1990 Mazda Miata: coddled one-owner car
Exterior
When Mazda brought out the Miata, they appealed to Americans with Red, White, and Blue. Only the white was fairly flat, and the red and blue definitely weren’t standard American flag colors. Loved the car; hated the colors. In July of 1989, Mazda brought out the Silver Metallic Miata, and I saw this one on the truck when it pulled into the dealer – and bought it before it ever touched the ground.
This Miata has always been garaged. The plastic window was yellowing, and the top was showing a little age, so we replaced the top with a high-end TopsOnLine Black Haartz Stayfast Cloth top last summer. Kept the same style zip-open top to maintain the original Miata look.
Also replaced the original steel wheels with alloy wheels that look sharp and lower the unsprung weight – making this particular Miata an even better corner hound.
Interior
Original black vinyl interior and cloth seats, with Miata-script floor mats. This is relatively rare AC-delete model. Everyone knows you can’t run the air conditioner in an original Miata and still go up hills - and I needed to go up hills. Dash and interior in great shape for this era.
Radio was outmoded, so replaced with Sony AM/FM/XM DSX-A415 radio. Now Miata has crisp, clear AM/FM radio, plays MP3, WMA, and FLAC files, and gives me full Sirius XM radio – just like my modern 2019. It also provides full-service Bluetooth hands-free calling and audio streaming, and pairs with two different phones simultaneously. You can control the unit with either iPhone or Android phones, or with the included remote. The face even pops off, so people aren’t tempted by that new satellite radio.
If you want this Miata to be factory authentic, however, original radio is included with the car.
Drivetrain
A 1.6 Liter 4-cylinder twin cam engine is attached to one of the sweetest, smoothest-shifting 5-speed manual transmissions of all time. Everyone talks about the “zoom, zoom”; when I think of Miata, I think of the quiet “snick, snick” of that responsive, short throw transmission. This is not a car for drag racing, but take it to the mountains, and it’s a classic ‘whoops-of-joy’ production machine. New cars take care of everything; this car you drive.
Suspension
Includes rear sway bar and engine brace, which firms up the ride tremendously, and allows you to carve the corners while maintaining full control. The Miata is a real driver’s car, and this one lives up to the reputation.
History
This wonderful toy belongs to original owner, a retired Vietnam vet who loves cars, and golf, and photography (and grandkids !). It’s always been garaged, and always treated like the star of the fleet. Most of the 99k miles are from road trips with wife (and kids, but individually), so very little stop-and-go traffic that causes problems for both driver and vehicle.
