Did they ever checked back 4 years later? Nathan would be about 37 now and I wonder if he owns or ever owned a Miata.

Miata Club of America Member Profile

Nathan Hitchcock
Age: 12
Address: Trailway Lane
El Toro, CA 92630
School Activities: Drama, playing keyboards, basketball
Other interests: Harrison Ford and Michael J. Fox movies. Also Def Leppard, Steve Winwood.

He doesn’t remember the classic British roadsters of the ’50s and ’60s. He hadn’t been born yet.

When the RX-7 first appeared as Mazda’s entry into the affordable sports car arena he was…two years old.

Ask him what he was doing when the Miata first hit the drawing boards near his home in El Toro, California, and he may not remember. He was in the first grade.

Today Nathan Hitchcock is 12 and the youngest member of the Miata Club of America. We stopped by his home on what was coincidentally his birthday to welcome him personally and to get to know him.

An unassuming and polite gentle-man for his years, he was nevertheless excited to have such a direct response from his original note which read, “I’m very pleased with the Miata and with your club.”
Nathan is much like a typical 12-year old. Cars seem to hold a deep-felt interest. “I like expensive, fast cars,” he told us, “My favorite would have to be a Lamborghini.” The posters on the walls attest to his passions. Countaches, Porsche 911s and the like are a part of this dream gallery. We can identify with him. The exotics are so unreachable that we’re left to appreciate them only as works of art. But then why the interest in the Miata..? “It just caught my eye so fast.” And we can identify with that.

But enough looking. Let’s go for a ride! Better yet, we hand the key to a surprised Lee Hitchcock, Nathan’s father. After a brief familiarization session, (no, Nathan you have to sit on the right side) they’re off.

Next, we get to spend a nice moment with the other two members of the family: Nathan’s mom Lisa (who penned the club membership check that got this all started), and brother Jeremy, 10. We learn that they’re new to southern California, having moved from Austin, Texas, where the boys were raised.

Now that starts to figure. Nathan doesn’t seem the prototypical southern Californian. When we asked about his hobbies, for instance, they didn’t include skateboarding or surfing. (“I don’t go to the beach too much.”) They do include basketball, keyboard playing, and drama, all of which he’s starting to delve into at Serrano Inter-mediate in El Toro where he’s in the seventh grade. He also wants to be a writer someday.

When they do get back they look less like father and son and more like a couple of kids who just got off of Disneyland’s Space Mountain..A little tousled but ready to get back in line and ride again. You can just see Dad’s mind working too. (“Let’s see, we can sell the 280Z…”)

Up till now Nathan’s only knowledge of the Miata has been gained by reading the automotive press. So what does he think now that he’s had a ride? “Let’s see, we can sell the 280Z…”

Any suggestions we can pass on to the Mazda product planners? “I’d really like it to come out in black.”

Thanks, Nathan. It’s been a pleasure meeting you and your family. Oh, and we’ll check back when you turn 16.