It’s time for another Shitbox Showdown! Today, we’re looking at a couple of legendary sports cars, in anything but legendary condition. First, let’s see which level of sedan difficulty you chose:
Huh, I was not expecting that. I bet if the Jag’s engine were in one piece, the vote would have been tighter. But you chose the safe and easy path. Honestly, I would too. That Jag is beyond my abilities.
Before we get to today’s cars, I just want to say a quick word about “boring” cars, a charge that was leveled against the Nova by a few commenters. Honestly, I don’t find any car boring. No, not even those. Or those cars that you’re thinking about. They’re just used in boring ways. Puttering back and forth to work in something like that little blue Nova is indeed boring, but what about autocrossing it? Or driving it from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine using only two-lane roads? Or using it to visit every National Park in the lower 48 states in reverse chronological order? Not so boring then, is it?
Alright, I’ll put the soapbox away. Let’s look at some cars. Today’s choices are both renowned inexpensive performance cars, both great handlers, both with a strong following even today, and both turning the corner from old and affordable to legitimate classic. But both need some help to get back to anything like their former glory.
1985 Porsche 944 – $2,100
Engine/drivetrain: 2.5-liter inline 4, 5-speed rear-mounted transaxle, RWD.
Location: Sparks, NV.
Odometer reading: Unknown.
Runs/drives? Yep, according to the seller.
Almost from the moment that it was introduced, the Porsche 944 was synonymous with yuppie affluence. Miss Christina drove one. So did Sam Baker‘s crush. More expensive than the entry-level 924, but more approachable than the 911 or 928, the 944 was the car you could almost daydream about owning one day. And the fact that it handled great and was no slouch on acceleration (for the time) didn’t hurt, either.
Unfortunately, this 944 is not going to turn many heads these days. Its Guards Red paint is faded to a morose matte orange, it appears to be missing both exterior door handles (very common for VW/Porsche/Audi of this era; they broke if you looked at them funny), and it wears a set of wheels from a newer Porsche that don’t fit well. The 944 has the same problem as the SN95-era Ford Mustang when it comes to aftermarket wheels: If you don’t match the wheel offset to the width of the fenders, it just looks stupid.
The ad is light on both description and photos, so we’ll have to make some of our own observations. The car “runs fast” but “needs TLC” according to the seller. It looks to me like “TLC” includes a good chunk of the interior. I don’t know if the window was rolled down for the photo, or if it won’t go up, but if it’s the latter, I imagine something from the Nevada desert may have made this car its new home. Watch where you sit on a test drive.
If it does indeed run well, what we may be looking at here is a good candidate for a cheap track car. Or – here’s a thought – a Gambler car. Everyone does safari 911 builds; why not a 944?
(Image credits: Craigslist seller)
1990 Mazda Miata – $2,495
Engine/drivetrain: 1.6-liter inline 4, 5-speed manual, RWD.
Location: Pacifica, CA.
Odometer reading: 228,000 miles.
Runs/drives? Yep.
The Mazda Miata should need no introduction. For more than three decades now, it has been the darling of car-lovers everywhere: an inexpensive, sharp-handling, soulful little twisty road companion. And the amazing part is that list applies to the 2022 model the same as it does to this 1990. The Miata is like that friend from high school who shows up to the reunion looking at least as good as, if not better than, they did back then, but you can’t even be upset or jealous about it, because they’re just so nice.
I was lucky enough to own a 1991 Miata, in similar condition and with similar miles, for many years, so this all looks familiar to me: the little 1.6 liter twin cam engine with its valve cover designed to look like an old Alfa, the snug bucket seats, the high center console, the short stubby shifter that changes gears with the flick of a wrist, the dashing top-down profile that just makes you want to get in and drive.
I don’t know what’s going on with the weird two-tone job on this one, but at least the body is straight and rust-free. It does need a new top, but it’s not hard to install that yourself, and duct tape will do fine until you get around to it. It wears a nice set of aftermarket wheels, and the seller says it has new brakes all around, and a current California registration, so you should be able to drive it away without worry.
The seller does note a few little problems. It has a broken trunk latch and a “malfunctioning” pop-up headlight on the left side. I’ll bet I know exactly how it is malfunctioning, because mine did it too: the stop on the motor is worn out, so the headlight will cycle up and down on its own, over and over again, as if the car is winking at everyone. It’s funny the first few times.
