Miata Life

The Fifth Car

It is Sunday and its sunny, what should I do? You know full well what I did, don’t you? That’s right, I took some Oregon Post Office pictures. Today Bucky became the fifth car to have its picture taken with a Post Office in the background and the third different Miata. The first 31 photos were with the CTBNL and the next 11 were with the Ladybug, our previous red Mini Cooper. The CTBNL had 3 more photos with Post Offices before turning over the duties to our second Mini known simply as Mini Two for the next 15 post office photos. The fourth car to join the Post Office Picture Team was the brand new 2024 Aero Gray Miata GT which appeared in the next 15 pictures.

On the way back after a trip to visit family in Granite Falls using Mini Two, I snagged 4 quick post offices before the New Miata took back over for the next 14. The same car also did the next 48 in a row, but it was no longer gray, but a bright blue. There was one photo outlier of Mini Two followed by 7 with the New (blue) Miata. While getting some service done on the Mini Two last week it had its photo taken with 2 nearby Post Offices and quite likely its last ones.

Today the fifth car, New Old Miata, AKA Bucky, joined the ranks of Oregon Post Office posers:

And actually, I considered taking a photo of the second of the above Post Offices Friday morning with a Silver Nissan Sentra I had rented to drive down to Eugene to pick up the fifth car, but opted not.

Just When I Thought That I Was Out, They Pull Me Back In… Once Again

This is the third time I have used this title, or a variation of it, the first time was in January 2006 and the second time was in January 2016. Both of those posts pertained to Gillian Anderson, this does not. Come back next January for the next Gillian Anderson installment, I’m sure she’ll be starring in something or other then.

This is about Miata Clubs. Back in October of last year I looked up the local Miata Club and either they had nothing going on or I just got a weird feeling, so I forgot about them. Well, last night I thought I’d see if they an event or something coming up in the near future. They did, the near future was a mere 12 hours away, there was a drive and eat thing for tomorrow morning, AKA today.

My people. This club is probably about 7 or 8 times the size of the Masters Miata Club, this day’s group was small for them but would be a big turn out back there in the CSRA. There were a total of ten cars and about 15 people. There were 5 NDs, 3 NCs, 1 Fiata and one non Miata. I even spotted a lot of similarities between the two clubs, there is one guy who pops the hood as soon as he parks (Jim Creer), there was another who drove to the event on the chilly misty morning with the top down (Rudy Wilmoth) and another who showed up in their Corvette (Tom Varallo.)

It was a fun day, but I don’t know how many events I’ll do with them…

In reference to my remark yesterday about having to join Facebook to get any club information, I was wrong, there have a website with their own URL…

Jaunty Angle

I’ve tried a couple of times to get that front license place to be parallel to the road surface, but something keeps shifting it. Not sure if it is the post into the tow hook threads or the screw that holds the plate support to the post. I’ve tightened both separately and together, but invariably it ends up non-parallel.

My need of order is screaming at me, “Get that thing right!” while the newly created laidback vibe is saying, “Chill dude, it’s fine.” Or perhaps it’ll be some enterprising young rookie on the traffic beat telling me, “According to Motor Vehicle Code 237.4, sub section ii, the license plate must be set at exactly 0° or 90° to the angle of front wheel camber.”

Poker Run

This is a reprint from the Masters Miata Club newsletter, The Driver, November 1999 Volume 6, Issue #11. Reprinted with my Permission, because I wrote it.

Date: Saturday, October 23, 1999
Time: 8:30 AM
Place: Georgia Welcome Center
Members Attending: Bill Baugh, Bonnie Baugh, Brian Bogardus, Donna Bogardus, Kurt Breitinger and Rudy Wilmoth.

After the usual chat session at the Welcome Center the four cars started barreling west on I-20. After about an hour and a half, Brian, who was leading, remembered that last time he had made a pit stop about midway between Augusta and the Interstate exiting town. We were way past that, so he picked the next exit that looked like it had a concentration of fast-food places and pulled the train into a waiting McDonalds.

