-
The Destructive Nature of Man: Minion Miata
Sunburst Yellow is one of the rarest colors of NA MX-5 Miatas in existence. Tacking a $250 surcharge onto the bill, only 1519 Sunburst Yellow Miatas were made, making them exceptionally desirable. One is for sale right now on Bring A Trailer, and, at time of writing, its price is already at $8500 with seven days remaining. That price is sure to hit the teens if not the twenties; it even comes with a matching hardtop.
For this reason, when one scans the Facebook Marketplace listings, yellow NAs stand out. So imagine my disgust, eyeing a tiny yellow thumbnail and clicking on it, only to find this rolling nightmare.
That’s it, really. I just wanted to share this painful moment. This 1994 is not an original Sunburst Yellow, which were only produced for the 1992 model year. This example is a color change, along with some lovely graphics. It has 150,000 miles and the owner is asking $10,000 or best offer. Act fast.
-
Nice Price or Crack Pipe: 73,000 Mile S14
You know the deal on this one. The drift scene ravaged the S13/S14 population over the past 15-20 years. Finding an unmolested example takes a great deal of patience, the owner always knows what they have, and generally speaking, if the the mileage is low, it’s because the car doesn’t move.
This is not an ideal S14. You can tell it’s been sitting in the sun for years, it has unrepaired paint damage all around, particularly on the front passenger corner, and it’s an automatic. The previous owner installed a push-start ignition, which is never a good sign. But, it’s listed on Facebook Marketplace for $7800, and has 73k miles on the odometer.
Side note, to see a list of every S14 240SX we’ve found on Facebook Marketplace, check out this link. If you’re new here, we hunt Facebook (and eBay, and Cars and Bids, and Bring A Trailer) for collector cars of interest, and compile them into these massive lists. We update daily, so come back for more.
The engine bay is complete: no eBay short ram, no OBX header. This is a hen’s tooth, a unicorn horn. Yes, it needs work, but the way things are going, will you ever find another S14 this “reasonably” priced?
We’ve reached a point where most 240SXs have been destroyed. And at $7800, this one might be next, unless you save it.
-
Dammit: This Solar Yellow MR2 Spyder Sells on Facebook Marketplace in Six Hours
I own an MR2 Spyder. It’s a 2000, it’s bright red, it has 63,000 miles. It’s genuinely the most fun car I’ve ever owned. I cherish it and would never consider selling it.
…Except I definitely will now, because one with two thousand less miles than my own sold for over $17,000 on Bring A Trailer recently. Considering what I paid for mine, hanging onto it in these absurd times feels foolish. After all, these cars get posted on Facebook Marketplace all the time; I can just get another one.
Expect to see this for sale sooner rather than later. So I’ve been looking, and looking, and looking. Unfortunately, it seems a lot of Spyder owners have also gotten the news that these cars were crafted from solid gold. $10,000+ asking prices are the norm for sub-90k examples, and the owners I’ve attempted to haggle with have all but laughed directly in my face. I’m sure if I tried to offer $6500 in person they actually would, immediately before chasing me off their driveway.
Yesterday, I received an alert on our Discord server. You can enter what make, model, year range, and mileage range you’re after, and my bot will tell you when there’s new matches. Two MR2 Spyders had just gone up for sale: the one pictured in this article, and a white 2001 with 63K on the clock, which was optioned identically to the one that just sold on BaT.
I immediately clicked on both and sent offers. The BaT clone was asking $8000; I offered him my customary $6500, to which he replied that was simply too low as his inbox was filled with interest. Fair enough.
Solar Yellow, the only color louder than Absolutely Red The yellow MR2 was being offered at $6500. Located a mere 28 hours away by highway in a suburb of Los Angeles, this 89,000 original mile Solar Yellow example actually included the OEM hardtop, color matched of course. Underneath was a black top and black cloth interior, just like mine. I offered him asking price. I told him I had cash in hand. I did everything I could to secure this car. He sent me the VIN and some jovial conversation, telling me how much he loved it, how much he hated to see it go. I told him I needed to book a flight, just don’t sell it.
This OEM hardtop is worth $3000+ if you can even find one. Of course, you know how this ends. Within six hours of listing the car, it was sold. This car, with the matching hardtop and sub-100k mileage, is the perfect Bring A Trailer bait car. even with 50% more miles than the white and tan beauty that sold a couple weeks back, I’m sure if it were listed, it would fetch a similar price. The hardtop is basically impossible to come by at this point, much less color matched, and the solar yellow really does look insane out in the real world, surrounded by the usual tan and beige conveyance appliances most choose to drive.
