Barn Find MX-5: 1990 Mazda Miata

The earliest examples of a signature model are typically sought-out by collectors. The reason for this is the early cars tend to become scarcer through natural attrition or the market simply not recognizing them as special until years later. The Mazda MX-5 Miata has always been seen as a desirable enthusiast vehicle and had a strong back-stop in the form of people who weren’t necessarily hardcore gearheads but loved them all the same. This MX-5 Miata is a recent garage find that has been listed here on Facebook Marketplace with an asking price of $4,500.

While erroneously listed as a “30th Anniversary Edition” (those didn’t come out until fairly recently), this Miata still looks sharp with its period-correct ARE aftermarket wheels which do an admirable job of replicating the BBS alloys that came on select M-Edition cars. The NA Miata is considered by many to be the purest expression of the original design, a dirt-simple car with crank windows, a rev-happy engine, slick-shifting manual, and pop-up headlights. As a 1990 model, it’s worth looking at the VIN to see how early it is in the production run.

The seller has performed some modest clean-up, and the bodywork is decent for a car that has been living in a barn in Connecticut. The listing notes the presence of rust in the spare tire well and on the “passenger rear”, but I’m not exactly sure what the latter is referring to. In 1990, the Miata came with the bread-and-butter 1.6-liter DOHC inline-four producing 116 b.h.p. and 100 lb.-ft. of torque. It’s amazing in retrospect to see how light and simple the original Miata was, and saddens me to think we won’t see a company manufacture a car like this again for U.S. sale.

Yes, I know they still make the Miata, but like everything else, it’s heavier and more complicated than the original. Similar to light-duty pickup trucks, it’s difficult to find vehicles that capture the bare essentials of a model segment like roadsters or pickup trucks. The NA Miata is a terrific opportunity to step back in time without losing much in the way of modern driving dynamics. The rust in the trunk is minor at best, and this is a barn find you can easily freshen up mechanically and begin to enjoy while addressing the bodywork along the way.