In what turned out to be a preview of things to come, the place was jam-packed. Apparently this was also the getting off the Interstate point for travel to Athens, home of the University of Georgia. As luck would have it, it was football homecoming weekend, and the area was thick with cars flying red and white flags with black Gs on them like so many Staff Cars for Generals of the UGA Army.

Back on I-20 for a few more miles until we got off in Covington for the northern backroad loop around Atlanta to Alpharetta. The last two times the Bogardi had made this trip it went smooth as silk, but that was with a 7:00 AM start. Today’s later start was just enough for the millions of normal people who live in the ever increasing rash of suburbia surrounding Peachtree Center to wake up and hit the road. This made traffic a mess in the semi-small, normally sleepy, towns that the caravan had to pass thru. The first major setback was in Lawrenceville. They were having their annual fall crafts fair and probably some sort of pagan celebration to the pumpkin, which ground us to a halt. Of course now the “Spiraling Traffic Density to Time Postulate” kicked in. The further behind we got, the worse the traffic got.

Then, I think just to test our mettle, the Georgia D.O.T. tossed in an unexpected detour. It was “nicely” planned to take 2 lanes of impatient traffic on the right side of the road and funnel it into one left turn lane within the span of 50 yards. Then of course the detour signs magically disappear within a few miles leaving us to wonder whether we are still going the right way.

Finally our plucky band of adventurers arrive at the MCA Headquarters. It had taken us 4 hours to travel the 120 miles that usually takes 2-1/2. We were 30 minutes later than the listed start time, but that was not a problem because they were just starting the cars on the Poker Run. Looks like these bimonthly events may become a victim of their own success. The place was jammed. It looked like there were about 200 Miatas scattered around. The cars filled up the parking area around the HQ building and had spilled over into the parking areas of some of the neighboring complexes.

After the frazzling trip, Donna at first balked at getting back into the car when she found out that the Poker Run was an 80 mile affair. After convincing her that the route was rural, not suburban and that we would stop at the first likely place to eat something, she agreed to navigate. Because of complex directions, driving and navigating was really a two person job, so Rudy agreed to ride with Kurt.

The Bogarduses and the Baughs were following each other because Bill and Bonnie wanted to get a bite to eat as bad as Brian and Donna. Kurt & Rudy were several cars back. They were certainly right about the rural part, north and east of Alpharetta is still just Georgia farm land. The bad part about that is that there was no place to eat. At the first card stop we ended up feasting on Moon Pies and RCs at a little country store. That would just have to suffice until the post run BBQ.

On the final stretch back in to HQ for lunch we had about 6 Miatas running together along the back roads. Can’t help but wonder what those farmers thought about the steady stream of little Furin Cars travelling down those roads.

I don’t remember what Bill and Bonnie or Kurt and Rudy had, but on our last card Donna and I managed a pair of eights. We thought we were hot stuff. We were nowhere near the money, the winner had a straight flush! The Master’s group didn’t come away entirely empty handed though, Bill & Bonnie won a poster in the door prize drawings.

Miata driving on back roads, good food, car-nut camaraderie and near perfect top-down weather. Plus R-Speed and others had displays of all kinds of car goodies to separate us from our money. Thanks Vince and Norm for having us. Way to go, MCA. Big thank yous to Diane and Doneeta who probably did most of the work.

Bucky or #6 Needs A Bath

Couldn’t stand it any longer, I drove down to Eugene to see my new purchase. They have it scheduled to start working on it this Friday, but until then it is tucked away all dirty and forlorn. I dropped off some of the parts I purchased, for them to install, so I don’t have to do it in my driveway in the cold.

After that, instead of going back to the hotel and relaxing, I headed out on the town. First up was dinner at the Snack Shack. Blue Cheese & Bacon burger with crinkle fries, not bad, but not Burgerland wonderful. Afterwards I drove around the dark and rainy streets photographing Post Offices.

800 Mile Thoughts

After 6 weeks of ownership, 800 local miles driven and 8 modifications added I am almost totally happy with the car. There are a three more modifications I have scheduled to do next week and I won’t say I’ll be totally finished changing or adding things then, but I’d like to think I will be.

