Miata Mileage

The 45,000 Most Beautiful Cars Ever

Mickey D'sA co-worker shared his September issue of Automobile magazine with me today. The cover story was titled “The 25 Most Beautiful Cars Ever.” When you talk style and design everyone has an opinion and I can agree with most of their assessments, but they needed to drop one of the ones they picked or have made it twenty-six because they forgot to include the 2001-2005 Mazda Miata. 🙂

I even have no quibble with them listing the current Pontiac Solstice as a future collectible that you can buy now. It is not a bad looking car, but it will be a collectible because the total number of Solstices produced won’t be very many. If they make them for more than five years I’ll be surprised.

The biggest bewilderment was smack in the middle of the article, between the 1990-96 Nissan 300ZX and the 1954-57 Mercedes Benz 300SL Gull wing was a 4 page fold out on the new Chrysler Sebring. WTF? This car is one ugly thing. Matter of fact its looks could be improved by adding one or more of the article’s big styling dont’s, fake wood grain siding, a vinyl top or some opera windows.

On the way home from work today the Emperor surpassed the 45,000 mile mark. Hey, isn’t that some sort of service milestone?

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 336

Fab Fours

444441 – Four is the only number in the English language for which the number of letters in its name is equal to the number itself. 2 – People have four canines, four incisor and four wisdom teeth. 3 – Four is considered an unlucky number in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese cultures because it sounds like the word “death.”
4 – In tarot, card No. 4 is “the Emperor.”

The cockpit of the Miata is a warm place to be. A known issue is the fresh air venting. It draws air from the cowl area and by the time it gets from there to the interior of the car it is considerably warmer than the outside air. I’ve tried nearly all the suggestions on Miata.net, but the air is still warm. Some one on the forum did something about it and created this neat little air scoop thing that mounts on the windshield header when the top is down. Maybe next spring we will invest in one of the Cool Breeze Scoops, $41 with shipping.

For now I have invested $25 in solving the other source of unwanted interior heat, the transmission tunnel. The exhaust pipe and premuffler run right along underneath the tunnel on the driver’s side and after an hour or so of driving you can toast Pop Tarts between the tunnel and the driver’s seat cushion. This morning I pulled the seats and console out of the Emperor out. I folded back the carpet, so I could line the transmission tunnel and for good measure most of the floor pan with Reflectix using shiny foil duct tape. It took a couple hours to cut and tape around the seat mounting points, E-brake, a couple of wiring harnesses and the rubber shift boot.

Speaking of shift boots, mine was cracked/ripped and this also lets in heat big time. Not only was the large inside boot in need of replacing, but the smaller boot that seals the transmission turret to the shifter was blown as well. This is another reason the Cool Breeze Scoop will wait, it’ll cost $46 to buy replacements for both these rubber pieces.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 307

44,000 Calories…

…in a single scoop of Gold Rush ice cream.

Not really, but there are now 44,000 miles on the Emperor. The odometer rolled past that figure as I rolled over about 44,000 pieces of crushed stone in the gravel driveway of Flanigan’s Ice Cream Parlor.

Started up, went down, went up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 290

43,000 Names on the Wall

43,000 Names on the WallSince last Thursday a 1/2 scale version of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial has been set up in a park not to far from our house. The Wall That Heals travels around the country allowing folks who can’t or won’t make the trip to the actual memorial in Washington DC. Donna and I visited the actual Wall way back in the early 80’s when it had not been open for very long, so we thought it might be cool to see this version too. Because the traveling wall, like the original, is open 24 hours a day, we decided to wait until 10PM or so last night to visit, so we could take advantage of the cool night air. Plus there is something about the memorial that makes a visit in darkness more fitting.

I know, there are actually over 58,000 names engraved on the Wall, but 43,000 works better for me here because that is the amount of miles the Emperor has traveled in it’s lifetime. Passed through that mark on the way home from Augusta this morning.

We went over to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie at an early morning showing in a theater with stadium seating. I enjoyed it more than Donna did, but we still felt it was worth the time, money and effort to see it in an actual movie theater instead of waiting for the DVD. Not as much humor and not nearly as many quotable lines. There was a lot more action, some of it bordering on the unbelievable. I say bordering, because after all, if you can except that Davy Jones has the head of an octopus, one hand that is a lobster claw and his still beating heart is locked in a buried chest miles away on a dessert isle, how can three men carrying out a raging sword fight on a 25′ water wheel as it rolls down a hill be unbelievable?

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 256

42,000 Feet Outside of Anderson

About 42,000 feet outside of Anderson,SC the odometer clicked over 42,000 miles. We are on our way to a mini-vacation getaway to western NC and the destination of choice or both of us. For her a two night stay in her favorite B & B, the Blue Boar Inn, and for me a couple days of twisty roads, including the king of curves, Deal’s Gap.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 235

41,000 Chain Links

Just less than a mile from home on the way to work this morning the odometer glided past the 41k mark.

Play Ball

Tonight we went out to watch a friends son play baseball. We have watched Jacob play since T-ball (he just got his driver’s license 6 days ago) and now he is playing with the big boys, the 15-18 year olds. The T-ball was fun because the kids were just so cute, but at this age it is almost like real baseball.

We have been known to watch his younger brother play baseball too. But with a four year difference in ages, Jared’s games always seem a lot less structured than big brother’s. Don’t get me wrong, we like to watch Jared play, he pitches a mean game, but Jacob’s games have the benefit of being played by older more experienced kids.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 190

The Taurus Diaries – Act II, Scene I

Dropped the Miata off at the body shop today after work. They gave us a loaner car, a tan Ford Taurus. It has the required rear trunk lid spoiler for that go fast look and rear drum brakes for that stop slow feel.

When I first pointed out my list of flaws to the body shop manager he told me he needed the car for a couple of hours. Tonight when he handed me the keys and I told him I would see him tomorrow around the same time, just the way he said, “I should have it ready for you.”, led both Donna and I to expect the Miata not to be ready then. Sigh.

Almost forgot, on Saturday, about 5 miles past Burlington, NC the Emperor glided past the 40,000 mile mark.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 175