Have an Gleneagle, first MX5 I ever had, love it. Had the rust dealt with and a respray.
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That looks green?
Mine is a blue with a green fleck in the sunlight!
Looks in great condition 
Depends how you look at her, it can be green or blue, it is the way the paint reflects on both the light I think
The weird thing is how some days you’d expect it to look green in a certain light and it’s blue, and vice-versa.
I would say that the seller probably cleaned it before you got it, all those cobwebs etc. you then had to remove will have magically occured 5 minutes later as happens with mine -grumble-.
Don’t forget to pop the petrol cap open and clear out all the horrendous gunk that will be under it, as well as the drainage holes. The boot lid lip and under-bonnet drainage area also can get pretty awful.
If you’re interested in knowing exactly what you have in terms of the GE interior and what you may be missing, this eBay auction:
shows a near-original interior of the GE (just to say, I’m not the seller - if I had another interior I’d be pick and mixing for my own GE). The items missing from the auction photos are:
- The tartan document wallet (which you mention you have).
- The original Clarion DRX-8175R radio (this is the European model, the American DRX-8175 had a remote control but no RDS-TMC, the original faceplate case for this is available as a spare part from America if required).
- Two GE Tartan Caps.
The items which are not correct:
- The radio as mentioned.
- The chome rings surrounding the center vents.
You’ll see some GE with wooden gear knobs etc. These aren’t original inspite of the information MX2000 linked to, in the same way that the official brochure (available in paper form on eBay or as digital download from BRG) shows the GE as being a bit different to the one that ended up being released.
As to your own car, externally:
- The spoiler is non-standard to the GE, personally I always liked that style of spoiler but I figured for completeness I’d mention it.
- You’re missing the center logo for one center cap logo, but you should feel relieved that you have the actual main center cap as they can be very hard to come by.
- Rust on the rear arches and sills
During my ownership of my GE, I’ve learnt the following:
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The center cap logos are available from MX5-City, there’s also another person who has posted in the parts for sale section/magazine for sale section selling them. I suspect these will just be stickers of the eternal flame logo but I don’t know for sure.
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Don’t try removing the caps with the wheels on the car. Unlike the guide I followed which said that wheel caps can be removed with a quick yank of sellotape, this destroys the ones on the GE/Merlot. The reason being that the cap comprises of 3 parts, The inner large cap. Then the logo which is glued onto that cap and made up of an eternal flame embossed metal disc, with a transparent domed cap with black paint applied to create the final result. All that happens with the sellotape is it seperates the disc and domed cap leaving you with a nasty repair job to do… someday.
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The wheel caps are actually held in from the back with a 4-leaf clover shape of sprung wire. This rusts and is the reason I suspect of why I had missing caps when I bought my GE. In the end I had to buy a complete set of wheels just to get the caps - though some were less kerb damaged than those that came with my car so it was worth it. I believe it was Barry on the forums who said he replaced his sprung wire shapes with piano wire. I think he told me in PM he used 3mm, but the forum upgrade lost me all my PMs so I don’t know for sure.
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I learnt this from one of the people who created the GE for Mazda. Although officially the car came with the Clarion radio, dealers allowed upgrades to different radios. This in turn meant when these failed and the customers took them in for repair under warranty, they weren’t covered because it was now a non-standard fitted radio. Apparently this caused quite the headache at the time for everyone concerened.
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The original tartan used to be a restricted tartan and unavailable to the general public. This however is no longer the case so if you do need to remake the gearstick gaiter etc. then the tartan is available -however- the off the shelf tartan is at least 2x bigger in pattern size than that used on the MX-5. This means you have to request a custom scaled run of the fabric, which in turn means a minimum order amount. Think it ended up being around the £1200 mark for something like a minimum 10 meter order. I didn’t invest in it
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The stitching of the leather seats if not looked after has a nasty tendency of breaking under weight, I’m guessing the various leather cleaners out there should help to make the leather supple and thus prevent this. I have used leather cleaner but the seats had been in storage for a long time before I got the car and I reckon they’d aged and solidified. So, just a warning since I got into the passenger side one day and snapped the seat stitching that held the panels of leather together - and I’m not ~that~ heavy, that said your seats look quite good from what is visible in your photos.
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The original Clarion radio has a switch on the back to allow phono input from an aux 3.5mm headphone cable, so you can use it with a phone etc. if you don’t mind losing the FM functionality of the radio itself.
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Don’t buy a can of the original montego blue for touch ups and expect it to still be the right colour 4 years later, turns out it loses the colour change ability so you end up with a close match, but without the nice sheen - learnt this one the other day after de-rusting under the battery tray, managed to shear three out of four battery retaining bolts in the process, all fun and games.