I have noticed three things that I kinda wish were different, but do not diminish the love of the car in any meaningful way:

1. The car has heated seats which are nice, but I wish they operated like in the Mini. Right now, if you turn on the heat at one of the three settings it stays at that level after turning the car off, so the next time you get in the heated seats come back on at whatever level they were. In the Mini after shutting off the car and 15 minutes elapse the heated seats will turn off.

2. The power windows have a one touch feature for down, but not for up, you have to hold the switch to raise the windows. And when you unlatch the roof to drop the top, the windows go down a third of the way so the top will clear the window, but they don’t automatically go back up. MX5Things makes a module that you can add to get the auto up, but I’m not sure it is worth the $120 to me.

3. There is a back-up camera, but the guidelines are static. On every other car I’ve been in with a backup camera the guidelines bend with turning the steering wheel to give you an idea if you will clear the side obstacles or not.

Brian Rekindles His Miatatude

Last Thursday I decided to go test drive a new Miata. I wanted to see if I really wanted a new ND or should go ahead and start trolling Bring A Trailer or Cars & Bids for a low mileage NB. When I got to the dealer and a salesperson greeted me, I said I was interested in new Miata in Grand Touring trim if they had one. They did, it was right out front. I wasn’t going to buy it, but I did want to take it for a spin.

We took a decent little test drive and while I did like the car it three strikes against it. It was white, it was the folding hardtop version and lastly it was an automatic transmission. When I voiced these concerns my sales person said, “We have a used soft-top in Red?” “Go get it, I’ll drive it,” I said. It was a 2016 Club model with less than 16,000 miles on the clock. I was a little rusty with the clutch a couple of times, but driving a stick is like swimming or riding a bike, once you know how to do it, you never forget.

When we got back to the dealership, I thanked Manny for the drives and told him I was a month or so out on buying a car and I’d let him know. When I got back home and sat on the couch, I started justifying me buying that used Miata. Not a fan of red, but I could deal with that. An 8-year-old car averaging 2,000 miles a year, not a problem. The car looked practically and the previous owner had added a sweet sounding RoadsterSport SuperStreet exhaust. Once I had a taste I was hooked. I called Manny and right then and asked, “What time do you get to work on Friday,” his reply was, “It’s my day off.” “Saturday?” “9:00” “Okay,” I said, “See you at 9:30 on Saturday.” So, I drove both cars again, but in reverse order, the exhaust note on the Club was calling me. I was almost ready to pull the trigger on the 2016, but still wanted another spin in the new car.

Echoing in my head is a sentiment that I got from Todd & Paul of Everyday Driver that we enthusiasts almost have an obligation to buy a new sports car if we want manufacturers to keep making and improving sports car. We have to be the market, so that others after us can get their hands on this kind of car. So, for purely altruistic reasons, I told Manny that if he could find a local dealer with a 2024 Grand Touring, a 6-speed and black interior we might could make that work.

They found an Aero Gray one in McMinnville, about an hour and a half away. After doing all the paperwork Manny headed to McMinnville in some car that they were swapping and I headed home to wait for them to call me when the car was ready for me to pick up. I’ve never seen Aero Gray in person and neither had they, so it was going to be all new to all of us. I got tired of waiting around the house so I Ubered over to the dealer and parked myself in their waiting area and watched college football and ate their free snacks.

According to Google Maps the two dealerships are 46 miles apart and the odometer on the car read 52 miles when I got in it for the first time. In spite of my rambling on about the lack of color in today’s car paint spectrum, this color has a strange attraction to me. It is not too dark, nor is it too light, and it looks good with the black soft top and the small black accents on the car. Either way, right now, I don’t want to wrap it a solid real color and nor do I feel I need to put stripes on it to brighten it up.

Now I just have to avoid joining the area’s Miata club or hanging around in the Miata.Net Forums so I can avoid the usual rampant customizing I am prone to doing…