The newest car addiction to our fleet is this 1992 Mazda MX5. It’s been one of those cars that’s been on my must have list since I was forced to buy one as my first car on the first Gran Turismo game. It’s classic sport car looks throw you back to the old British sportroadsters of the 1960’s and in particular the Lotus Elan with it’s pop up headlights. But unlike the roadsters of the 1960’s, the MX5 was more attainable, affordable and reliable. After buying and selling a few cars, I had a few Euros to spare and coming into the dead of winter when convertible prices tend to drop off a bit, I thought now was the best time to finally tick off this box. After talking to a few people and doing a bit of research, the biggest thing we had to look out for was rust. Chassis rail, sills, floors and wheel arches are all very prone to rust. As I am still not 100% confident on my welding and bodywork skills, this was something I really wanted to avoid. Repairing rust in these regions on your average car isn’t too bad as you still have a full metal roof holding the car together while you make your repairs.Not so easy when all the structure of the car is in the floor.

After a short search, it turned out a friend of my brother was selling one of his MX5s. Spending long periods of time on the road working, he didn’t get to use the car as often as he would like so thought it was best to sell it on before it fell into disrepair. Seeing the car for the first time, my inner Gran Turismo playing child couldn’t believe what I was possibly going to be taking home but I needed to keep my game face on. First inspection wasn’t too bad. Yes the car was originally red and hadn’t been painted in the boot or under the bonnet. Yes the plastic panel on the boot and a couple of panels on the passenger side were more creamy the rest of the car. And yes, the roof was a bit tatty. But, with a full exterior respray a few years previous and a lot of poking underneath, I think I had a fairly safe bet that this car was rust free. With the owner spending a lot of time away, the cars NCT had lapsed but he did have a fail sheet from a couple months previous. Something I love to see. The fail sheet showed that it needed two rear shocks and had failed it’s emissions test. Failing an emissions test would generally start making you walk backwards away from a car but not this one. On a 1992 car, there is a lot less components in the exhaust and emissions system of a vehicle and on the plus side, the emissions test is not as strict. This particular car had a few extras also installed at some point in it’s life as well. There was a HKS mushroom air filter, strut braces fitted up front and in the back, a LSD differential had been fitted to the rear axle but my favorite part was the HKS super dragger exhaust.The noise this thing made under acceleration would not be out of place in an Italian stable. Needless to sad, a deal was done and I feel I got a great deal on the perfect base for what will hopefully be another wonderful project car.

So now it’s home in the garage, what do we do with it? Do we stay with the classic retro feel that you got when you sat behind the wooden Nardi on the blue leather seats? Do we try give it a more modern touch? With so many parts and accessories available for these, the possibilities are endless.