1988 MX6 GT $1800

NMNA

http://winstonsalem.craigslist.org/cto/4196438361.html

Looks solid.

Those pictures hurt my neck.

MySpace angles FTW

Hmm new paint, I wonder what they covered up with it. Still looks pretty solid like you said.

Once a car hits like 180k miles do we really care if they are "highway".

I'd say that mileage doesn't really matter to these cars in the slightest.

I'm going to be around 20 miles from this sometime next week. I shouldn't be considering buying this...but I am.

ONE OF US, ONE OF US

I'd like to tell you to lowball the hell out of that thing, but part of me wants to see the values increase on these.

I don't think it'd be hard to land that car for $1500 or less.

My recommendation, going from what i recently learned the hard way: Try to land it for $1000, and spend the rest of the budget rehabbing the things that make the car turn and stop. It's unlikely that the control arm bushings, tie rods, ball joints, and possibly wheel bearings are in great shape.

Mndsm got lucky with the car i have for him, since it was truly enthusiast-owned in the somewhat recent past, so everything looks pretty good.

Mine was owned by normal people for the most part, and it's scary how far these cars will degrade without really feeling bad.

Or at least, it's scary how far my car went. Mine may also pose some unique challenges to the average lifespan of the front end, but i digress.

Basically... go get it. Check for rust, especially around the strut towers, but there's no real set locations that these rust in. JamesMcD and i had a conversation about this a few weeks ago. Each car rusts differently, or doesn't rust at all.

Don't be scared about the maintenance or parts. Parts are cheap, readily available, and these are hilariously easy to work on.

I've got around 3700 in the "fun car" account from the Miata sale, but I have an 8 month old daughter, so I am somewhat afraid to take on a "project." It's hard enough to find time to mow the lawn, let alone get into a weekend of wrenching.

I will chat with the misses this evening and get her opinion.

ScreaminE wrote: I've got around 3700 in the "fun car" account from the Miata sale, but I have an 8 month old daughter, so I am somewhat afraid to take on a "project." It's hard enough to find time to mow the lawn, let alone get into a weekend of wrenching. I will chat with the misses this evening and get her opinion.

I'd drive it and look over it well first before panning it. It may not even need it all, but here's some basic breakdown of time needed for each job.

Front control arm bushings and ball joints (Just replace with new loaded control arm from Rockauto): 15 minutes per side.

Inner and outer tie rods: 15-20 minutes per side with the right tool.

Wheel bearings: I ended up just paying a shop $40 to press out, clean up the surface, and press in the new bearings. It's DOABLE if you have your own press and are creative with being able to stand the hub up correctly, but still no fun. Removing the spindle/hub assembly shouldn't take any time worth mentioning, especially if you're going to have the tie rod and ball joint off anyways.

Theoretically, if you hustled, you could do the whole job in 2 hours. Realistically, 4 hours is still pretty viable, and not bad for an afternoon of work.

That said.... with $3700 in a "fun car budget," and one of these cars, you could build a brutally fast brawler. Or still a pretty damn quick car and have enough left over to pay for transportation/lodging/entry fees for the $2014 Challenge.

Stock motor: http://youtu.be/HxF7a3LYr9M

429whp/483wtq

He later went back and made 486whp 543wtq after leaning it out a little bit, but threw a rod through the block shortly after. I blame a piston exploding due to no actual timing control on his setup, so.... stock timing map.

Impressive. You've got me thinking.

Go for it!!! The world needs more F2T cars on the roads

'88 and '89 are the best years. You get slightly nicer quality interior materials, a real temp gauge, and no motor-mouse belts. They also have the nicer stock wheels (IMO).

A nice solid example of one of these, picked up for ~$1500, is an unrivaled value-per-dollar proposition. Practical, reliable, comfortable, good looking, and cheap to own. Once you get it driving correctly (if it doesn't already) you may find yourself wondering where the GD-body MX6 has been all your life.

Mazda's ad slogan back then was "It just feels right!" and it's true.

Oh yeah,

ONE OF US, ONE OF US

Would you trust this car to drive from Charlotte, NC area to Pittsburgh, PA? Around 300 miles if memory serves me.

I'd go for it.

Does your insurance company provide AAA service? If you can get the VIN from the guy, you can put the car on your policy before you go pick it up. Then you can print off an insurance card from the insurance website, to have in case you pulled over. And also, if they provide it, you'll have AAA to pick it up if the car conks out. If you end up not getting it, it won't cost you much to have had the car on your policy for one day.

I bought mine for $900 and have put about 40k miles on it since, and mine isn't anywhere near as nice as this one appears.

So yeah... i'd check it out, take a test drive, then drive it home.