(Image credits: Craigslist seller)
And there they are: two sports car icons with a cheap price of admission, but needing some work to bring out the best in them. Which one is more your speed?
The 944 is going to get crushed here (maybe literally, soon) but my first RC car as a kid was a 944, so it gets my vote on nostalgia alone.
Is that Miata painted with bedliner? Might be the only thing holding it together.
I took the easy way out the last two days in a row, but today I’ll gamble on the ratty Parshe.
I could only vote for one so chose the Porsche. Real answer is both.
Miata for sure. Needs a Ford 302 V8 and a roll cage.
I’d pick the Miata by such a wide margin that I’d be concerned about the ad being a scam intended to harvest my organs.
I picture the 944 driver as some bro who brags about his Porsche in his Tinder profile and then shows up to the date in that heap!
I just sold my rusty AF Michigan Miata for twice what I paid. Not trying to get back into that game, but it’s a screaming price for a non-rusty one.
I’m normally ride or die on the Miata, having loved mine, but seeing a 944 whilst out for a ride the other day awakened something in me. I think I’m ready to have my heart broken by an old German sports car.
Easy choice for me today 944. Porsche tax be damned. I’ve wanted one since I was 12 and I bet it could be had cheaper than 2100.
I absolutely can’t pick that Miata. The two-tone bodywork just reeks of “has been hit. Several times in fact.” It already has a $199 Maaco paintjob, replete with overspray and runs. And $2500 is ludicrous; you can something with less than half the miles, in far better condition, for not much more scratch. (About $4k around here for 100-125k mile examples, rust free natch.)
And with that many miles? Sorry folks, but the BP is nowhere near GM 3800 bulletproof, and I don’t see any service history. Good money that’s a boneyard engine under the hood, or one that’s just barely got enough compression to run. To say nothing of all the other wear parts.
The 944’s not a shitbox though. I wouldn’t trust it without doing major work first. But damn if it isn’t a solid project car. It will cost, oh it will cost. But if you want to dip your toes into Porsche racing? That’s your winner. Right there. PCA and NASA 944 Spec eligible. Bolt in a used cage, a pair of Kirkeys, slap some wheels and tires on, a quick trip to the wrap shop, and away you go. And hey, it’s still completely serviceable as a runabout. It’s not like you’re deleting the trunk.
And really, if you learn to do the maintenance yourself, it’s a lot less painful of an ownership experience than you think. Timing belt every 30,000 miles (I wish I was joking,) and frequent fluid changes, but that’s about it. And the parts aren’t Porsche expensive.
You can be racing competitively in this thing for less than $10k and that’s including the price of the car and the wrap.
944 takes it today. And hopefully whoever buys it takes some checkered flags.
This is a B6, 1.6 liter, not the BP 1.8. and I bet it’s original – mine had 240,000 on it when I sold it, and it just burned a little oil (sticky rings, common issue). The trouble with them is the short-nose crankshaft; if you don’t torque the pulley bolt down exactly right, you can crack the crank right at the threads. If it wobbles when it’s running, walk away, otherwise it’s fine.
Yep, my bad, B6. But still a B. They really don’t go that long without ridiculously expensive problems (like needing a re- ring and rehone) without dumb luck. And as you mentioned, that snub nose crank is a trap. Plus the coolant and timing system ages poorly, so non-zero chance it’s overdue on both.
More over though, I would not in a million years trust what is under the 60 pounds of brush on primer bought at Dollar General. I can SEE at least three spots where somebody used masonry tools to apply filler or just didn’t fix the panel right.
The Porsche is in atrocious condition on the inside, but who cares for a track toy? Straight body, no suspect bondo spots, no rot, bulletproof transaxle, and you’re going through the motor anyway.
That 944 just screams MONEY PIT. But younger me would have been dumb enough to buy it.
While not exactly rust free (the ad mentions “not much rust”), Miata in a landslide
These PORSCHES you speak of, I know them well. That makes the MAZDA the best choice. Not a hard decision here.
