In With 2021 Edition of SORT
As of Monday, January 4, 2021 at 9:00 PM pacific time:
| Sport | Off-Road | Touring |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 ERA Cobra 427SC | 2020 Osprey OC90 Defender 90 NAS Replica | 1971 Volkswagen Bus Panel Van |
 |
 |
 |
It’s just a replica and I still can’t afford to buy this. | This is another replica and I probably can’t afford it either. | Not a replica and the only reason I could possibly afford it is because it is post 1967. |
As sort of an Instagram tradition, everyone posts a collage of their nine highest liked posts from the previous year. Anyone who is anyone on IG seems to use the same app, Best Nine. I know this, because this year, unlike last, you had to wait for the results to be emailed to you.
When they did send it to me, it had the amount of likes each photo received superimposed in the image and I didn’t really care for that. Not because my largest like total was a paltry 117, which is good for me, but I wanted the images clean like 2019’s.
I went looking for a different, less popular, and lower rates app to use that might let me those clean images I so desired. I found one called Best 91 that let me get close to what I wanted. The grid was fine, but I needed to edit the total stats off the bottom to make the image square. As a bonus, this app let me also create my best Nine for the previous two other years as well. Below, from left to right, 2018, 2019 &2020.
Below are those statistics that were chopped off to make nice neat squares. In 2018 I made a total of 287 posts, the total likes on all those posts were 1.1k or an average of 3 per post. In 2019 total posts were 312, total likes were 2.2k making for an average of 7 per post. In 2020 total posts were 378 with total likes of 4.8k creating an average of 12 per post.
January
Thursday the 2nd
On New Year’s Day, we ran a quick errand to Home Depot and on the way back we stopped at Albertsons for a couple of items. As we were walking towards the store from the parking lot, a lady pushing her cart out of the store, waved us over and asked, “What year is your Mini?” When I told her it was a 2013, she said, “Oh, too bad, I have a car cover for a 2007 Mini and I was going to ask if you wanted it.” I told her that in fact it would fit our car as the 2nd generation Minis ran from 2007 to 2014. She said, “Well, I’m giving it away because I sold the car a while ago and it is just taking up space in my garage. Do you want it?” Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, we said, “Sure, we’ll take it.” She then said, “I live just up the street, when can you come get it?” We said, “We are just picking up a couple items. We could be there in 15 minutes?” She then explained where she lived and she wasn’t kidding about the just up the street thing, it was literally a half mile along the same cross road as the store…
After leaving her promising to see her in a few minutes, maybe two steps closer to Alberstons front door another lady comes up and says, “Did you just get out of that Mini?” We nod in the affirmative and she says, “How do you like it?” We both launch into how much we like the car. She said, “I have a older Ford Escape and I have trouble seeing out of it when trying to back up especially.” She was about Donna’s height, if not maybe a little shorter, so Donna told her about selling our bigger car, just to get this to be able to see more. So Donna said, “Would you like come sit in it?” “Sure,” she said. So we walked back over to the car and she sat in it and marveled at the view. She said she saw one at a used car lot and was going to go down with her husband to see about buying it.
We finally got to go inside and buy what we came for. After leaving there we stopped at lady number one’s house. When we finally got home we unloaded a step ladder, 2 gallons of distilled water and a car cover for the Ladybug.
February
Friday the 7th
Not long after we got here we went to the local DMV office to pick up info on getting a driver’s licenses and registering a car in the Beaver State. We both studied the driver’s manual so we would be ready to take the knowledge test. Of course there would be a quick vision test, but what worried us was on the website one of the listed items said: Pass the drive test;. And on the back side of the application PDF was the Driver Test Score Sheet. But, when looking at the requirements for taking a drive test, near the bottom was this caveat: You may not have to take a drive test if you’re new to Oregon and give us your out-of-state license. It can be expired up to 1 year. The words may not were still slightly ominous…
To get a license we needed a permanent address, so we had to wait at least until we closed on the house. By then it was the holidays, so we waited until January. Then we had a big snowstorm. Then pretty soon it was the end of January. By this time we were pretty sure we wouldn’t have to do Drive Test and vowed to go get our licenses in February. Early this week we read through the driver knowledge test booklet again figuring on going Wednesday. We found another excuse not to go then, but today was the day.
