Do 1990 British Racing Green MX5's exist? About to buy one..

[scrowetom]

Hey guys! First post

I'm fairly new to the MX5 scene, I've sold my previous car and am moving on to something a little more practical; kind of.
A couple of days ago I inspected a '1990' NA6CE, finished in British Racing Green, with a leather tan interior. After doing some research, it would seem that this variant of MX5 only came on 1991.

The vehicle itself was imported from Japan by it's current owner, 6 years ago. He holds all the receipts for services of the car, and mechanically it is in great condition. Cosmetically however, it is a bit rough. Paint is bubbled and faded on the rear bar, the hardtop will need repainting at some point, the drivers rear quarter has a dent the size of a 20c piece, and the bonnet has small hail damage dents. It comes with a matching hardtop that came with the car from import. The owner says that the car was a 'barn find' so to speak, explained it had been sitting for a while and was dusty as hell (would be nice to see photos of that).

It has 190xxx kms on the odo, and he is asking $6000. He is considering my offer of 4500 currently.

What do you guys think?

[smy0003]

Looks alright, probably been repainted since the sills are body coloured and not black from what I can tell.
Seats look like they've been re-upholstered as well. Different steering wheel and gear knob, too.
Really, unless you're a collector, does it matter if it's a genuine vspecial?

Those fog lights are rare and quite nice, and if it comes with that hardtop as well it looks like it could be a good buy...

...provided all the underneath stuff is tidy.


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[scrowetom]

Looks alright, probably been repainted since the sills are body coloured and not black from what I can tell.
Seats look like they've been re-upholstered as well. Different steering wheel and gear knob, too.
Really, unless you're a collector, does it matter if it's a genuine vspecial?

Those fog lights are rare and quite nice, and if it comes with that hardtop as well it looks like it could be a good buy...

...provided all the underneath stuff is tidy.


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Thanks for the reply, he has told me he had the seats re-done as the original leather was cracked. And yeah the paint has got me really confused about the car, because if I did buy it i would look into getting it resprayed. There are a heap of better colours than that green, but if it is the original colour I would respray it that. On the ID plate the colour code is 'HU'. I haven't looked up Mazda paint codes so if anyone could tell me what that is, that would be great!

EDIT: Just answered my own question, the car did come from factory in British Racing Green. Paint code HU

Does anyone know how to determine the year of the car based off the VIN number or ID plate? Cheers!

[Lokiel]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_identification_number - See Model Year Encoding

[StanTheMan]

to me ,for $4.5k it represents decent value. at least from the pics & what you say.

a 1990 will have a short nose crank. You will probably need to do the timing belt fairly soon. Care needs to be taken when you do this as the key-way in the earlier models represent a potential issue if torque is not set correctly.

check the condition of bushes & listen for any noises coming from the diff. Check out the clutch. Has it been replaced or is it the original?

NA6 Diffs are on the slightly weaker side. If it is noisy.....you might find that it will snap.Upgrading to a NA8 diff might set you back about $1-1.2K that also depends if you decide to get a torsen at the same time. I can't recall if the JDM BRG's came with an LSD or not. If it did, check out how good the current LSD is. But if its the original LSD. Unless its been replaced probably toast by now.

[smy0003]

BRG is definitely my favourite colour on an NA. Going by asking prices, a lot of people agree with me
Have you asked about the wheel and gear knob?
Just from a quick google, the vspecials went on sale in August 1990 in Japan.



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[scrowetom]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_identification_number - See Model Year Encoding

The 10th digit on my VIN is a 'C', which using that table would suggest 1982...? Any suggestions?

I've just done a VIN check, compliance date is 07/1990. Does anyone have information on 1990 BRG MX5's?

[scrowetom]

BRG is definitely my favourite colour on an NA. Going by asking prices, a lot of people agree with me
Have you asked about the wheel and gear knob?
Just from a quick google, the vspecials went on sale in August 1990 in Japan.

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Would you mind sharing info on 'vspecials'? New to MX5's and would love to learn more

[smy0003]

There was a limited number of BRG 'LE' special editions released in Australia in 1991. In japan, where this car was originally sold, the BRG/Tan interior cars were sold as the V-special.
There's a bunch of websites that can explain all the special editions and what they were called in each market.

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[scrowetom]

to me ,for $4.5k it represents decent value. at least from the pics & what you say.

a 1990 will have a short nose crank. You will probably need to do the timing belt fairly soon. Care needs to be taken when you do this as the key-way in the earlier models represent a potential issue if torque is not set correctly.

check the condition of bushes & listen for any noises coming from the diff. Check out the clutch. Has it been replaced or is it the original?

NA6 Diffs are on the slightly weaker side. If it is noisy.....you might find that it will snap.Upgrading to a NA8 diff might set you back about $1-1.2K that also depends if you decide to get a torsen at the same time. I can't recall if the JDM BRG's came with an LSD or not. If it did, check out how good the current LSD is. But if its the original LSD. Unless its been replaced probably toast by now.

The owner has replaced the belts in his ownership, he has a fat folder of receipts for the car too which is reassuring. When I inspected the car I had a look underneath, it didn't have any rust that I could see. All the suspension looked good, the bushings didn't look corroded either. I asked him if the diff was open, he said it was. Driving the car I couldn't hear any noises from the diff, or any weird clunks. He said all belts and the clutch was replaced when he imported the car at 130xxx. I will look over the receipts when I get it and make sure.

[StanTheMan]

Sorry.
Not sure if you can tell by looking at the bushes.I certainly can't. If they feel fine while driving. That's great.

[scrowetom]

Sorry.
Not sure if you can tell by looking at the bushes.I certainly can't. If they feel fine while driving. That's great.

The car has near new KYB shocks too, felt nice to drive

[bruce]

The 1990 Japanese green is not the same as the 1990 Australian green. But it is the same as the later 1994 1.8 litre Australian green. Confused!
Japanese green is a metallic with clear. 1990 Aust Green was a flat with no clear.
Neither colour is a BRG.

[scrowetom]

The 1990 Japanese green is not the same as the 1990 Australian green. But it is the same as the later 1994 1.8 litre Australian green. Confused!
Japanese green is a metallic with clear. 1990 Aust Green was a flat with no clear.
Neither colour is a BRG.

So what colour is code HU?

[smy0003]

I've been around a few eunos na6 imports, all were HU green, flat dark green with no metallic.
I've never seen a marina green metallic on anything other than a very late na8.

I've only ever seen white, black, red and Laguna blue '94 na8's here.


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