Many Miata buyers are fixated on the first-year 1990s, but the 1991s are pretty much the same thing, but with some incremental improvements. What we have here in Harrisonburg, Virginia on eBay is a 1991 car recently resurrected after sitting for a decade (2013 to 2023). Who buys a Miata and parks it in the garage without ever driving it? The car, with 110,000 miles on the odometer, is now up and running and bidding is up to $5,700 with not a lot of time left on the auction.
The ’91 appears to be a Special Edition model, because those came in British Racing Green with a wooden shifter, which this car retains. The owner is very candid about the work he did in getting this car back on the road. The gas tank was rusty from sitting and had to be replaced, as was the fuel and water pumps. The tires had to go because they were both old and flat-spotted. Also new: timing, alternator and power-steering belts.
“I’ve driven it around 2,000 miles since then,” the owner says. “While the exterior is in fairly good condition, the paint does have some chips and the rear trunk lid has some sun fading. The front nose piece has some ‘dimples’ as shown in the pictures. Not sure what they are from. The hard top is in great condition and the original soft top is good although the plastic rear window is cloudy. The air conditioning does not work and I have not explored that at all to see what it would take to get it going.”
The body is original except for one panel. The driver’s seat, in beige Special Edition leather, is pretty worn, with splits and creasing. The dash has cracks. “The previous owner used a cleaner on the dash, (which is painted from the factory) and it seems to have softened the paint as it is ‘tacky.’” The wheels are from a 1997 Miata, but the original “daisys” come with the sale. The original tonneau cover is aboard.
The biggest concern is that, while the car runs quite well and shifts nicely, it is occasionally hard to get into reverse without first accessing fifth. Is that evidence of serious trans trouble ahead?
The car is reportedly rust-free, but the paint shows scratches and scrapes. “While it does show its age as a 33-year-old car, it is very solid and has been very reliable,” the owner says. “I have tried to list all the faults so there are no surprises but overall I think it is a great car.”
It looks nice to us too. Classic.com lists the 1991 Miata at an average of $12,493. Special editions command more cash.
The hard top is worth $2k by itself… the rest of the car is still not in the best of shape and might just be too expensive to fix to meet current value. First gen Miata’s are going nowhere but straight up in value. As someone who has owned several- buy the best one you can find. This one clearly wasn’t taken care of. JMO
I bought a 91 in May of 19 for $4000 with 111000 miles on it.I drove it as a daily driver for 4 years and sold it with 156000 last year for $2000 had the hard top. Maybe I sold it too cheap
Sadly, I am too large for a first-gen Miata. A salesman once put me in one just so he could get a laugh. My forehead stuck up over the windshield header, which was directly in my line of sight.
You have my sympathy. I had the opposite problem. At 59.75 inches tall, I had a little trouble reaching the clutch and the dealer wouldn’t do anything to fix it unless I bought the car first. So I bought used instead, thinking that if I couldn’t make it fit, I at least I could sell it and not take the huge depreciation hit. The lady I bought it from almost cried the day I came to take it home, but she had to sell it, as she was VERY pregnant, and while a Miata is many things, it is not a good family car for a family with a newborn, LOL! And for those of you who ask why I didn’t consider an automatic transmission so I wouldn’t have to deal with a clutch, my reply is simple: Blasphemers! Driving a Miata with a slush box is like painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa, LOL! If you want to buy a Miata, but don’t know how to drive a “stick shift”, let me offer this simple piece of advice: Learn! You won’t be sorry!
BTW, all it took was a $10 seat cushion from Auto Zone to fix the issue, and I drove that car for over ten (10) years, before it was rear-ended by a Dodge Durango and totaled! Rob Sad!
The front end has been hit. The front bumper doesn’t match the rest of the body.
Maybe… those “dimples” are common for original NA urethane bumpers that contract slightly with age. Underneath the “dimples” are reinforcement points, explaining the dips in the surface. My totally original one owner NA (never crashed) has the same dimples. These cars are going straight up in value, that being said, this one is in only “okay” condition. My guess end value is $7k to $8k.
I’ve owned a 1990 Miata and would love to have another… one thing that irks me and probably a few others, is the pop up headlights that appear to be misaligned, usually from someone leaning on them when the hood is up… for the love of all things holy, pull up on the back of them with a couple of tugs and they’ll line right up with the hood and look a hundred times better… the shifter issue might be a simple fix with a new plastic bearing on the bottom of the shifter, as well as new Redline fluid in the shifter well…
I’ve owned three (3) Miatas, a 1993 purchased used in 1996, a 2004 Mazdaspeed bought new, and a 2013 Grand Touring PRHT, also bought new. This one is about average condition, with visible wear on the driver’s seat and dash pad. The sweet spot for the first generation cars is 1994, as the engine displacement was bumped up from 1.6L to 1.8L in 1994, along with a bigger rear differential to handle the higher output of the larger motor. I think the six-speed gearbox also made its first appearance in 1994, so there’s that. Some people prefer the smaller motor as a freer-reving power plant, and the five-speed as a slightly better shift feel. I would qualify that statement, and say that the first-generation six-speed gearbox had issues, but when the third generation car made its appearance in 2005, the six-speed transmission was just as sweet-shifting as the five-speed it replaced.
I checked – the 6 speed came out in ’99.
My daughter left her 91 in my garage for 15 years. I bought it and cleaned the gas tank and filter and put in a new battery and off she went. On the e-way it feels like you are going 80 but the speedo says 55. The road noise of other cars is deafening and you hope that semi sees you or you may go under it. I love it and take it out of storage all summer. Curves and corners are where the fun is.
I had the same experience with mine, it sat for a year and a half… put high test gas in it and a new battery and it started on the second crank… drove it the rest of the year… Semis are scary but pass quickly just as you would on a motorcycle… they’re great little cars!
Everybody is nit picking this miata and if they want perfection good luck finding that elsewhere go buy a new one then!
That being said, this would make a fun track car or good 1st sports car for someone and I will bet that these haters and nit pickers didn’t think of that.
I agree
I wouldn’t call it nit picking so much as an honest appraisal of the car’s condition, but with that being said, half the fun of owning an old car is the process of improving the issues as you personalize it and make it your own. I’ve seen better examples, but I’ve also seen much worse, hence my rating of “Not Awful!”. I miss Mary Tyler Moore!