I've got myself a roadster!
I've got myself a roadster!
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Mellow Matt

Original Poster:

1,343 posts

230 months

Tuesday 19th October 2010
quotequote all
So after hearing almost everyone saying almost nothing but positive things about mx5s I started thinking one might be for me. Cue hours and hours of research on here and various other websites, and I finally got round to buying one biggrin

I spotted a lovely looking black mk1 1.8 S-Special Eunos Roadster for sale over on the Owners' Club forum, and thought about viewing it, but it was all the way over in South Wales, so I looked around London a bit. After not having much luck in London I rang the South Wales chap, who let me know that it was still for sale. So I arranged a viewing for this weekend just gone and my mate Chappers gave me a lift down in his Noble biggrin

It was a pretty fun trip! The Noble was as entertaining as ever, with its ridiculous performance, and funny turbo noises hehe We also saw the brand new Mclaren drive past us (I forget the name) which was pretty cool.

So after about 3 hours (including a fuel stop, where Chappers got shouted at over the Tannoy for clearing his radiator grill of leaves [?!]) we managed to find the guy's house, and were presented with a ridiculously shiny Roadster biggrin

Suffice to say we went over it with a fine tooth comb and couldn't find anything wrong with it, so I bought it. We then proceeded to take the scenic route back through Wales and got a few piccies too:
























We didn't take any photos of the really fun twisty bits, as we were otherwise engaged hehe

Vidal Baboon

9,074 posts

238 months

Tuesday 19th October 2010
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Looks very nicethumbup

What's the going rate for a mint MK 1?

Mellow Matt

Original Poster:

1,343 posts

230 months

Tuesday 19th October 2010
quotequote all
Vidal Baboon said:
Looks very nicethumbup

What's the going rate for a mint MK 1?
Ta smile

I got a bit of a bargain actually, it was £1730, with a spare set of alloys and an extra wind break included as well. It didn't have tax though, so add £205 to the price, which is still very good for its condition I reckon. It's got about 60k miles on btw, forgot to mention.

idge

104 posts

188 months

Tuesday 19th October 2010
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Very nice, but get that ugly Noble out of the way!

MX-5 Lazza

7,954 posts

242 months

Tuesday 19th October 2010
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Looks like a good buy!

As for the Noble, I've passengered in an M400 on track. I've never felt so ill! It was a cold April morning so I was wearing a big fleece but the sun was out though that didn't have much of an impact on how cold it felt. Jethro Bovingdon (of EVO magazine) offered me a pax ride in the Noble so of course I accepted.
Sitting in the car with the sun beaming through that big windscreen I instantly felt a bit too hot. Once under way on the track it only got worse. They are insanely quick track cars and the g-forces from the acceleration & braking and especially the cornering made me feel worse and add to that the fact that every time he braked the cabin filled with engine fumes and when he accelerated it filled with brake & tyre fumes I really didn't stand a chance and had to get him to pull back into the pits to let me out.
It was a great experience but one I won't be repeating. I didn't hurl but I did feel pretty frown for a couple of hours afterwards laugh

hornetrider

63,161 posts

228 months

Tuesday 19th October 2010
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I'm liking those comically large roll hoops wink

And wtf is the roof doing up? redcard

Edited by hornetrider on Tuesday 19th October 12:10

Mellow Matt

Original Poster:

1,343 posts

230 months

Tuesday 19th October 2010
quotequote all
MX-5 Lazza said:
Looks like a good buy!

As for the Noble, I've passengered in an M400 on track. I've never felt so ill! It was a cold April morning so I was wearing a big fleece but the sun was out though that didn't have much of an impact on how cold it felt. Jethro Bovingdon (of EVO magazine) offered me a pax ride in the Noble so of course I accepted.
Sitting in the car with the sun beaming through that big windscreen I instantly felt a bit too hot. Once under way on the track it only got worse. They are insanely quick track cars and the g-forces from the acceleration & braking and especially the cornering made me feel worse and add to that the fact that every time he braked the cabin filled with engine fumes and when he accelerated it filled with brake & tyre fumes I really didn't stand a chance and had to get him to pull back into the pits to let me out.
It was a great experience but one I won't be repeating. I didn't hurl but I did feel pretty frown for a couple of hours afterwards laugh
hehe Sounds about right!

hornetrider said:
I'm liking those comically large roll hoops wink

And wtf is the roof doing up? redcard
In my defence it wasn't up all the time! I had it when on the boring straight 70+ mph roads (my eardrums were suffering!) and when it started raining.

Are the roll hoops larger than normal? They do look quite large now you mention it...

Gizmo!

18,150 posts

232 months

Tuesday 19th October 2010
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Mellow Matt said:
hornetrider said:
And wtf is the roof doing up? redcard
In my defence it wasn't up all the time! I had it when on the boring straight 70+ mph roads (my eardrums were suffering!) and when it started raining.
You'll learn Rule 1: if the roof is up, the storm outside better have a name. wink

Looks a lovely example and very low miles thumbup

Ari

19,760 posts

238 months

Tuesday 19th October 2010
quotequote all
Nifty MX5, I like it!

