NO to ND

Last weekend at the finish of the Bug Splat (which I really need to write about over on the Club site) Donna and I noticed one couple’s car had nice new shiny leather seats in their 2001 Miata. We asked where they had them done and they said a little place called Evans Upholstery over in Georgia, $800 installed. This is a pretty good deal as the seats themselves from leatherseats.com would be anywhere from $700-750, then you’d have to install them yourself or pay someone a couple hundred more to do it.

This morning when we got up, with the practically fall-like weather decided to drive over and check the shop out. Most places like this aren’t open weekends, but the Internet’s know-it-all Google said that they were open from 8 ’til noon. Because the GPS was giving Donna fits when she was trying to enter in their address we opted to see if we could find it using my hazy memory of the Google map I looked at for 45 seconds yesterday. Predictably, that didn’t work out so well.

I pulled into a quick-stop and while Donna was inside I tried the GPS again. This time, it magically knew where to go. When we pulled up front Donna said, “Looks dark. They’re closed.” I said, “Nah. There’s an OPEN sign in the window.” When I pulled on the door, it didn’t open. Donna handed me the phone and I dialed the number on the door. After each ring in my ear I could hear the muffled ring in the shop. When the answering machine clicked on, I clicked off the phone. Turns out that Google is just like every other know-it-all I’ve ever known, they just think they know it all.

Another thing we learned at last week’s Bug Splat was that Andy Gerald Jones Mazda over in Augusta had a couple of the 4th generation cars, AKA the ND, in stock. Seeing as we were over this way anyway we thought we’d go check and see if they were still there. One was, a Ceramic Metallic GT. It was right out front with the top down. As we parked and started walking towards it a salesman who was walking around the lot plotted an intercept course and headed that way too. Donna and I arrived first and popped open the doors and sat right down.

It’s still a Miata, just updated. Kinda like your living room if you painted the walls a shade brighter color and bought new furniture. The good news is that the passenger leg room has returned from its absence in the 3rd gen car, the bad news is the 4 x 6 x 1-1/2″ high hump adjacent to the transmission tunnel is still there. The good news is that it doesn’t feel like sitting in a bathtub as much as the 3rd gen car did, the bad news is it still feels a lot more enclosed than our car. The good news is that as everyone on the Miata.net has said, it is much nicer looking in person than it is in pictures, the bad news is that Donna is still not getting a warm and fuzzy feeling from its appearance.¹ While I give it 4 out of 5 stars and Donna gives it about 2-1/2, I’m pretty sure the Emperor’s reign over the Bogardus household is safe for the next several years.

When the salesman asked if we wanted to take it for spin we said, “No thanks, it’s an automatic.” When he asked if we wanted a call when they got a six-speed in, I said sure and gave him my work phone. And depending on if it is not too inconvenient when he calls, we just might go over.

I spent the rest of the day pampering the Emperor in preparation for our big trip. Rotated the tires and changed the oil. Checked all the fluid levels and air pressures. Then washed and waxed (with actual paste wax) the car. Couple items left to do, clean the inside glass and top off the air in the spare, these will happen tomorrow in the garage while it rains outside.