That looks a lot less bad than I'd thought it might but, yes, not nice. You could probably remove the bent wing, bumpers and bootlid and, with a new tyre, drive it. Not massively safely, mind.
However, the roof's not taut. That'd suggestion a tub deformation. Can be sorted on a jig.
I'd need to shuffle a lot of things about, but if you need somewhere to store and work on it, I have a right-garage you can use...
Thanks for the offer. For the time being, it's going to live at my parents'.
Body wise it's a mix. I had a look underneath from all angles and I couldn't see any kinks. The sills, for example, look perfectly straight, despite the damage to the door.
Yet the deformed tub comment could also be explained by the fact the passenger door now slightly overlaps the rear wing where there should be a panel gap.
It wouldn't drive though. You'll see the front wheel is on a dolly, and the rear looks like it's been bent out of position too. What the photos don't show are how much paint has been scraped, as if it went along a wall or something.
Shame it wasn't more badly damaged and the thief not able to walf away.
My sentiments exactly.
Wow, that sucks. It was a peach. However, I think I'd be looking for a straight, rust-free tub and moving the good bits over. Best of luck to you with getting the insurance sorted. I hope the thief gets the rubber hose treatment.
Thanks Duke, so do I. And your idea is exactly what I've thought too. The good thing is that MX5s grow on trees so it's not beyond possibility finding a non-runner or scruffy one and mixing and matching.
Incidentally, the interior seems fine, broken steering column cover (where they hotwired it) aside.
The main mechanical bits seem okay too. Many of the ancilliaries are knackered, but everything backwards of the front of the engine seems fine.
I think this might be the one exception
Very true.
But yeah echoing Evan, what the hell did it hit? Clearly there's some sort of pole imprint on the bootlid, but oddly not on the plastic bumper which I would have thought on an 18 year old car would have cracked as soon as you breathe on it. And then the bonnet's curled up like there's been some sort of frontal impact. Very odd.
I assume the back end was the last thing to impact anything, and that whatever it hit was at a reasonable height. The bumper is virtually undamaged and when I looked underneath, it's all sound down there too. It's literally just the bootlid and back panel which took the impact.
As for the front, it's definitely hit something straight on. The front bumper is damaged but presumably sprang back to something approximating a proper shape, but under the bonnet the radiator is knackered. The bumper grille is embedded in it, and the front subframe is bent.
I didn't look closely but I'm pretty much certain the front suspension will be fubar'd.
I suspect whatever it hit, it did so at a very shallow angle. I'm presuming some sort of motorway-style crash barrier, though that doesn't explain why there's a scrape right at the very top corner of the windscreen surround.
Incidentally, the surround itself is absolutely mint. The screen is undamaged too.
It's no good.