It’s not a matter of if, but when this car will show up on Bring A Trailer, Cars and Bids, or eBay. We’ll keep our eyes peeled and update on this car’s journey as it continues. I fully expect to see it again in the near future sporting a five figure price tag. The white 2001 Spyder I mentioned remains for sale at the time of this writing, but god knows for how long. I guess I’ll make another offer.
One final note, if any of you live in the Los Angles area and want to act as an intermediary for these kind of things, jump on the Discord and talk to us. California has a wealth of great cars and we’d like to get our beaks wet from thousands of miles away. We’ll make it worth your time. Free stickers?
-
What cars do YOU want to see?
I want to narrow our search a bit. Daily Deals missed a few days due to some issues with my server, but now that we’re back running, I want to make it something I personally actually want to scroll through. For me personally, that means 90s and 00s Hondas and Toyotas: the Civic Si, RSX, and MR2 Spyder. It also means 80s and 90s Nissans: Z32 300ZXs, S13s and S14s, and the Sentra SE-R. And maybe some oddball Subarus like the Brat could keep it interesting. What that doesn’t include, in my perfect vision, is hundreds of F-150s and Super Duties, any sort of German car at all really, and maybe less Plymouth Prowlers wouldn’t hurt.
But nobody’s tastes are the same, and I want to make sure I’m still including your interests in these posts, and what we aggregate on the forum. So what do you want to see? Email me directly at collectorcarfeed@gmail.com to tell me what you’re looking for, or let me know in the Discord server.
I’m also thinking about reducing the number of emails to every other day, or maybe three times a week. If you know about this site and come here regularly anyway, do you really need a daily notification in your mailbox? Do you want one? I’m open to either way, continuing daily or switching to a few times a week. I’m pushing the limit on my free Mailchimp account right now, so dialing it back wouldn’t hurt. Again, let me know what you think!
There are some new features in the Discord server (get notifications for specific searches, with filters for year price, mileage, and keywords!), and a few other updates worth mentioning, but I’ll tell you about them in a separate post. Thanks for reading!
-
Found on the Feed: Better ACTY now!
If you’ve ever been to Japan, then odds are you’ve had the pleasure to see what’s known as a kei car. These are smaller Japanese market-only vehicles that value function over form. Kei cars and trucks have been making their way to America for quite some time, but it’s only recently that they’ve become staples on many import shops’ websites, with some places going as far to only import kei vehicles. Powered by tiny, sub-660CC motors, in this ACTY’s case, it’s a 650CC I3. These vehicles also came in a variety of forms, from trucks to vans; there’s an ACTY for everyone.
Bet you didn’t notice she wasn’t wearing shoes. It should be known that when I pulled this example up during the Feed’s offices daily “T. Flats and Trucks” luncheon, there were several vomiting noises, and we can’t be sure which caused it. [editor’s note: we don’t all agree with Atlas’ disdain, I THINK IT’S CUTE] However, here’s today’s 1994 ACTY Van, currently listed on Facebook Marketplace. It’s been in the states for less than a year and only has around 50,000 miles on it (76,000 km). It’s a stick shift and the seller states that it’s in great condition for its age. The seller, a Feed discord regular, has a deep-rooted love for the ACTY platform, and when asked what makes it special, he said it’s got a rare double sunroof, for taking your six-pack of Asian thots on a pleasure cruise to the nearest beach for an afternoon of backgammon.
The seat that’s held 1000 Japanese farts. Overall this example seems to be fairly clean and with a good detail, and some carpet extraction, you’ll be the star of the next Cars and Coffee. Priced at $8,000, I think this vehicle won’t last long. It’s a fair price and if Bring a Trailer has shown us anything recently, it’s that 90’s JDM stuff is on the rise and this ACTY is about as JDM as you can get.
-
Found on the Feed: Rally Spec Pulsar GTI-R
The Nissan Pulsar is the (already) eccentric Nissan fan’s Nissan. These were some unique little hot hatches made for the Japanese market, and never quite made it here to the United States (we got the Sentra instead). That’s kind of a shame, because certain models (GTI-Rs) came with a SR20DET, all wheel drive and the rest of your classic 90s Nissan tropes. The only thing this little car didn’t do is race Mt. Akagi against a certain panda Trueno. [editor’s note: fact checked for accuracy. It’s true: Takumi never races a GTI-R]
That brings us to today’s model, which is set up to be a true Group A rally car, which, according to Wikipedia, was an actual thing Nissan did! However, this particular example, found on Facebook Marketplace, is a recreation, appearing to be a GTI-R underneath, as stated by the seller: “NOT saying its a NISMO car !! Has some Nismo parts !!” But nevertheless, this is a cool car, decked out with everything you’d need to attend the next New England Forest Rally with your favorite co-driver.
