Sadly, someone decided to use my 92 Sky Blue Miata as a brake when I was stopped at a light. They had insurance, but they want to call it a total at $4.500. It was only driven in the summer and had 30,000 miles on it. My body shop guy says I should take it and keep the engine and look for a clean body to drop the engine into. Does this makes sense? Know any Miata's with a shot engine that I could snatch the body for cheap to make the switch? Where would I look?

take the insurance money and run...its not worth it. I checked out Edmunds.com and appraised your Mazda with a few options (AM/FM Radio-Cassette, Alloy Wheels, Air Conditioning, 4 Wheel ABS) and in excellent mechanical/body condition. It says you can only sell it for $2,249 (US Dollars - not sure where you're from) I say you just take that money and get a new car, they're giving you more than its worth...is the engine thaaaat good? I dont think its worth it to do a motor swap...

just my opinion, hope it helps

He's right, take the money and RUN, the engines on those cars are a dime a dozen. I replaced mine with an engine in great shape for 300 bucks. Not worth the effort.

With 4500 bucks you can get a nice 94-97 with bigger brakes, bigger motor, and stronger rear end. Or you can easily find a cheap 90-93 and put a nice suspension and roll bar in it:)

Sorry to hear about the car though, i miss my red miata dearly, and the mariner blue's were a rare color!

Thanks guys for the advice. After some arguing and crying and a last few rides around the block, I'm saying goodbye and giving it up for salvage. I'll get $5,700 out of it, which seemed pretty fair. Thanks for the input.