I purchased the ugly red '90 off Ebay the other day (web page with details will be started tomorrow at the address below):
http://www.lightweightmiata.com/v8miata/

I picked it up this weekend (20 hour round trip drive). We drove 8 hours to pick it up, I drove it to my father's house (two hours) and then trailered it back home today. Even though I only got to drive it the two hours it was a blast! The car is definitely REALLY rough and doesn't even pass the 50 feet test (it is ugly at 51' away) but it runs great and I think I did pretty good on the price. The clutch is stiff as hell and will give you a great leg workout. The exhaust is just two glass packs and it shakes the entire house when you pull it into the garage. FWIW, I finally understand why the guy cut the hole in the hood. Since he started trying to sell it I have heard a lot of people say how lazy he was for doing it or how he had no idea what he was doing and that was an indication of it. I talked to him and asked how much he had paid for the car (shell). He paid $800 for the car and it looked every bit of $200 to me. Anyway, I would put the value of the hood at around $12.99 on a good day so I would not have hesitated at cutting a hole in it either. It really sucks that I threw away a hood the other day. I also threw away a gauge cluster hood (missing on this car) and my father told me yesterday that he threw away an intake hose from my mother's '99 Vette. Anyway, I start playing with the car tomorrow and working on my website. See you guys around...