Yes I brought the one in South Yarra. I swapped cars with a friend for a weekend about 10 years ago. They had a black SE and they wanted my Ford Explorer 2002 for a 4 person road trip (don't laugh as an SUV with a sweet sounding and accelerating 4.6 litre V8 and a 5 speed auto that drove more like a car, I loved it ... except for the impending maintenance bills I knew would come one day for a low volume US import). I didn't get out of that car for the whole weekend and swore I would buy one one day. The handling was just brilliant, and I do like the look of those Hart Wheels.
Anyhow back to the current day and after a long weekend and a test drive of an SE at a dealer I said right time to finally buy. I usually seek an as original, well treated car as possible so one evening prior to flying interstate to test drive a couple of SE's to find that ellusive car I said hey there is this SP model here in my own city - why not just have a look - so I did. And you know that feeling when something just speaks to you - well this car did. And I love a sleeper. Still flew interstate but called him back from there and did the deal - I had hardly dríven the car or checked it out - turns out my gut was right (so far). All original service & purchase documents. Timing belt done - check, clutch replaced early on (maybe due to shudder issue I had read about elsewhere), exhaust flange bolts replaced, air compressor replace a year or so ago. Just a nice 100% original car and everything works. The guy I brought it from was the second owner of 12 years and fortunately had the resources to look after the car, he was not an particular MX5 enthusiast, just loved the car.
Oh and another comment - hmm I wish they had put an LSD in the SP's like the SE's - now I truely understand their function, aids the handling/balance a lot I would say.
Anyhow sorry back on topic. Thanks for the info - I read the posts, and focus on the one below and I quote;
The only SP's with "official" numbers were the the 3 prototype cars. They have a number sequence engraved onto their ECU. All SP's have a number engraved on their airbox.
Anything else: It was the 3rd SP built and it was built to do the motorshow rounds. I first saw it when it was up on a podium with it's hardtop on at the Sydney Motorshow late in 2001. It was also used as the model in the SP brochure. Little did I know while I was drooling at the Motorshow that in a bit over 12 months it would be mine. I originally thought it was the first car built because my airbox lid has PP0001 engraved on it, but my lid had been swapped with another car and the base of the airbox has PP0003 engraved on it. I later found out it was actuallly the 3rd car built and that was backed up by the number engraved on the ECU.
Hey Garry, guess I can resolve a bit of this mystery for you - my airbox is PP0001, and the lid is PP0003... our cars have been up to no good...
Let me know if you want to re-unite your original lid... it isn't a big deal to me as the airbox is in the shed. Funny, I had never looked at the base of the airbox before Sean posted his picture. I had checked for the lid number ages ago when it was first mentioned. When I feel like braving the cold, I might even uncover the ECU to confirm if mine is indeed the real number 1!
From what I can deduce from the above the cars you are talking about are possibly PP i.e. Pre-Production builds with PP001 and PP003 on the air boxes and probably a number on the ECU. My car only has a number on the airbox base J/N0001 and nothing on the lid, and also nothing engraved on the ECU. Do I potentially have build no. 1 of production, but obviously not the first built if there are 3 pre production cars? If so were there 3 PP and 97 (or 98) production models or ? The Japan build date plate is October 2001 and the Australian compliance is January 2002 (sorry in my eyes I count the build date as the car model year date hence 2001 model, not compliance date ... but that is a topic for another place I'm sure, and I am happy to be proved wrong but when I buy cars new or second hand its the build date I look at).
Photos of my ECU and airbox base are as below.
Anyhoo I must be bored as I have written an essay almost - just a bit of an intro to me and this car and hopefully helps add to the history and any debates.
PS I noticed you all seam to be able to post your cars and photos at the bottom as a form of signature - haven't figured that part out yet so this will have to do
2006 Citroen Berlingo 1.4 0-100 km/h 17.5 s (declared by factory), 1/4 mile drag time (402 m) 19.5 s
2001 MX5 SP unknown
