I redeemed the $50 gift certificate for our 20th place finish in the 2014 Moss Motoring Challenge. The cockpit cover we have been using needed replacing. We have already replaced the side elastic and the velcro would have to be next, as the all three spots it is used were no longer staying stuck reliably. Fortuitously, the cost of a new cover fell close to value of the certificate.
An hour ago the UPS guy dropped a box off on the front steps. I went out into the garage to put in on the Miata. It doesn’t fit. Our old one fit awkwardly around the mirrors, but it still covered everything as it should. From 2001 to 2005 the seat on the Miata had taller built-in headrests. They are so much taller than the ones in earlier year cars that they earned the nickname “surfboards.” The OEM tonneau covers required you to slide the seats forward and then push the seatback back so that it didn’t stick up past the level of the doors.
I thought maybe that is what I needed to do here. Well, with seats laid back it sort of fits and covers all the right areas, but you have to stretch the elastic that goes down the doors to hook on the frame rails so tight that I can’t imagine them lasting more than a month of use.
I came back inside and went to the Moss Motors web site to see if the description said anything about not fitting 2001 to 2005 cars. It did not. There was a link to something called instructions, so I clicked on it. It says that those door straps attach to the weld seam at the bottom of the car like we are doing with our current car, but the photo shows it attached to the bottom of the door itself. I went back to the car and tried hooking it that way, didn’t work. It might, but you would have to open the door first.
The current, worn out cover goes on the same general way as this one, 4 elastic hooks and 3 velcro straps, but with the addition of moving both seats, then opening & closing both doors, it becomes too much of a hassle. Might as well cycle the top. This cover is going to be returned.