Purely for interest (that’s if anyone is interested )
image.jpg
Barrie
EDIT: a few more pics
I think we’re all waiting for Saz to give us an expert opinion.
Going to cost the best part of £20,000 to be landed if it reaches anywhere near its estimate.
Missing the original drivers bucket seat
Is the Rollbar the original cage (this had detachable sections that connected to the windscreen surround
Missing the original wheels
Has wheel arch blister arches needing to be fixed (wheelarches drilled for rivets?)
El Cheapo black Lexus rear lights
Is that a M2 hardtop? Should have plastic rivets on the screen.
If getting one of these cars, it needs to be 100% complete, because too many parts are unique.
I bet it won’t sell first time round.
The one on retail sale, 1.9 million, shows details of the fitted cage:
https://www.carsensor.net/usedcar/detail/CU8901597839/index.html?TRCD=200002
Might be only 300 but there always seems to be a few for sale; always 3 or 4 of them on sale, on carsensor.
A bit like the Ferrari Daytona Spider. Of the 120 manufactured 500 are still on the road.
Which bit is the same. The bit where they are on the road.
Don’t think this is a fake M2-1028.
Twenty year old sports cars has hand some parts replaced over the years.
Get over it guys!!!
It looks great for a 25 year old but with an auction reserve of over £12k surely no room for short change?
Closer to 30 years old (slightly)
But this car is very much into a collectable price bracket. Originality is important, and this car is modified. It could be put right, though the seat will be tricky to track down, as they were bespoke to this model (different from the M2-1001 seat). Some might say its just a MX5, and to an extent, that would be correct. Those who just take the line that the MX5 is just an ordinary disposable car would probably stick to that opinion.
On one level, the Alfa Romeo GTA Junior Stradale was just a Giulia (unlike the GTA, the Stradale used many standard components). Its tempting to think of Mazda’s M2-Incorporated cars (which included Eunos Roadsters, AZ1s and a RX7) as representing Mazda’s GTA lineup (and there is some sharing in the philosopy, certainly for the M2-1001, M2-1028 and M2-1020). When you dig into these cars, its easy to see these were hand assembled. The passenger mirror repositioning? Someone had to put rivnuts into the door skin for that. Centre console delete; behind the tombstone, a hacksaw was taken to the standard dash, so that the new part would fit. Dainty door pools; on the door frame, hand formed tapped brackets are used, NOT the standard screw locations of the hockeystick grab handle.
There are more original M2-1028s currently available on the retail market, for similar sums to the auction valuation. I don’t know what grade this car is, and if it has accident history.
I still kick myself for not holding on to my M2-1002; I let that go for £1700. Came along at the wrong time for me. I know it sold, restored, for £6500 to someone in Lincolnshire, who managed to trash the engine, before ebaying it for £3000 to an Italian collector.
I kick myself for not buying the ex-Car Planet M2-1001 for £5000 in 2005; I probably would have, if not for taking umbrage for the dealer only offering me £1k for my minty clean S-Special 1.6. Yes, I know it probably needed lots of work, and had a murky history. I think eventually that car ended up in Italy for £10k.
I kick myself again for turning down first refusal on a much nicer M2-1001 that needed recommissioning after storage, for £8k in 2012. That I think went to Italy a few year later for a lot more.
I had these opportunities, but the market has meant these are getting out of reach quickly. Good Mk1s in Japan are seen as collectable; a 2 million yen standard car is no longer unusual. The UK hasn’t got enough afficionados to appreciate these cars, hence comments describing a hand built limited edition car as just a 20 year old sports car. And now the US market has opened up to these special JDM cars (as they become older than 25 years old), and where the MX5 has for longer been recognised as a collectable car, I suspect we won’t see any more come here. Americans will pounce on them, and they are in a market where they pay more for NA Miatas anyhow.
I don’t think it will sell, it might take 3 or 4 attempts. And yes, you are right, the Japanese market valuation is out of step than the paltry amount offered by the UK market. With a possible collapse in Sterling, its not going to get any better for us.
Saz. Please stop kicking yourself.
I would say in most instances, when proposing to buy a rare part hand-built vehicle of any marque, what is left of it that made it so desirable in it’s day would be a prime consideration.
Nothing new to the “matching numbers” brigades after all is it?
I think we are getting to a point with imports that for rare examples such as this, perusing the auction dross is probably not the best source of cars. There is a retail market in Japan as well as auction market, and the Roadsters in the retail sector just seem much nicer than what I see going through the auctions.
While non-residents can’t buy a used car in Japan, agents are not confined to the auction market. Back in the day, in the early days of JDM imports, there was an outfit called Japatrans, who scoured the forecourts for some really special cars. I have an idea that the London-based company, Bauhaus, who started bringing in virtually new automatic Eunos Roadsters (mostly V-Specials) around about 1991, were also sourcing directly from Japanese dealerships.
For these special cars, going to a dealership, or Roadster specialist, is probably the best place. Some examples include Garage Hundred One and D-Technique always seemed to have some M2s on their books. Car Make Corns also sell some gorgeous Roadsters from time to time (not great at the moment though), though rarely have I see a M2-Inc car through them.
This is a strange (controversial) one, NC with a lifter kit.
