I have owned my 1993 NA for just under a year and my first year of ownership has been fantastic. The previous owner had slightly spruced up the interior with chrome vent rings, a wooden steering wheel and a few other chrome pieces but I really want to go the next step and transform the interior to a vintage look.
My initial plan was to purchase the Jass stainless steel tombstone ‘cover’ along with the stainless steel heater panel, vintage pop up light switches and the stainless steel gear surround and cupholder. Although this collection of parts will no doubt look fantastic i’m not sure it will achieve the vintage look I am going for as it does have a slightly modern look to it.
After much digging I have come across some photos of cars that have the Zoom radio console installed:
This looks absolutely stunning and with some vintage gauges fitted along with some Jass parts I feel this will more than achieve what I want to do with the interior. Just the console is pricey at $500 but I am willing to spend this if I can find out some more about this item. There appears to be very little information available which I find surprising for such an expensive item. I was hoping that someone here that has experience with one of these could answer some questions for me?
1. How does this console attach to the dash? Does it have to be glued/taped over the standard tombstone?
There appear to be two versions available (version 1 and version 2). From what I can see one has a leather covering and the other I assume is bare plastic? Which one matches the standard dash texture the best?
What is the quality like? Is it solid and is there any issue with rattling or other problems?
What’s the finish like? Out of the box does it come with imperfections/scratches or is it very well made and finished?
Any information anyone can point me to about this item would be great, many thanks
Hi, Zoom parts are of the highest quality without a doubt! There is a chap over on mx5Nutz that has started selling most items? Have a look over there for starters. Here’s a link to my car at various stages during my ownership. Jass parts have been used which are nice?
Zoom consoles can have variable fit; they are basically handmade, so they won’t fit to a factory standard. Expect to fettle some. There are knockffs about, either being sold as knockoffs, or as purporting to be “genuine”, with even worse fit. Zoom tried to get a UK distributor set up some years back, but they can always tell you if a UK reseller is selling the “real thing”.
I cut down my tombstone, finished off with a coat of satin black over a light dusting of pickup bedliner paint, to achieve a grain near identical to original, then removed the centre console, and fitted a bit of spare, flattened carpet.
Switches came from the now defunct maplins, and a Wolf Miata window closing kit from Moss.
Technucally the Mk1 interior is already vintage; its a 30 year old design.
My 1989 Mk1 imported 2015 arrived with a Zoom console fitted. There were three Omoni white gauges fitted that did not match to the rest of the gauges, the only gauges I could find was from Smiths that have a black face and chrome surround. They are a good match for the original speedo and rev counter.
The console is a metal fabrication with a plastic over cover that all fits over the original tombstone. Very fiddly to get it all in-place and working but very well worth the effort.
Thanks for the link. I will drop the guy a message and see if he can still get the consoles, because most of the variants seem to be out of stock at the moment.
Love the look of your car. The retro numbers on the outside look really good - very unique car
