Forget $7 Apple stock, ignore Tesla, and skip big pharma: The best investment on the planet is probably OEM Miata hardtops, which have skyrocketed in price to be worth as much as $3000 in decent condition.
And though this project has been far from the cheapest Miata we’ve ever built, we just couldn’t stomach bolting that much cash on top of our race car when the rulebook didn’t require it.
That left us with a choice: Race al fresco with no roof, or find another way to cover the hole.
We wanted a roof for better aerodynamics and more safety (they’re great at keeping limbs in and debris out in a crash), so we called up Treasure Coast Miata.
Besides selling used parts, they also stock brand-new items, including a line of leightweight hardtops. The pitch is simple: Brand-new tops with less weight (only 15 pounds) than the OEM top at a price that’s a third of what you’ll find on the used market.
It seemed like the perfect fit for our race effort, so we added the $755 hardtop and a $240 street kit (which includes a Lexan rear window, seals and mounts) to our shopping cart.
Once the top arrived, we had it vinyl wrapped to match the rest of the car, then went to work installing the window.
We’ve played with Lexan before, so this was more of the same: Paint a frit around the border for a clean look, install a seal on the hardtop, then drill holes and bolt them together.
After a few hours of tinkering, our hardtop was ready to install. We used the supplied Treasure Coast brackets, but should note that the OEM “Frankenstein” bolts aren’t used. These aren’t necessary for a race car, and skipping their mounts saves more weight.
This is when we’d usually complain about the fit and finish, as aftermarket fiberglass is notorious for needing some final adjustment during installation.
Treasure Coast Miata even states a warning: “Please note, all fiberglass parts take some customer finishing for final fit to the vehicle.”
And, well, we don’t have any complaints. It wasn’t perfect, but we didn’t tweak, adjust or grind a thing to install this top on our race car. Overall, we’re blown away by how similar the experience was to installing an OEM hardtop.
For about $1000, we’d solved our “there’s a giant hole in the car” problem. Next step? Add a giant wing of course–this is a race car, right?