718Miata

Zup, I do think the door is slightly off and that your perception is correct. I will add that to the repair list. Hardway, The reserve was only $10,000. And Mecum was simply the wrong venue for this car. It should have been on BaT.

I’ll play with it. The grill is definitely facing the right way. I think it just needs to be leveled slightly.

And few gratuitous engine compartment shots:

Here are a few shots:

Jesus. Is the grill installed backwards?

That would be awesome if he’d be willing to look the car over for me.

I need to figure that out. Although I’ve always been a Miata guy, I am developing feelings for the car. I really would like to find a local buddy with Z expertise who could look at the car, tell me what it’s worth and what needs to be done to it to make it 100%. At that point I’d be able to make a more informed decision.

I’m reluctant to use Awesome Z because the prior owner of the car said he paid them $5000 for a lot of work, and not everything was done correctly. Have you heard anything about SZRpro off 1960?

I’m looking for a mechanic specializing in old Zs who can properly sort, service and fix anything that needs fixing or updating on the Z I recently purchased at Mecum. Any recommendations?

And now registered. And ready for a drive. 100389BE-223C-45D4-AA98-893003F8A8AB.MOV

The chocks are the only items that are in the two bins. Bah.

Did they come with the car?

I mean the yellow things that were in there. I guarantee these bins must have been used by owners to store drugs.

What on earth are these things?

So I took it for a state inspection today. It passed. I took a few more photos, including what appear to be problems areas, namely the windshield spots and the paint by the left corner of the hatch. I tried getting some undercarriage photos too, but I ultimately need to get good ones on a lift.

The car has no title problems. In fact, the title is getting delivered today from Mecum. I’ll be the fourth owner. The prior owner did the restoration over the course of 13 years. He had the car for 17 years. He essentially did a nuts and bolts restoration. I’ll take some photos from his album later and post them. Mecum was the absolutely wrong place to sell this car. Almost no one at Houston Mecum is looking for Japanese cars. He should have put it on BAT in the first instance. I’ll take some photos of the undercarriage with my phone and flashlight later. It is really clean.

Thank you. I’m not yet ready to go down that rabbit hole.

How much would that cost?

Thank you. That would be great. Replacing the whole dash is too great of a challenge for me.

Sorry about that. I realized that and started a new thread about my car.

Is there any way to patch those so they look better?

That was his contention. I believe him. He had no reason to lie. I had bought the car already, as is, from Mecum.

That car will never see rain. And I do have two dash cracks when the prior owner, after restoring it, let it sit outside on a hot day (I spoke to him after the auction).

Don’t apologize. I appreciate any and all feedback about the car. To the extent that I can, I’d like to make the car as correct as possible. So please, keep the comments coming. I will post more photos as well.

I was thinking of doing just that. I’ll see how I feel about the car once I’ve driven it a bit. The title is supposed to come on Monday and then I’ll register it, so it’ll be able to enjoy it then.