Also, on my own car the small panel that would normally have held the electric window switch which I’ve seen as black plastic on other GEs is walnut effect. Normally I’d consider this aftermarket, but the pattern and colour is such a spot-on match I can’t help but wonder if later GE’s -I know they were all made more or less at the same time, but later is the best term I can think of- had this as an enhancement) or optional purchase part. Since no other parts were changed to walnut, it’s always remained a mystery.
All that said, it’s an MX-5 and it’s fun to drive, naturally being the best edition of the MX-5s is an added bonus 
And, since the magazine hasn’t yet done the special edition section for the GE, you have that to look forward to in the coming months 
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There’s a bloke on Mx5Nutz has excess tartan off cuts for sale after doing his gear shroud.
Looking at the Mx5Nutz thread I see they bought it from the same place as we had been in contact with (Kinloch Anderson) last year.
The price they paid is the same cost for the incorrectly-scaled version of the tartan so, I’m guessing it’s not the right version of the tartan for the GE based on this and the quote we got back for the correct scaled version.
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Ok doke…never went into it myself.
Cheers. 
The main trouble about the scale is, by design it’s for a kilt - so the pattern is larger than the scaled down version for the MX-5.
However, at the time of the MX-5 GE being released, the actual golf course itself sold some merchandise which used the same scaled tartan (occasionally it comes up on eBay etc.) and it’s only because of this that I’ll be able to re-create the gaiter for my own car.
As an alternative tartan, the Munro Hunting tartan being blue and green works well with it (I know this because it’s what I used myself, and a single swatch was just the right amount of material for the gaiter which makes things nice and cheap even with postage). I don’t know if you could seek permission to use the MX5-OC’s tartan instead as another alternative.
Don’t know if this helps but I own a tartan, held by Kinloch Anderson and every so often I’ll get a request for usage which is then up to me to grant or deny. There are different levels of permission over different tartans- some are highly restricted but others are free to use. I see no harm in contacting them to ask if there is a possibility of buying a set amount of material. What you might find is that you get permission to use the actual sett of the tartan but you may have to pay to have your required amount specially woven if they didn’t have a bolt of cloth in-stock, in which case, you could specify the cloth weight you want i.e. in this instance, it would be the lightest which if memory serves, would be 6oz. Alternatively, if it was in stock, you may be able to pay for a cut the existing material. Worth a punt? 
That’s interesting @Gallaibh, though with the way the original gaiters hole I’d personally suggest people would try for the thickest (it’s what I went with when I used the Munro Hunting). I personally don’t need the tartan because as mentioned I managed to get some by buying old golf course merchandise, but it’s certainly something I think all the GE owners should keep in mind for future restorations so thanks for the info.
Thanks for all this info, it has got the original. Marion radio
All the center caps are there, just a dodgy photo
I’ve been brutal with finding the rust in the arches, there’s more than I thought, also where the inner seals meet the arch, needs replacing to
Brakes are well on there way to being completely overhauled and painted, and I’m working in each wheel arch, and hopefully totally finishing all that’s needed
I’ve seen that interior on eBay, but that’s quite expensive, I know some one who can redo steering wheel and repairing seat, the driver seat need attention
My son and his friend who loves cleaning cars had a go at the paintwork, and they’ve brought it up lovely
What a difference!
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Glen eagle, had new suspension, brakes all around re-furbed
Small amount of welding underneath, clutch master cylinder refurbed, and a new slave cylinder
The gearstick gaiter is in for a new bit of tartan to make it, after I have sourced the correct tartan!
Next is put it in for an mot to see what it now needs to pass
I know it won’t go straight through, but I’m optimistic! 
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Not being funny…but why oh why is it’s backside jacked up so high?
Mine got O.E.M. proper dated coded springs all round recently…
Stance very different.
But if you are content, please pardon the enquiry.
12mm variation on free length on Mazda rear springs, depending on year. Phase 2 NA8s had longer rear springs. Some aftermarket manufacturers (not sure who was the OEM for Mazda, some Japanese maker I expect) provide options as a result.
Note the stance in these MCL runout photos
That was how it came, and a photo before I put new coil overs on and it will be a lot lower!
I Chuck up some more photos when I get it out the garage:+1:t3:
Oh God no!
That’s quite enough from you young man.
Perhaps even a dwarf gnat’s scr.ot.um hair too much.
See how it does over local humps etc…you know the score.
Well it all done, MOT and on the road again!
Things keep breaking when I drive it, which doesn’t surprise me, it was off the road for 8 years
Power steering pipe corrodes through, good news it was low pressure one, which was £50 instead of high pressure £150, bad news is that they’re not made anymore! 
Cooling hose was the last thing to go which I’ve replaced!
I have a knocking noise coming from front suspension area, I’m assuming it’s bush related, they will all be replaced next winter in the garage!
You really feel like your driving in it which I love!
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