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A few months ago my partner Carlie and I semi-decided that we needed a new car. I take my bike to work 3-4 days a week, my NA basically only comes out for track/weekend work, and we use her Prelude as our main car. We'd been talking about replacing the Prelude for 6 months or so, but never really seriously. We'd regularly check the online car sales, but never with any great intent.

Around comes last Wednesday night and up pops this rather cheap Neo Green NA6. 1991, tan leather, presumably an LE; but it wasn't advertised as such. The two of us went out to see it during lunch on Thursday, had a look over it, took it for a drive and then paid a deposit It wasn't really planned, but it was clean and nicely priced, so why the hell not?

We went out and picked it up first thing this morning, before Carlie dropped me at a Nerf game for the day and she went for a drive. I got home not that long ago and quickly snapped some photos as a 'the day we got it' type thing.

It is most certainly an LE, #113 to be precise. Only modifications are the 16" NB wheels and painted interior parts (which will be rectified soon enough).












And now the part to make you cry.








I'm going to try and clean up the gear knob as good as I can, but I'm not holding high hopes for it. You can't really see it in the photos, but the number at the bottom is unmistakably #113.

Initial plans include a roll bar and another set of wheels, but we'll see how we end up.

BRG...very jealous one of my favorite colors.

Ah very nice Joe! That interior paintjob is a bit of a disaster. I'm sure you'll bring it back to spec without too much trouble.

Joe, well done. Looks like it is in safe hands now. I'll be at the next track day if you want to compare notes.
Phil.

Thats awesome Joe I'm excited for ya Only one thing better than having an MX5 and thats having two!

So is that paint on the gear knob as well?

Congrats on the purchase!

Maybe the painter of the console was into patriotic combos.
A replacement console could be easier than paint stripping but se how you go!
The air ducts and trim would normally be black, so are those bits chromed or painted?

Keep us updated. Try to find the BBS wheels from the LE era for your car.

Beautiful LE ...ouch looks like someone had the car have some unique taste. Keep us posted with your progress pls.

Nice buy Joe.

But sh*t, that interior is a bit of a travesty...!

Thanks guys. Took it for a decent drive right over the other side of town for a mates 21st tonight, and took it the long way It's understandably not my car through the fun mountain roads but still good fun. Also badly needs a wheel alignment...

Current priority order is to get the Prelude ready for sale (anyone want a cheap 92 Honda? ), transfer rego, get an alarm and to sort out the stereo.

SIB wrote:I'll be at the next track day if you want to compare notes.
Phil.

That I would. There's obviously a whole bunch of things different to my car, but ti would be nice to know which of those are because mine is an import and which are due to previous owners.

slug_dub wrote:So is that paint on the gear knob as well?

Yep. However the unfortunate part is that it is the LE gearknob which is the only thing on the car that has it's number and someone has painted over it.

Bizi wrote:A replacement console could be easier than paint stripping but se how you go!
The air ducts and trim would normally be black, so are those bits chromed or painted?

The silver parts are just painted silver, not chromed. For the vents I'm pretty sure I'll just have to find replacements, but I've got a project in mind for the tombstone and centre console in my car so those parts could simply end up in the LE instead.

Sad to hear that the past owner didn't value the car more. My LE wasn't abused like that, but the gear knob I have could do with a full restore.... Mainly the lettering has almost rubbed off (wish Mazda did a better job of the knob).

If you find a way to get the lettering/knob restored (ie find someone who can do it) pls let me know.... ;)

G

gslender wrote:Sad to hear that the past owner didn't value the car more. My LE wasn't abused like that, but the gear knob I have could do with a full restore.... Mainly the lettering has almost rubbed off (wish Mazda did a better job of the knob).

If you find a way to get the lettering/knob restored (ie find someone who can do it) pls let me know.... ;)

G

dont know the best brand but something like this with sand paper will do the job. I know a guy buy second hand momo and nardi steering wheel and restore them with these and they looks just like new

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Leather-Repa ... 1586wt_982

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/BLACK-Leathe ... 757wt_1025

davidau wrote:

gslender wrote:Sad to hear that the past owner didn't value the car more. My LE wasn't abused like that, but the gear knob I have could do with a full restore.... Mainly the lettering has almost rubbed off (wish Mazda did a better job of the knob).

If you find a way to get the lettering/knob restored (ie find someone who can do it) pls let me know.... ;)

G

dont know the best brand but something like this with sand paper will do the job. I know a guy buy second hand momo and nardi steering wheel and restore them with these and they looks just like new

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Leather-Repa ... 1586wt_982

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/BLACK-Leathe ... 757wt_1025

Ummm, nah, the original LE knob is wooden, varnished, has gold leaf lettering saying Limitted Edition #79

No amount of leather fixer is going to sort it. It needs repainting and the lettering redone.

G

Updates!

Rego done.
Wow but is it slower than my car.
Ripped the horrendous head unit out of the car yesterday and replaced it with a nice shiny Alpine one. Once I recover some funds I'll be gutting the stereo from my car and putting it in to this one, complete with a brand new fibreglass sub box.

Decided to wash my car today after the hillclimb. Got home and that then turned in to Carlie and I washing both cars and then going to take photos. Our housemate came along too with his MX6 and fancy camera. I took some photos but mostly left it up to him. He's editing away currently so I'll post more once he's done, but for the moment here's some of the less crap ones I took.

And the first one from Richard