Crapwagon Outtake: White Barchetta
What a difference a decade makes. My own 2003 Miata is, by modern standards, a pure, elemental sports car. Lightweight, with a cable actuated throttle, a 5-speed manual and no ABS. But turn the clock back to 1993, just ten years prior, and you could still buy this.
From Bring A Trailer and Miata.net, we have this ’93 NA Miata. Pure White, steel wheels, one owner, just under 45,000 miles. It looks to be an A-Package car, sans A/C, power windows or locks, the opposite of my old ‘ 97 C-Package and my 2003. Both are quantitatively better cars that feel gutsier and more robust than the early 1.6L cars.
But the small-bore versions just feel so pure, so elemental, so worthy of the hyperbolic praise heaped upon them by every motoring journalist and their internet mouthpieces. The 1600cc mill does rev more freely, there’s an ethereal lightness to them (thanks to no ABS, additional bracing or any sort of crashworthiness) and that NA styling with the steel wheels will stand the test of time, even when the fixed-headlight NBs start to look dated. This is a pur sang Miata, a forever car that you can enjoy long after the government is tracking your every mile and we live in a Red Barchetta world.
Buy it, enjoy it, drive it every day. Who needs SkyActiv when the sky is two clips of the soft top away?
More by Derek Kreindler
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It's beautiful and elemental, but I still want Minilites instead of steelies.
Sigh... It really saddens me that, no matter what, I can never have one of these.
I have owned a lot of sports cars and without a doubt the MX-5 is my favorite. Stock, it is not the fastest, or will pull high G's, but it is so drivable, so entertaining, so forgivable, it just endears you to it. They are also as reliable as an anvil. The designer in me likes the look of all the generations, but there is something so classically pure and elemental about the 'NA', like the 356 Speedster, Lotus Elan, Cistalia, or VW Bug, it has something special about it, call it, intuitive design. As to the debate over which generation... I have owned three new ones, a 93', and two 'NB's()2,000'/2004'. By far, my favorite is my 93' which I still have because when I bought the next one, I let my daughter take it to college for four years, after it survived that, I thought I would keep the 93' and spec build it, but it was still too nice, so it just sat under a cover until 2007/8 when fuel costs went through roof. Back then, I was fiddling around in the back of the shop and lifted the cover on the old gal for a peek and remembered the great mpg the 1.6L got(The 1.8L and 2.0L don't get anywhere near the MPG that the 1.6L does). I dusted her off and have been lovingly driving her ever since. I did build a Spec-Miata, but it is partnered car, so shared, and usually is just used as a track/autocross/school car. Spec-Miata rookies just do too much stupid stuff to be on the track with them. Lapping a Spec-M rookie is a chancy proposition, especially a cluster of them. As far as the stock wheels go, the 7-spoke alloys weigh from 10.8 to 12.3 pds. And Miata's are sensitive to un-sprung weight(and tire pressure), so run the lightest wheels you can find, usually they are already on the car with those stock 7-spoke alloys on the 90'-97's. Those steel wheels weighed a lot more at 18 pds. Cheap after market wheels are usually pretty heavy, so check wheel weight before ordering. The early 'LE' OEM BBS wheels were very light. As far as using an MX-5 for a daily driver, depends on your sensitivity to creature comforts and your stature. I drive mine everywhere, and will be driving down to the 25th anniversary celebration at Mazda Raceway, some 600 miles down coastal 101. My longest trip was from Ft. Lauderdale to Portland, Or. some 4,500 miles with side trips. But I have had longer trips on motorcycles and have driven 27 'T' roadsters with buckboard ride qualities to the Bonneville Salt Flats, so purty inured to long rough trips. The main thing when it comes to MX-5's, is to join the club and put one in your garage, any will do nicely.
"A forever car that you can enjoy long after the government is tracking your every mile and we live in a Red Barchetta world." As a '91 Miata owner and tinfoil-hat wearer, I would like to thank you, Derek, for validating my worldview.