We have all heard stories about that low mileage classic car in barn, well Wayne Dickey of Caledon didn't discover his MSM in a barn but he purchased it with less than 400 kilometres on it. Here's his story....

 

In  2010 spending about six months on the internet bidding and losing on some really nice Mazdaspeed Miatas, I lucked in on what I consider the find of a lifetime. I spotted this car in July on Auto Trader. I called immediately when I saw this car had only 322 original kilometres. To my disappointment, I was told that the car was sold. So my quest for THE car continued with some very near purchases from the USA (got scooped by local buyers). Late November arrived and the quest on the internet continued. I discovered Dave's Garage, our local Miata specialist, had a couple of US sourced Speeds for sale with about 50,000 miles on them.  I checked them out. They were nice, but I wasn't sold on them (too damn fussy for my own good!). Back to the quest, back to the internet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Then, one day as I'm checking the dwindling number of Mazdaspeeds for sale I came across an ad which seemed very familiar, so I immediately called the leasing company based in North York. The representative admitted that it was the same car I had inquired about in July. I made them an offer over the phone, so that I would have first right of refusal, and rushed to their location. The car looked like new inside and out. The old adage "if it looks too good to be true, then it probably is" came to mind. I needed to have more history on the car. With a little probing the story came out. A client had leased 2 Miatas, a GT and a Mazdaspeed. He drove the GT and parked the Speed thinking that the Mazdaspeed would become a collectors item. Nearing the end of his leases the client went off to Europe without closing them. That was why the leasing company had to pull the cars from sale in July. They did not have clear title. Still not satisfied that time had not taken it's toll on the car, I had Dave (from Dave's Garage) come up to the leasing company to check the car over thoroughly. The word 'Perfect' was his judgement.  That was the deal maker or so I thought. Upon taking delivery of the car an adjustment was made to the price because certain items were missing; the owners manual, spare key, and the top cover. On my way home I decided to stop at the local Mazda dealer to get prices on the missing equipment. It crossed my mind that perhaps I should try the air conditioning even though it was almost December. I couldn't find the button to turn it on. I asked the service department to check it out. The tech looked under the hood and proclaimed that the car had NO A/C. Houston, we have a problem! The car was advertised having "AC". I call the leasing company. They admitted they screwed up and would I please come in to re-write the deal. Finally, I owned the car.

 

       PS: This is a Canadian MSM originally purchased from Oakville Mazda and I have copies of the transfer sale to the leasing company.

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THE UPGRADES!

 

My better half, having noted my disappointment over the car not being equipped with A/C, decided that I should have A/C installed as a X-mas gift.  She, is a very generous soul. The weather was still holding with no snow in sight, so off to Daves Garage I went to see about getting A/C. While there I ask Dave if he would take the car for a spin to tell me if the performance was up to par for a Mazdaspeed. He confirmed what I had been thinking, that it was a bit sluggish. I asked him what would the "Little Enchilada" from "Flyin Miata" do for the performance of the car. He assured me that this kit would considerably lower the point, in the RPM range, where the turbo would start spinning up, and typically deliver 200hp to the rear wheels. The Toy Fund said, "Use me. Use me!", so I did. For the money spent on this upgrade, the result has been very rewarding.

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