My 1st MX5 (Red 1990 MK1): a bad start

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Hi all,

Well late last summer i purchased my 1st mx5. I’ve been pining after one for many years after a friend let me drive his one whilst at Le Mans, I loved it. For years, I haven’t had the money or time to buy one as it was going to be my second car.

Last summer, I finally decided to bite the bullet and get one. It was heart over head purchase. It came up on ebay/gumtree 30 miles away and looked fantastic. An early MK1 (prod. number 9095 if you’re interested…) in Classic SU Red. It had been resprayed within the last 3 years, had a decent MOT history, a Mk2 hood and needed just a few bits doing. I went to see it and drive it. The suspension definitely needed work, the exhaust was leaking at the head and at the back and i had 147,000 miles under it’s belt…so i bought it for £1000.

Here it is when I got it home.

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All was going well and I loved it, despite it sounding rough as hell, until I took the Girlfriend out for a drive in it. 20 mins in and it sounded bad, start running on 2/3 cylinders, it was the head gasket…

Off it went to C+C Sparkes Engineering in surrey for a new engine…

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New engine in (£800 later) it was discovered that there was some strange damage in 4 places to the chassis rails and a bad bit of rust to go with it. I was not a happy bunny and had to fork out another £500 to get that fixed.

Once it was home I set to sorting that exhaust out…

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I fitted an MX5 parts stainless steel system which sounds fantastic to be fair, completely transforms the driving experience.

There’s not much else I have done to it since and i’ve hardly driven it as it has been stored at my grandparents 30 miles away over winter. I was about to get it out when lockdown hit so i guess i’ll have to wait.

I have however bought some new wheels to go on it that came with with decent tyres, I wasn’t a fan of the black painted daisy’s if i’m honest, so bought these…

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So that’s it, not a great start to ownership but my plan is to keep for as long as I can and slowly sort bits along the way. I’ve just got it MOT’d for another year, so a few road trips are in order!! It’ll be hopefully making the yearly pilgrimage down to Le Mans in September and i’m planning a Euro road trip in spring next year. Cannot wait!

Thanks for reading :slight_smile:

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Hi Will, car looks nice! The new wheels too, although a refurbishment of the daisies would suit the car as well. Roughly £2.5k and you have bought yourself a nice car IMO based on the pics etc. Once lockdown is out of the way, you’ll be out enjoying it that’s for sure, along with the rest of us! :+1: :sunglasses:

Barrie

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Lovely looking car there. It’s not uncommon to have to spend money on a new purchase especially when you plan to keep it. Enjoy it when the restrictions are lifted

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Cool car, wheels look better than the old ones.

I know how you feel, I really feel your pain. The 1.8 in my NC gave up after a couple of hundred miles after buying it…set me back 2600 euro’s.

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Yeah its not too bad! Thanks

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This is true! and you!

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Ooooo that doesnt sound fun!

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MK1’s are starting to command good money, so your investment might have paid off.
The car might be worth more than the money you’ve spent.

If all it’s going to be is a summer toy, then my guess is that it’s going to increase in value for a few years to come.

I’m not sure about the long term future for cars though, how long before we are banned from the roads. 20 years ???

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Yeah i was wondering about values. Some say that there are too many mk1’s around to boost their prices.

My plan is to keep garaged but use as much as i can