Donna was worried about the knowledge test, she was confident she knew the stuff, but she is terrible test taker. Me, I was not worried at all, most of it is common sense and you could miss seven out of the 35 total questions. When Donna came out of the booth she wasn’t sure she passed. She lost track of how many she missed, but the machine didn’t throw any red X’s on the screen. Well, she did pass and got her driver’s license. Me, I had my confidence shaken from the git go, I missed the first two questions! Then I aced a few sign recognition ones, before missing another one. I had now used up almost half my allowed misses in the first 6 questions, yikes. I tiptoed through the rest of the test and I passed missing 5 questions. Comparing notes afterwards we both had the same sort of experience, acing the signs and lane marking stuff, missing questions we were sure we knew and getting lucky on ones we guessed at.
Sixty-five dollars each later, we are proud owners of a gray scale temporary paper Oregon driver’s license. The real one comes in the mail in about a week.
March
Friday the 6th
Because yesterday afternoon was sunny and lower 60’s, when we headed out to run some errands, we opted to do them in the Miata. About 2 blocks down the road a fairly loud rumbling started and the front end of the car was doing a small wobble. Donna went, “What’s that?” I answered, “Might have a flat.” A couple of seconds later I said, “I know what it is,” and did a quick u-turn to head back home.
This post should really have been titled “I’ve Got A Few Lug Nuts Loose.” For what has to be at least the sixth or seventh time in my career I have not fully tightened down the lug nuts on a wheel or two (or four) after rotating the tires or doing some brake maintenance. Including one time in the early 80’s that happened with Donna driving and having to stop at a place to have them diagnose the rumbling sound the car was making.
This is why I was getting the stink-eye from her as we returned to the Pacific Terrace driveway. Because just before turning around I had said, “I forgot to tighten the lug nuts.” On Wednesday afternoon I installed the new front license plate mount, which had caused me to remove the front wheels and I missed the final step.
About the second time this happened in Aiken, I devised a way to make sure not to forget this step by taking the torque wrench and placing it right at the entrance to the garage. There was no way for me to miss it and I sure as heck couldn’t drive the low clearance Miata over the wrench. To my credit, I did something similar here too, but because I was working close to the garage opening, the torque wrench was mixed in with all the other tools I was using, so it got put away with everything else. I think a new safeguard is required. Possibly I should buy a baseball cap from the Lansing Michigan minor league baseball team to wear when working on the car. Or, perhaps putting the torque wrench on the driver’s seat might work.
April
Monday the 20th
With the 2020 Major League Baseball season on hold, possibly forever, MLBTV has opened up the 2018 & 2019 archives for viewing. Because I am subscribed to MLB Audio and my $20 yearly subscription was automatically renewed on the 1st of March I can watch any of the approximately 4,800 games, regular and post-season, from the last 2 years. From what I can find, this treat is available to all users. You may have to create an MLB account, which if I know these guys they will require a credit card and this will mean that if they do start the season, they will probably hit your card and sign you up for $100 package.
Having exhausted all the Brit TV we could stand, MLBTV becomes a perfect TV time waster in these times of #stayonyourcouchtoflattenthecurveandsavelives. So, I figured it would be cool to watch a Red Sox game a day, on the date the game was played. Well, guess which which season I’m going to pick? A) Last year, 2019, where the Sox finished just 6 games over .500 in third place in the division, 19 games behind the Yankees or B) 2018 when they won the division by 5 games and ended up winning the World Series. No-brainer huh?
Yesterday’s game was the finale of a 3 game shellacking of the Angels in the their home stadium where the FRS outscored them 27 to 3 to move their won/loss record to 16-2. For all of the entire 2019 season, I remember about this April series and the fact that they won the Worlds Series, everything else will be “new” to me.
