, as a road car, wasn’t very good. At the time, Toyota offered, uniquely, two different forms of a Corolla sports coupe; the traditional, and rather primitive rwd GT, and the FWD “hot hatch” GTi-16 (using the same engine). The latter was the better seller; whether because it was the better looker, or because Toyota GB at the time produced such dreadful, dull brochures. The motorsport fraternity liked the GT, as it was a useful replacement for rapidly wearing out Escorts, plus Toyota gave good parts support. But the GT was quickly disappearing into obscurity, its values only elevated by an artificial demand (mostly in Northern Ireland) for cars to be converted for rallying (a new Northern Ireland MX5OC member told me he only brought a MX5 because he was sick of paying stupid prices for worn out GTs for trackwork).
Then Initial-D happened, and we all stopped calling the Corolla GT the Corolla GT, instead calling it a AE86, or if you really wanted to appear to be knowledgeable, a Haichi-Roku. The car had reached an iconic status, in the popular media. The MX5 only had a bit part in that series, and it lost.
I’m not certain the MX5 has really reached iconic status. Its very good, they have sold a lot of them (though most of them were sold over 15 years ago). MX5 sales in the UK didn’t really pick up until the second generation. Perhaps in the USA, the Miata has reached iconic status; it has featured prominantly in the popular media, not always in a good way, but it seems most people in the US know what a Miata is or was. Early Miata values are rising. Over here; a lot of people don’t even know the MX5 exists. There’s confusion about Roadsters and MX5s, and what they are. I still get asked by people what my car is. Yet even the most non-car person will know a MG when they see one; they might mix up Midgets and B’s though. Without that iconic status, there can be little demand for them; demand being people actually wanting a MX5, as opposed to just looking for a bit of cheap top down summer fun. Until that iconic status is reached (or maybe it won’t), the value of a MX5 might only be determined by what someone is willing to pay for a MOT’able, usable soft-top.
I’m trying to remember when 240Zs suddenly became expensive. For years, they were seen and treated as a crappy Japanese sports car with a plastic interior, and could be bought for peanuts. Then all of a sudden (it seemed), they were selling for £20k+. I’m not sure if it coincided with the launch of the third generation 300ZX in 1989-90, which was the first decent looking Nissan sportscar after a few dogs (280ZX, original boxy 300ZX, second generation blobby 300ZX). If thats the case, then it will need to take an outstanding effort by Mazda to spike interest in earlier models. In my opinion, the NC didn’t advance things far enough; most reviewers considered it better than the NA, but not that much better. The Ibuki concept promised a lot; the hybrid MZR was interesting, the headlamps maybe a bit too ambitious, the resulting NC was just too conventional, especially in the engine department. There is thus a lot of pressure on the ND to deliver; if it is truely transformative, then great, but so far, the emerging news isn’t promising.
Current values reflect Large number availible and current economy. I reckon durring the present recession many will go the way of the scrapy. Assuming the 10 years bust/boom cycle of recessions in about 6 years things maybe, hopefully better and give another 5 years for people to start spending surplus cash then this could be the time when Mk1s become cool/expensive.
I visited Japan AKA the BIG noddles this year and good quality Mk1s are going up in price.
http://exchange.goo-net.com/usedcars/EUNOS/EUNOS_ROADSTER/700103008220120715007/index.html Whats this in pounds…7000?
That’s incredible, at thosev prices it’s worth buying a container load in the and exporting them. 
I have to say most of the very cheap MK1’s i’ve seen have been total rubbish but there are some good cars out there if you look hard enough. I think people do get hung up on the rust though, they don’t rust anywhere near as much as an MGB or Triumph but the trouble is the cost of repair quickly outstrips the value of the finished car. Numbers will continue to decline until it actually becomes worth repairing them.
MK2’s will become rarer than MK1’s, pretty much every one i’ve seen, even very late ones have extensive corrosion issues.
The MX5 is a car for everyone and is in abundent supply at the moment and with the values of the Mk3 dropping, and the MK2 levelling out, I think that there will be no surge in the ball park values of a MK1 in the foreseeable future… the values will as they are now be dependent on model version rarity or desirability… condition…mileage…and what someone is prepared to pay for it… hence when you look in the classifieds or ebay the asking prices are so varied… but the question I ask is how many actually sell for what people want for them? In the meantime I’m enjoying the fact that I can buy a great car for the cost of a years depreciation on a Ford Focus and get my money back 