There do be a redtop there Now, the price isn’t exactly cheap at $19,500. But I’m going to forgive that for the fact that it’s both a 90s Nissan with an SR20DET (thanks, Bring a Trailer) and a bonafide Rally Car. It sounds like at the end of the day there’s some room to wiggle here, being that it’s been listed for a week now. With the rest of the mods the seller lists, I don’t have a ton of doubt that this would be a solid weekend driver.
-
Found on the Feed: Your next NB Miata Project
We all know NBs are the superior Miata [we don’t -Feed]. It’s been discussed on the Collector Car Feed podcast several times now. However, what we’ve got here is a real project that is (thankfully) OBO so you might be able to scoop it for a reasonable price, considering the low miles it has.
Almost everyone on this fine website knows about Miatas; it seems like even the most common folk know now. I double-checked this by yelling out the window of the Feed offices “Hey what’s a Miata?” and a nice gentleman on the sidewalk below replied “A great driver’s car!” If you need more convincing, let me tell you this fact: It’s the best selling roadster of all time.
A nice wet picture to hide how terrible the paint really is. This particular NB has just under 29000 actual miles on the car. However, the seller does state that the Arizona sun has taken a toll on the vehicle’s paint and dashboard, as noted by the above and below pictures. The car is an original 5 Speed and does have a hardtop, which is an exceptionally desirable, hard-to-come-by amenity.
Overall, this car’s a little steep at $8500, but as I said in the beginning, the seller states this is or best offer, so you could potentially scoop it for a decent price. A little Maaco love, some time on the internet finding either some new seats or having an upholstery shop run free and you might (keyword might) have a Bring a Trailer winner on your hands. You can go here to find the listing. Unless it’s slipped away by now, in which case you should have gotten Feed Premium to find this gem and ones just like it, first, when they hit Facebook Marketplace.
-
Big if True: World’s First 10 Second Honda For Sale
Today’s staff pick is an actual piece of import tuning history. Today we take a look at the Silver Bullet Honda CRX, currently up on Facebook Marketplace for “trades and cash 30k range”.
This CRX, originally owned by David Shih, has spent the last 22 years untouched as part of a private collection in Monroe, Louisiana. Shih was interviewed by Honda Tuning Magazine about his historic feat in which he piloted the little B18 powered sport compact to the world’s first ten second quarter mile pass in a Honda, posting 10.87 at 136 miles per hour, all the way back in 1996.
This is truly a piece of automotive history. This car can be credited with kicking off the tuner craze of the late 90s and early 00s, leading into the creation of the Fast and the Furious franchise, American Products Company, Super Street Magazine (which coincidentally also started in 1996), and so many other things we’ve come to love in hindsight here at Collector Car Feed. $30,000 for this historic milestone almost feels like theft.
-
Site Update: Daily Deals Revamped
If you haven’t taken a look at Daily Deals in a minute, I don’t blame you. Where are the deals?
Up until now, the Daily Deals post has been a collection of all cars found in the past 24 hours with less than 100,000 miles on the odometer. The idea was maybe this would help you find a low mileage Bring A Trailer darling to flip.
Unfortunately, when you’re dealing with 10+ year old cars, limiting to a hundred thousand miles rules out the vast majority, and what if you’re not necessarily looking for a cherry example? What if you just want to get behind the wheel of a 240SX or 4Runner and don’t really care about the number on the odometer?
Daily Deals has been reworked. Now instead of limiting by mileage, it shows everything we’ve found in the past 24 hours (and will soon include live auction listings). To help make sense of the mess, I’ve added labels to standout listings, both positive and negative. There’s a 1-5 dollar sign price rating, markers for low and high mileage, and a quick warning if the price or mileage looks fake. The price and mileage labels are model-specific: previously, anything under 100k was considered “low mileage”. Now, low and high mileage labels are based on the mileage of all similar vehicles I’ve found in the past six months. The same is true of price labels. Everything is based on similar vehicle data instead of arbitrary numbers.
Our goal here has always been helping you find a good deal, and I think this is a massive step forward in living up to it. This functionality will be added to the forum pages as well in the near future, along with some other tweaks and new features. This site is never “finished”, there’s always something else to fix or improve.
Anyway, the YouTube channel needs subs, so smash that bell or whatever.
-Feed