May
Sunday the 3rd
Not only that, but every Sunday in May is going to be Super Bowl Sunday. So, not only has Major League Baseball opened up their archive of games to watch for free, but the National Football League has too. From now until May 31st you can get NFL Game Pass for free and watch any football game from 2009 to 2019. You want to watch preseason games? Sure, why not? Every regular season game? Check. Playoffs? Absolutely. The Super Bowls? You got ’em! You can even watch the Pro Bowl games, but for the life of me I can’t figure out why you would.
The nice thing about Game Pass’s football games, is unlike MLBTV, they have nicely edited out all the commercials1. They have even chopped out half time as well. Three and a half hour football games come in a little over 2 hours.
The bit of papercraft above is called Papercraft Propaganda and was created by someone who called themselves PaperTom and it is supposed to put you in mind of an old school Soviet statue. His web site doesn’t seem to exist anymore, so if you want to create your own, download the PDF here.
June
Friday the 19th
For practically forever, we have been buying a Mega Millions quick pick ticket that gets us into the bi-weekly drawing for 5 weeks at a time. We routinely end up not winning squat, so every month and a quarter we get an Andrew Jackson out of the ATM, and place that money down on a chance at winning mega-millions.
Thursday last week, we when out for an evening drive and in the middle we stopped at Fred Meyer to use the lottery vending machine and bought our next Mega Millions Lottery Ticket.
The bought ticket hangs on the upper shelf of my computer desk and earlier this week while watching a movie on the PC I noticed there wasn’t one there. My “prop” Mega Lotto Jackpot ticket with the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 & 42 that Hurley won $114 million with was still there, but no real life Mega Millions ticket. By the time I finished watching the movie I had forgotten all about the lottery ticket.
Yesterday, while I finished watching the last episode of Devs, I again noticed the missing lottery ticket. This time I clued Donna in, so we commenced to searching for it. The last time I remember seeing it, it was in the center console of the Miata. That was what we were driving that evening. I put the ticket in there because I didn’t want to put in my pocket where it would get wrinkled. We started there. Not in the center console. It was also not in the glove box. Or the trunk. For thoroughness we looked in the Mini too. We came back upstairs and while I searched every pocket in every item of clothing that I could have been wearing when I bought the ticket, Donna was busy searching in the living area where any piece of paper could be laying. We both came up empty.
Thus we became owners of a Schrodinger’s Lottery Ticket. Because I didn’t think to memorize the 6 numbers on the ticket and there has been two Mega Millions drawings since then, right now we are both winners, and losers, until we somehow happen to find that ticket.
Not wanting to not find the ticket and then read in the local paper of a Klamath Falls individual who purchased a jackpot winning ticket and never coming forward to claim the prize, we went out this evening and bought another ticket.
July
Friday the 17th
We live about a third of a mile uphill from some railroad tracks. They are not just any old railroad tracks either, if you are traveling by train from Seattle to Los Angeles you will pass thru our fair city of Klamath Falls. These tracks are kind of like I-5 in that they are the main north-south route along the west coast, so freight trains also pass through here every day. There are probably ten to twelve trains total using those tracks per each 24 hour period.
A direct line along that third of a mile crosses three regular surface city streets, a bike path and one 5 lane US highway before you get to the tracks. Not too far that direct line is a street called Portland that those tracks cross. This is the only street crossing on this side of town, the rest have bridges over the tracks. This street crossing doesn’t come into play on any of our trips, so we really don’t have to worry about waiting for any length of time at the crossing when any of the long freight trains pass thru town. What we do have to contend with is the train’s engineer signaling his approach to the crossing.
