Hello, I have a Mariner Blue Mk1 1990 UK spec. The VIN number says that it’s car number 352. Does anyone know how many of the earlier cars are still alive and running?
Depends what you ean by “earliest”. Howmanyleft.co.uk is an accessible way of looking at the DVLA registration data. There is a thread on this forum abut early (march 1990) UK MX5s, including one of the presss cars. But remember, yours isn’t the 352nd MX5 built; the Miata MX5 had been in production for over a year before that, and on sale for a bit less than that. Plus Australia got MX5 badged cars before us; I know Aussie #14 made it tothe UK, as did some very early Eunos Roadsters. In general, the survival rate of 1990 UK cars is pretty good. Miata.net has the UK sales numbers.
Hi thanks for the information. I realise that cars outside the UK were manufactured earlier, as you say for about a year, but doesn’t the VIN number indicate that my car was the 352nd car to be supplied in the UK to the UK spec?
Kevin
As I said; define early. March 1990? First 6 months of sales, first 12 months of sales.?
2,246 MX5s were sold in the UK in 1990. Right now, there are 1396 1990 UK MX5s left; 876 taxed, and the rest SORN’d. Thats a remarkable 62% left. What month was yours registered, so I can try and model how sales went in 1990. Was yours registered around June 1990? By my calculations, there are about 220 of the first 356 left. My assumptions are: first month of sales was March, monthly sales doubled through the year until August, then started halving in September with autumn (actually using the factor throughout 2.0033, to get the total to agree). Last digits of vin and month for 1990 UK MX5s please, so I can adjust the curve a little, but its probably not far off.
| New | Survivors | |
| Jan | 0 | |
| Feb | 0 | |
| March | 24 | 16 |
| April | 48 | 31 |
| may | 96 | 61 |
| June | 193 | 120 |
| July | 387 | 240 |
| Aug | 774 | 478 |
| Sept | 387 | 240 |
| Oct | 193 | 120 |
| Nov | 96 | 60 |
| Dec | 48 | 30 |
| 2246 | 1396 |
The registration date is not a clear definition of age as some dealers keep cars much longer than others
The VIN is more indicative of age
Hi again, the last digits of VIN are 1000352. Date first registered is 12.04.1990.
Yes and no. In 1990, MX5s were flying out of the door; Autocar small ads of the time were full of companies bringing in used Miatas from the US to meet demand. There was terrific demand for this, not least because it had been on sale on the other side of the Atlantic for the best part of a year, and William Woolard predicting the car would sell like hotcakes.
As it happened, Mazda was pretty miserly with supply. Hence, by 1997, if I wanted a 1990 MX5 from the dealer, it would have cost me £11k, but the 1992 grey import, straight off the boat, was £8500.
Hi thanks for the comment. I understand what you are saying. My VIN implies that it was the 352nd UK spec car to be sold, but according to the registration date (early April 1990) it was somewhere between car number 24 and 50 ish.
No, it just means the model needs adjusting. The hard numbers are of course the annual sales number and the present registration data. It seems Mazda may have front loaded the sales in 1990. Yours is the 352nd.
Actually, its the 353rd, if you read some of the forum posts carefully about the first MX5 registered in the UK.
I have had a look and mine is a 1989 Eunos which is 1775 on the vin.
Paul
Eunos Roadster was available 1 year before the UK
Eunos Roadster vins were counted differently, and went on sale in September 1989 (with rhd JDM production starting in June 1989).