Perplexing BAT Find

As with every Monday when I wander over to Bring A Trailer to pick out the three vehicles that strike my fancy, there are always somewhere between six and seven hundred auctions running. This means that there are plenty that could make the list but don’t.

This week there was a very low mileage 2003 Miata that sold for $13,100. That might sound like a lot of money for a 19-year old car, but with the way car prices are right now and I had to replace my current 19-year old Miata I probably wouldn’t have a problem with that sum.

I would have a problem with this particular example though, the color. Both Donna and I thought it was the ugliest color we had ever seen on a Miata. And we know from experience, we had one as loaner back in October 2003 when our ’95 was in for a timing chain replacement. I was pretty merciless in my condemnation of Splash Green – New Miata In The Garage.

So what was especially weird for me was the comment section of the auction, the first several posts from when it was listed are all in praise of the color! Some even considered it one of the best colors the car ever came in, yikes! All I can think of was that everyone was being polite, or maybe people are now so used to seeing nearly all the vehicles on the road in a monochromatic palette that runs from white to black.

Splash Green was not very popular back in 2003. While we were looking at new cars back then, we found ourselves at a Mazda dealer in Charleston, SC and as proof I offer this little story – One Last Splash Green Story. We did end up buying a 2003 Miata later that year, but it was the real best color ever on a Miata, Garnet Red.

Sport, Off-Road, Touring

Convertible Edition of SORT
The middle of May must be the start of convertible season on BAT
because of the 708 auctions today, 178 were for drop tops.
As of Monday, May 16, 2022 at 6:00 PM pacific time:

Sport Off-Road Touring
1969 Datsun 2000 Roadster 1984 Mercedes-Benz 230GE 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Convertible
Last week on BAT we had another Javanese 2-seat sports car with 2000 in its name, but it was from Honda. Shipping is going to a lot more expensive than the typical BAT shipping because this is located in Ireland. If a classic Cadillac drop top is more your thing, you can choose one from the 40’s, 50’s or 60’s right now on BAT.

Here is what last week’s cars sold for, or bid to (if the reserve was not met):
Sports: Original-Owner 2002 Honda S2000 Sold for $28,000 on 5/11/22
Off-Road: 2004 Land Rover Discovery II G4 Challenge Sold for $12,250 on 5/15/22
Touring: 2012 Maserati GranTurismo MC Bid to $48,500 on 5/11/22

Et Tu Lands End with the Supply Chain Issues?

I am a freak when it comes to arm length, not full on simian, but my arms are longer than the standard adult long sleeve shirt is made. Admittedly there is a mental component involved as well, I just can’t stand the feeling or look of the long sleeve being above the wrist level.1 After trying to get long sleeve shirts that fit from several online place that sell Big & Tall sizes, I found the my holy grail in the Lands End tall large size.

Because I wear long sleeves even in the summer I end up buying two or three new shirts every other year or so. So when the latest Lands End catalog arrived in the mail with a 40% off offer and I was down to just 2 decent shirts left in the dresser draw, I decided to restock. The two I have are white and a medium blue, so I picked out three darker shirts, a black, a navy blue and a charcoal. When I got to the cart there was a $9 shipping charge and I hate paying shipping (damn you Amazon Prime.) I could get free shipping if the order was over $100 and my total was a few dollars shy, so I went to the sale area to see what was available to put me over the hundred dollar mark.

I found a large tall blue & white striped tee in their “upscale” supima cotton for cheap that would work. Back to the cart and noticed that three of the 4 shirts were on back order. Not just a week or two either, 2 shirts were two months out and the third was 3 months out. The only shirt that was going to be here in the next few days was that throw in from the sale page…

19.8 miles to Home Depot and back the long way.
Times Miata Driven since 01/01/22: 24

 

As Threatened

I did change the oil in the Miata today. When I pulled out the dipstick, before I started it up to back it out into the driveway, the oil level read full and it looked pretty clean, but I went ahead and drained it anyway to make room for the new.

That drained oil was put in the car last June at 79,300-ish miles on the odometer. The time before that, I did it the driveway here in June of 2020 with 77,500-ish miles on the odometer. The time before that was in Aiken when the 75,000 mile service was done in July of 2019.

Because it looks like the CTBNL is going to be on a yearly oil change schedule, this time I bought a synthetic blend instead of the usual straight dino oil. I’m going to start with the blend before I put full synthetic in it as a test. Because the last time I tried full synthetic in the previous Miata it started to leave spots on the garage floor. This is because synthetic is thinner and will find places to sneak out easier than the old school oil. Admittedly the previous car had a lot more miles on it than the almost 81k this car has.

1.8 miles of around the block.
Times Miata Driven since 01/01/22: 23

 

Impeding Oil Change

The Miata is way due for an oil change. As a matter of fact we are about 2 weeks shy of a year since the oil has been drained out of it. Back then it was done not in my driveway into a collection pan, but along Hwy 140 south of town, in the parking area of a fuel refilling station and on the flat bed of a tow truck.

That length of time shouldn’t be too much of an issue as the car has probably been a total of 1,500 miles since then. And I have tried to go for a drive once a week bringing the car up to operating temperature for a good 15-20 minutes.

Right now I’m shooting for this Saturday or Sunday because the weather is going to be at least in the upper sixties and sunny. The last few days it has been cold and snowy. Not too cold for the snow to accumulate any, it just melted on contact with the ground, but not the kind of weather to lay under a car and change the oil.

11.5 miles of around town running.
Times Miata Driven since 01/01/22: 22

 

Sport, Off-Road, Touring

Snowy Day in May Edition of SORT
As of Monday, May 9, 2022 at 6:00 PM pacific time:

Sport Off-Road Touring
Original-Owner
2002 Honda S2000		 2004 Land Rover Discovery II G4 Challenge 2012 Maserati GranTurismo MC
The slightly larger and more expensive alternative to a 10AE Miata, i.e. blue exterior and interior. This has some serious off-road chops and the orange compliments the two blues perfectly. I have always loved the look of these. Do they ride smooth? The name says Turismo, so here’s hoping.

Here is what last week’s cars sold for, or bid to (if the reserve was not met):
Sports: 1973 Porsche 914 Sold for $32,914 on 5/6/22
Off-Road: 2019 Ford Ranger XLT Sold for $46,250 on 5/4/22
Touring: 1957 Chevrolet Suburban Bid to $135,000 on 5/6/22

If Your Dish Doesn’t Cut It, You Will Be

One of the streaming services we subscribe to is Discovery+. We use it like humans use their brains, i.e. only 10% of it2, the only thing we watch is the stuff on the Food Network & HGTV. We also use it to watch the current episodes of our favorites using the streaming service to avoid commercials.

For the last year or so we have been watching an episode of Chopped when we sit down and eat. Chopped premiered in 2009 and continues to this day. According to Wikipedia they have filmed 674 (635 + 39 specials) and just last week we finished almost every one of them.

I say almost everyone because we have skipped pretty much all of the special or regular episodes that involved Alton Brown or Bobby Flay because we don’t particularly like either personality. Other shows we mostly avoided were the ones that Martha Stewart was involved in for the same reason, but we did put up with several, because she had wormed her way into becoming a judge for a half dozen seasons or so.

Not having anymore Chopped to watch, we have now switched to watching Guy’s Grocery Games. Wikipedia has not locked in its episode total yet and lists 256 or 270 as the total number of episodes, but they stopped really counting in 2019 and the show is still in production. Needless to say we probably have a years worth of dining entertainment lined up.