It wasn’t until we moved here that we knew that any train approaching a street crossing, whether it has automatic gates or just flashing lights, the train’s engineer has to sound the train’s horn in a series of blasts – two long, one short and a final long. Because we can actually see the train through the trees and gaps in between houses in the winter from our front porch, we have no trouble hearing these blasts of 96-110 db sound. When we first moved into our house those horn blasts could be startling because our living room faces front towards the track. After a few months though, we got used to them and we are to a point that we almost don’t hear them anymore. Almost.
I have noticed that different engineer’s each have a different way of sounding that signal, some have longer longs or a shorter short blast. Because we are a stop on the Amtrak route and have a very large rail yard south of town there are probably several of this engineers who live in town. I am convinced that the different variations in the horn blasts lengths is similar to the pilot whose landing pattern took him over his house and wagged his wings as a greeting to his family, these distinctive horn blasts let their family know they are coming home.
August
Wednesday the 5th
When we moved into our house in Aiken in 1989 there was a metal mailbox attached to the side of the house for the mail carriers to put your mail in. We unfortunately were not allowed to use it, we needed to put a mailbox on a post out at the street. The city had transitioned from walking carriers to using trucks to deliver the mail a few years earlier, but the previous owner was grandfathered in and she could still get her mail at her door. The neighborhood carrier had to hop out of their truck and walk up to the porch for them, for us they just cruised down the street and stopped if required.
When we moved into our house here there was no mailbox at the street and there was no metal mailbox attached to the house, but there was an honest-to-god mail slot next to the front door. Klamath Falls uses a walking mail carrier still and our mail comes right inside the house!. We of course have got to know him a bit as he will knock on the door if he has a package for us. We will wave when he is doing his route and we are out for walk around the neighborhood. Donna makes sure to give him some fresh baked cookies if she has made some.
Now that the weather is nice we are often sitting on the front porch when he is doing his delivering. We will go several days running getting mail and then we might go a day without. If we don’t get any mail and he passes by, Donna will say, using a sad voice, “What no mail for me today?” A couple weeks ago we went a couple days with no mail. On the third day, Donna said, “If you don’t bring me any mail tomorrow, I’ll never bake you cookies again.”
The next day he came up the stairs as we were sitting on the porch with no mail in his hand, but he did give Donna what you see to the left here.
September
Wednesday the 16th
Back in the days of sunny skies and breathable we were on a walk around the neighborhood when just a couple blocks from home we stumbled on a couple boxes of books on the front wall with a sign that read “Free. Take Some.”
It was a varied assortment of kids to young adult books. Donna picked through and selected several books that she thought were appropriate to send along to the nieces and nephew in Washington and I selfishly picked out three books, that spanned 3 centuries in publication dates, I might like to read. All of them were made into movies, only one of which I have seen, so maybe I’ll read the books, then watch the movies, just to compare them.
Published in 2010 was I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore and all I knew of this book was that it had been made into a movie. A not very successful one if I recall correctly. It was fairly entertaining book about an alien race that looks just like us living on earth until they can return to their home planet and reclaim it. But it turns into teen romance with monsters and hero aliens. Because it turns out to be the first book in a series of seven it doesn’t so much as conclude, buts just stops. The movie is available on IMDB for free (with adds), but after I watched the trailer, I won’t watch the movie because I’m not a teenager any more.
Published in 1968 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Phillip K. Dick, AKA Bladerunner, was the source material for one of my favorite movies of all-time, but I have never read the book on which it was based. I am a voracious sci-fi reader and have actually never read anything by PKD. Though I have seen more than a half dozen or so of the movies or TV shows based on his writings. While the book is different from the movie in many ways, the core plot is the same and I can see where the cinematic choices made for a better movie.
First published in French in 1864 A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne wasn’t translated into English for publication in 1871. According to IMDB there are three movie versions, 1959, 1988 & 2008 to go along with numerous TV series, TV mini-series, TV movies and a video game based on this material. I have seen none of them and I have also not read the book. Now is my chance. Wow. I couldn’t read it. The language was, well, different. Was it the translation, was it the language of the time, was it a combination of the two? I don’t know, but I couldn’t finish through the second chapter.