Miata all the way, I don’t even hate the crazy 2 tone paint lol
That paint job looks exactly as good, as if I’d painted it myself. So for just that reason, I’d keep it.
There’s nothing I enjoy more than turning up somewhere where people shy away from my car, just based on it’s external appearance 🙂
That 944 is gone. Don’t even try…. I know what I’m talking about.
Miata, and it isn’t even close.
I, too, once had a 944 that “needed TLC,” and I voted for the Miata easily.
Sure, the 944 has more “cool factor,” and handles incredibly when it’s sorted, but that’s a non-issue here because the distance between this 944 and “sorted” is a gaping chasm, into which you will pour at least the asking price over again just getting it road-worthy, and that’s not counting the medical costs after being bitten by whatever currently lives in it.
You couldn’t get me to take that 944 for free.
The MIATA cliché doesn’t do much for me, neither does the paint job on this particular example. But that 944 is so awful and irredeemable, MIATA rings true this time.
I’d take a GOOD 944 at a reasonable price in a heartbeat. This is not a “good” 944. The days someone actually maintained it — if ever; a lot of 944s and 924s were run into the ground from the get-go, or at least by second (or subsequent) owners — are long past, and I sense a lot of costly parts and services are in its very near future.
The Miata, on the other hand, appears to be salvageable. Fix the headlight motor, paint it and probably have a decent little runner. NA Miatas are fun.
So: no question on this one.
The Miata is the obvious logical choice. But I don’t fit in them. The myth of a rear seat in the 944 at least provides the extra room I need to slide in. So, if I want to drive it, it has to be the 944.
I was today years old when I learned the 944 had ever been considered legendary, by anyone, anywhere. And I’m old enough to remember when they were sold new!
This is an easy win for the Miata.
Does a class win at Le Mans qualify? (’81 924 GTP LM, but it really was a not-yet-announced 944).
How about being the fastest Porsche in the lineup? (For one year only, but wasn’t far behind the 911 Turbo even in the years when the 2 did coexist.)
I’m as big of a Porsche fanboy as anyone but this one easily goes to the NA Miata. The 944 is one of the least desirable Porsches and the asking price is just the beginning. It’s going to take a lot of TLC to make it into a desirable weekend warrior (I can smell that interior from here) and that TLC will come with the Porsche Tax…and even if you sort it out is it really going to be THAT rewarding? I haven’t personally driven a 944 but I’ve ridden in one, and there’s a reason you can still find cheap ones even is this market.
The Miata is sorted enough that you can start beating on it now and the parts/service that you need to make it nice again will come at a fraction of the cost and effort. Plus…it’s a convertible. I’m at the point in life where if I’m going to have a fun, impractical car I’d rather it have a roof that goes down. Open air motoring is underrated and the NA Miata’s resume speaks for itself.
My aunt has a nice one I get to take out periodically and despite being a 30 year old car it’s still amazing to drive.
A Miata without gaping rust holes for under 6 large? Get that thing a crappy Maaco paint job and it’ll be mint!
Yeah. No brainer choice here. But at the asking price I wonder if there may be something weird going on here? Seems too cheap, especially for the age and decent looking body…wish I was able to look it over.
Yeah, but when the paint looks like it went on using a roller…do we really know what underneath it? It could be a Bondomobile of the highest order.
At the same time, that Porsche, even though I voted for it, looks ready for the last ride to Part-Out Palace.
And to think, I sold mine six years ago in (slightly) better shape than this, with only a few more miles, for $2000 and was happy to get it. I never can read any market right.
I am a gambler on a level that makes people waiting to lose their virginity at marriage, look sane…On that note I went for the 944.
Got to vote for the 944. My best friend in high school had one and it was amazing, quick and handled fantastic There was a slim chance of me buying it…but my dad wouldn’t let me… probably for the best. For nostalgia and for the potential, if it was fixed up a bit it could be worth something.
I’ve had a 944 in the past and they are fantastic cars – when they work. Looking at the condition of these it has to be the MX5 (I’m from the UK and cannot get used to calling it a Miata).
Pretty much the same reasoning for me.
And funny, b/c for those of us from the States, we just can’t get used to calling it the MX5 now!
Sorry Stef, but the answer is always Miata 😛
Easily pick that over the Audi LOL