New Miata In The Garage

There is a brand new Miata in the garage, a notch over 400 miles on the odometer. It is the god-awfulest shade of teal. If good taste is any arbiter of sales this color Miata will be the rarest. Mazda calls it Splash Green Mica, but the only splashing going on is sound of innocent passersby vomiting on the sidewalk after glimpsing this thing going by. I suppose I shouldn’t be too harsh as I’m sure there are one or two people out there that just love the shade.

No I didn’t just buy a new car in a color I hate, this is a loaner the fine folks at Rader have seen fit to let me use while they have my car in for service. I think the only reason I’ve got a car is because they think I will fall in love with the newness of the thing and maybe buy it. I just looked at the sticker on the inside of the drivers door, this car was manufactured in October last year. The clock, had I left it alone, would have been correct in 3 weeks when we fall back to Eastern Standard Time. Did that mean no one has been in this car since early last March? So far the only things I’m lovin’ is the feel of the windshield wiper & turn signal feel, plus the circular knobs of the AC & heater controls.

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1809.37
Started up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 248

Curt Cowboys Up

The voice of the Boston Red Sox of my youth, Curt Gowdy, was in the stands today at Fenway Park. Curt was resplendent in a very nice tan cowboy hat. The Red Sox won the game to even the series with the A’s and force a 5th and deciding game in Oakland tomorrow. I hope he has tickets to the game on Monday and he wears that hat…

Almost Typical Sunday

Typical Sunday for the Miata as it didn’t move all day.

We went for our Sunday morning 25 mile bike ride and man, what a beautiful fall morning for it, sunny, 60’s with low humidity. After we got back it was such a nice day that I sat on the back deck and finished reading a Dick Francis novel I’d started the other day. Lunch out with friends and Mom, so we went in the Honda. The afternoon I watched some playoff baseball on TV, some good – the Red Sox won and some bad – the Yankees won.

What made it slightly unusual, was that the Miata wasn’t in my garage it was in the Rader dealership’s garage.

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1809.37
Started up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 248

Far Side

This past Monday, the local paper started reprinting Gary Larson’s The Far Side cartoons. They gave a reason, something like, in honor of a new The Far Side compilation book’s arrival in stores on some date in the future. (Although it seems I may have dreamed this up as a quick search of the internet reveals nothing about this event.) Gary’s cartoons were almost always very funny stuff, with very few clunkers. With the ratio of funny to not funny so high I cannot for the life of me figure out why every one of this weeks cartoons sucked.

That Empty Feeling

When we left to take Donna’s aunt to the airport I wanted a coozie to put around my daily Diet Dr. Pepper, I got all the way to the garage before I realized that I couldn’t use the one I normally use, the one stored behind the passenger seat of the Miata, because the garage was empty.

Later in the day when Donna pulled her Master’s Miata Club name tag out of her purse and Said. “Oh, here it is.” I said, “When we get home you can put it back in with mine where we normally keep it, in the center console of the Mia…” Nope can’t do that, the garage was empty.

Of course, now would be the perfect time to paint the garage floor with one of those fancy paint finishes especially designed for garages.

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1809.37
Started up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 248

Monks

A man’s car broke down as he was driving past a beautiful, old monastery. He walked up the drive and knocked on the front door of the monastery. A monk answered, listened to the man’s story and graciously invited him to spend the night. The monks fed the man and led him to a tiny chamber in which to sleep.

The man thanked the monks and slept serenely until he was awakened by a strange sound. The next morning, as the monks repaired his car, he asked about the sound that woke him.

The monks said, “We’re sorry. We can’t tell you about the sound. You’re not a monk.”

The man was disappointed, but eager to be gone, so he thanked the monks for their kindness and went on his way. During quiet moments afterward, the man pondered the source of the alluring sound.

Several years later, the man was driving in the same area. He stopped at the monastery on a whim and asked admittance. He explained to the monks that he had so enjoyed his previous stay, he wondered if he might be permitted to spend another night under their peaceful roof.

The monks agreed and the man stayed.

Late that night, he heard the sound. The next morning, he begged the monks to explain the sound.

The monks said, “We’re sorry. We can’t tell you about the sound. You’re not a monk.”

By now, the man’s curiosity had turned to obsession. He decided to give up everything and become a monk if that was the only way to learn about the sound. He informed the monks of his decision and began the long and arduous task of becoming a monk.

Seventeen years later, the man was finally established as a true member of the order. When the celebration ended, he humbly went to the leader of the order and asked to be told the source of the sound.

Silently, the old monk led the new monk to a huge wooden door. He opened the door with a golden key. That door swung open to reveal a second door of silver, then a third of gold and so on until they had passed through twelve doors, each more magnificent than the last.

The new monk’s face was awash with tears of joy as he finally beheld the wondrous source of the mysterious sound he had heard so many years before.

Free Ride

Didn’t need to buy any plug wires. A friend had his old ones in his garage he could lend me. At noon when we got back to the car I lifted the hood and in the day light I could see that the wire wasn’t broke, but the metal end was recessed into the rubber boot. Carefully reseated both ends of all 4 wires. Tried to start the car, but it wouldn’t go. To double check I used all four of the borrowed wires and got the same results. I removed the borrowed wires and before I replaced them with my original wires I ohmed out the coil pack per the Enthusiast’s Manual and they checked OK. Replaced the wires, but left #1 off the plug. I put a screwdriver in the wire and held it near the strut bar and asked Donna to crank the engine. There was a good strong spark. I then checked the under hood fuses, especially the fuel injection ones, they were good. I took off the oil filler cap and had Donna crank the engine again, I could see the cam moving, but it didn’t sound right after the first few rotations.

I called for my friendly tow truck. The Miata was going back to Rader. I called Kelly and told her it was coming. She called me when it got there. 30 minutes later Kelly called to tell me the bad news, that my new timing belt was broke. The even worse news was that they didn’t have one in stock. As a matter of fact the one I got 2 weeks ago came from Andy Jones and it was their last one. Bad news was on a roll because apparently the timing belts were on national back-order and they weren’t sure they could get one, but the parts guy was working on it.

A little while later Kelly called to say that Scott Rushton (fellow Club member and a pre-owned salesman at the dealer) had offered up his nearly new one that was on his car but the car wasn’t going anywhere until he had some head work done. Or I could wait until next Wednesday when the one they located in North Carolina would be in, meaning the car should be ready on Thursday. Thanks Scott, but I said I’d wait.

Now the news gets better. Because the broken belt was only two weeks old it was under warranty, so I wouldn’t have to pay for this repair. They also said they would pay for the towing charge for today. I tried for Tuesday’s, but they wouldn’t do that. Can’t blame them, when they got the car that day it was working fine. They only had my word there was something wrong. If I’m really lucky, I may get a loaner car on Monday if one becomes available too.

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1809.37
Started up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 248