But as I was hungry, I sallied forth to the dining room, where I took up my usual quarters. Out of politeness I waited three minutes, but no sign of my uncle, the Professor. I was surprised. He was not usually so blind to the pleasure of a good dinner. It was the acme of German luxury- parsley soup, a ham omelette with sorrel trimmings, an oyster of veal stewed with prunes, delicious fruit, and sparkling Moselle. For the sake of poring over this musty old piece of parchment, my uncle forbore to share our meal. To satisfy my conscience, I ate for both.
The old cook and housekeeper was nearly out of her mind. After taking so much trouble, to find her master not appear at dinner was to her a sad disappointment-which, as she occasionally watched the havoc I was making on the viands, became also alarm. If my uncle were to come to table after all?
Probably not going to watch this movie either. The 2008 movie with Brendan Faser is three bucks to rent on Amazon and the 1959 movie with James Mason & Pat Boone is a dollar more at $4. The 1988 version is free on Amazon, it has 3 one-star ratings only because they couldn’t give it a zero. But to top it off, here is a quote from the listed director, Rusty Lemorande: “Only the first eight minutes of this film were directed by me. The rest of it is the sequel to the Kathy Ireland vehicle Alien from L.A. (1988) directed by Albert Pyun, which was tacked on by the producers and renamed “Journey to the Center of the Earth” in order to fulfill contracts with foreign distributors.”
October
Sunday the 18th
Oregon was the first state to exclusively go to voting by mail by passing a measure in November 1998 by a 70% to 30% margin after starting with optional for local voting in the late eighties.
Our ballots came thru our mail slot along with a flyer for Bed Bath & Beyond on Friday afternoon. We had planned on filling them out on Saturday, but got to watching college football and didn’t get it done. So we did it this morning.
Even with all falderal from a certain President, we have zero qualms about the process because of this state’s long history with voting by mail. Still, we won’t actually mail our ballots, we dropped them into an official collection box like we did for the primary back in May. Unlike back then though, today we rode the tandem instead of walking.
When we rode into the parking lot where the drop box was, there was a young couple with their toddler standing next to it. We circled the lot a couple of times while they unloaded, then loaded back, their kid so the child could put their ballots in the slot. And all the while they snapped photos of the process to post on social media. I didn’t have a problem waiting this out at all, because I planned on that same sort of exercise for us too (see my InstaGram account.)
As we were loading back up onto the bike to leave, a fellow in a pickup truck cruised up to the box to drop in his ballot. I said to him, “Happy Election Day.” He looked at me sort of quizzically and replied, “Yeah, you too. Have a nice day.” Come to think of it, Happy Election Day does sound a little strange, but what would have been a more appropriate greeting anyway? Merry Election Day? How about “Go Democracy?” Maybe a golf style cheer, “In the Slot!”?
The only downside to the whole Vote by Mail deal is I don’t get a little “I Voted” sticker to wear around all day…
November
Tuesday the 3rd
A little over a week ago we took a drive up to the Lake of the Woods because it was a nice 35 mile trip to somewhere besides to the grocery store or some local restaurant to pick up a bit of take out. But mainly to take hike and do some geocaching.
Wouldn’t you know it, two days later, somebody published a new cache very near where we were. Donna wanted to go right back up there to try and be the First To Find. I talked her out of it to concentrate on the Friends of the Children scavenger hunt. I told her if that cache hadn’t been found after the hunt, we would try to be the 1st.
In over a decade of caching with over fourteen hundred caches found we have never been the First To Find on a cache.
We didn’t even try back in Aiken, because around there, there was a regular squad that would drop almost anything, including work, to rush out and look for newly published caches.
We were close once, really close, a second to find, on a random happenstance in Colorado. We were passing through on one of our driving trips and I had picked out some caches along our route, one of which had no finds. But, by the time we got there someone had beat us to it.