Intrigued by your mates number plate. Which are O's and which are 0's? I'm trying to get it to make sense with UK number plate layouts?

Mellow Matt

Original Poster:

1,343 posts

230 months

Tuesday 19th October 2010
quotequote all
Ari said:
Nifty MX5, I like it!

Intrigued by your mates number plate. Which are O's and which are 0's? I'm trying to get it to make sense with UK number plate layouts?
Cheers smile

It's OO 3006, from 1968 from what he tells me, got it off a car his Dad had (I forget what).

MonkeyBusiness

4,194 posts

210 months

Tuesday 19th October 2010
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Very nice. It would look superb with a front lip spoiler.

I bought mine from New Zealand.
http://www.mx5mart.co.nz/db.cgi?db=mart&uid=de...

Mazdamender

173 posts

186 months

Tuesday 19th October 2010
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MonkeyBusiness said:
Very nice. It would look superb with a front lip spoiler.

I bought mine from New Zealand.
http://www.mx5mart.co.nz/db.cgi?db=mart&uid=de...
For real? why? you can get copies here for £80

MonkeyBusiness

4,194 posts

210 months

Wednesday 20th October 2010
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Mazdamender said:
MonkeyBusiness said:
Very nice. It would look superb with a front lip spoiler.

I bought mine from New Zealand.
http://www.mx5mart.co.nz/db.cgi?db=mart&uid=de...
For real? why? you can get copies here for £80
Apologies, I don't have my 5 anymore. At the time they were the cheapest anywhere. I didn't realise they were being made for £80.

Mellow Matt

Original Poster:

1,343 posts

230 months

Wednesday 20th October 2010
quotequote all
Where can you get a cheap lip from? I'm not sure if I want one, but it can't hurt to look smile

I've taken a few more piccies (with the crappy camera phone, sorry!).

This is the wind break the chap I bought it off made. I quite like it:


Lovely engine bay:


Really good condition inside:


Close up of the fairly horrible gear knob (which rattles banghead ) and my pimping 2 stereo set up (I'm going to try and remove the bottom one!)


Finally the extra wheels the guy threw in:

Jonny671

29,775 posts

212 months

Wednesday 20th October 2010
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Thats stunning, very nice! biggrin

Definitely agree with the roof always has to be down though wink

Munter

31,330 posts

264 months

Wednesday 20th October 2010
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Spare set of wheels always presents a dilemma. Track set and Road set. Or Summer set and Winter set.

Sometimes life is just so very hard. hehe

Ari

19,760 posts

238 months

Wednesday 20th October 2010
quotequote all
Mellow Matt said:
Ari said:
Nifty MX5, I like it!

Intrigued by your mates number plate. Which are O's and which are 0's? I'm trying to get it to make sense with UK number plate layouts?
Cheers smile

It's OO 3006, from 1968 from what he tells me, got it off a car his Dad had (I forget what).
Aaah, that makes sense. I like it. smile

Mellow Matt

Original Poster:

1,343 posts

230 months

Wednesday 20th October 2010
quotequote all
Munter said:
Spare set of wheels always presents a dilemma. Track set and Road set. Or Summer set and Winter set.

Sometimes life is just so very hard. hehe
I'm hoping to do a car limits day sometime soon, so I'll probably swap them over for that. I've heard car limits days do horrible things to your tyres hehe


Paddy_N_Murphy said:
Gizmo! said:
You'll learn Rule 1: if the roof is up, the storm outside better have a name. wink
rofl am gonna borrow that one !


OP, could the Noble keep up OK ?

Or did he just disappear off down the road in reality ?
My last quick car was a Locoblade with no roof at all, so having the roof up and going fast is a bit of a novelty!

The Noble bested the little '5 in most areas tbh, but in the really twisty bits where there's not much opportunity to accelerate I could pretty much keep up! It was great fun trying! The only trouble was that he was leading (he had the sat nav) and he could overtake on a whim, whereas I had to time it right to get past the traffic, much more of a sense of achievement doing it that way though biggrin I think I overtook more people on the way back than I normally would on the bike! driving

Gizmo!

18,150 posts

232 months

Wednesday 20th October 2010
quotequote all
Paddy_N_Murphy said:
Gizmo! said:
You'll learn Rule 1: if the roof is up, the storm outside better have a name. wink
rofl am gonna borrow that one !
I need to dedicate that one to 'Harsh' on here who has a similar view on the roofs of his M3, 360, and Atom...

MX-5 Lazza

7,954 posts

242 months

Thursday 21st October 2010
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Gizmo! said:
Paddy_N_Murphy said:
Gizmo! said:
You'll learn Rule 1: if the roof is up, the storm outside better have a name. wink
rofl am gonna borrow that one !
I need to dedicate that one to 'Harsh' on here who has a similar view on the roofs of his M3, 360, and Atom...
With an Atom there isn't a lot of choice laugh