By today no one had found that Lake of the Woods cache yet, so this was the day for us to go up there and see if we could. Last time we drove up we took the Mini because it needed the exercise, but this time we drove the Miata because today was the last day it will be near a high of 70 until probably 2021.
After a little bit of searching around we found the cache. When I unfolded the log it was empty. Our 1st First to Find.
December
Wednesday to 30th
I can not explain it, but out of all the Christmas decorations around my neighborhood (big, small, gaudy, tasteful) this, for some unknown reason is my favorite.
When I voiced this sentiment to my bride a couple weeks ago, she said, “See how much they cost.” I replied, ” I bet those folks have had that for awhile and you probably can’t find it anymore.”
She did a quick search and didn’t find, so I tried “10 foot tall inflatable penguin”, and found it at Home Depot for $79. We both agreed that that was too much.
I told her I’d check for after Christmas deals and see if it is half price. I looked on Sunday morning and sure enough it was marked down to $35, but it was sold out online and no store around had them either.
This not a disappoinment at all, as while I really like it, I don’t want one of my own for a few reasons.
1) Our front yard is just a small sloping patch and this thing would overwhelm it.
2) Can’t go in the driveway because there wouldn’t be any way to anchor it down.
3) If we put it on the front deck you wouldn’t see the bottom half of it because of the railing.
And most importantly
4) The house this one stands in front of is only 4 blocks up the street and it would violate the neighborhood IPDA (Inflatable Penguin Density Allowance.)
I can not explain it, but out of all the Christmas decorations around my neighborhood (big, small, gaudy, tasteful) this, for some unknown reason is my favorite.
When I voiced this sentiment to my bride a couple weeks ago, she said, “See how much they cost.” I replied, ” I bet those folks have had that for awhile and you probably can’t find it anymore.”
She did a quick search and didn’t find, so I tried “10 foot tall inflatable penguin”, and found it at Home Depot for $79. We both agreed that that was too much.
I told her I’d check for after Christmas deals and see if it is half price. I looked on Sunday morning and sure enough it was marked down to $35, but it was sold out online and no store around had them either.
This not a disappoinment at all, as while I really like it, I don’t want one of my own for a few reasons.
1) Our front yard is just a small sloping patch and this thing would overwhelm it.
2) Can’t go in the driveway because there wouldn’t be any way to anchor it down.
3) If we put it on the front deck you wouldn’t see the bottom half of it because of the railing.
And most importantly
4) The house this one stands in front of is only 4 blocks up the street and it would violate the neighborhood IPDA (Inflatable Penguin Density Allowance.)
Out With 2020 Edition of SORT
As of Monday, December 28, 2020 at 9:00 PM pacific time:
| Sport | Off-Road | Touring |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 Alfa Romeo 4C Spider | 1994 Land Rover Defender 90 NAS 5-Speed | 1986 Volkswagen Type 2 Double Cab Pickup |
 |
 |
 |
I find these things so ugly, almost insect-like, they are mean/cool looking. | The sheepskin seat covers came from the previous owner’s flock. | Love these things and it might end up as a steal because it is not pre-1967. |
Please accept – with no obligation, implied or implicit – my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable tradition of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your preference.
In addition, please enjoy a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2021.
If you have read my story of buying my first Miata, Brian Buys A Miata, (and if you haven’t, go read it now, I’ll wait) in the second paragraph in it I mention 3 cars that I was considering buying before discovering the Miata. Now, pay attention when you get to the paragraph in here where the author says “flying solo into the then-empty affordable sports car market” because 3 of the 4 cars he mentions were the ones I also considered back in 1989.
By Norman Garrett III
Founder Miata Club of America
Concept Engineer Miata Project
I have a glass vial on my desk that contains a small, round clump of some brown substance. It never ceases to be a conversation starter when anyone visits my office. No, it is not the pathology lab’s yield from some recent operation. It is a clump of modeling clay used on the final Miata clay styling model. I keep it as a reminder how fluid the Miata’s shape was for three years, and how difficult it is to know when a car is “right.”
I used to love to hang out with the modelers and designers. As an engineer, they tolerated my presence because I would pour their coffee. Watching the clay take shape into a car was fascinating. What looked like a perfectly good fender to me would be labeled “defective” and “obnoxious” by the committee of designers. I observed closely as the slightest radius or intersection would be worried over for days until it was right.
How the light played and reflected on the surface, how it moved from door to fender to hood, all of this was critical to the designer’s goal. Did the fender look too muscular? Did the hood distract or add to the view from the driver’s seat? Did the trunk lid surface transition well into the rear quarter panels? All of these details were sweated and fretted as the designers critically looked on. I stood there like a color-blind man staring at a traffic light. I couldn’t see a tenth of what they were so worried about.
This type of surface development takes two main ingredients: Talent (which Mazda had wisely hired) and Time (some of it on the clock, most of it off). In the quiet of a one car studio at the Mazda skunk works, the Miata slowly, painfully took shape with great expenditures of both of these elements.
We would always start a clay model with an armature – a basic steel ladder frame with hubs and wheels hung off the corners at the approximate correct wheelbase and track width. From there we would bolt down plywood, and then adhere blocks of rigid foam. The last three inches or more would be applied in warm clay. The musty smell of modeling clay is earthy and romantic, full of possibilities. The entire corporate office had clay tracks leading out of the studio, it would never leave the bottom of your shoes.
Once the clay was applied, the modelers began their sculpting, directed by the designers careful eye. Usually a full size side view rendering was posted on a wall and the basic shape began from there. Translating a two dimensional airbrush drawing into a viable three dimensional object requires more than artistic skills, it requires vision.
My job came in as I digitized the surface, taking a “snapshot” of the styled surfaces. I would make body contour drawings of the model and lay it against the known “hard points.” Hard points those pesky little things that got in the designers’ way, such as the engine, the steering wheel, the rear suspension. If there was a conflict, it was negotiation time as we sorted out how much it would cost to change the hardware so the car could be that much prettier. Thanks to the packaging skills of the engineers in Japan, most of what the designers wanted was accomplished. They were relatively free to design a short wheelbase sports car as they saw fit.
As I’ve said before, the Miata (or P729, as it was called then) had the advantage of flying solo into the then-empty affordable sports car market. The only players at that time were the original Toyota MR2 (a.k.a. “Gobot”), the Alfa Spider (long in tooth even then), the Pontiac Fiero (not bad toward the end), and if you stretched, the Honda CRX. A clean sheet of paper was available for the Miata to appear upon, but that is not always a good thing.
Blazing new trails in the automotive marketplace is a risky proposition at best. Look at the Pacer, the GM APV van, the del Sol. Since we were recreating the affordable sports car, some cues were available from the history of that market. No specific styling feature was “lifted” from the museum of great sports cars, but a trend could be seen if you mixed them all together.
The balanced proportions of an MGB, the sexiness of a Jag E-type, the lightness of a Lotus Elan (styled by an engineer, I might add), all gave some guiding lights to follow. We had the common goal of making the Miata “classic” in its styling, to produce a car that might look two years old when it was first introduced, but would still look current five years later.
This all came back to me as I study the new sports cars just now coming out on the market. The new MGF is more of a second generation MR2 or del Sol sort of car, the Fiat Barchetta looks like an Italian Miata (not a bad thing), and the BMW Z3 looks like a nice little sports car made out of sedan components, chunky and funky. Seeing these cars made me appreciate how well the Miata turned out – it still looks fresh and balanced in comparison to the new offerings. Even now, after six years on the road, the Miata stands as a “finished” design to me. Modern yet classic, tight and controlled where it needs to be, fluid where it looks best.
Standing in the studio twelve years ago, I wondered why the designers kept moving a tenth of a millimeter of clay around all day. I used to pass it off to their artistic temperaments. Now, over a decade later, I see the strength in their ground work.
They gave our little car good bones, and the beauty still shines through.