Miatatude

I May Have Been Premature

West Salish Pond


 
After my morning walk around the Salish Ponds, I swapped the two cars from front to back. I’ve got my first real mod for the GTI coming, so I wanted it in the back near the workshop for tool availability, and also I needed the Miata out front because there is a club event Saturday. While the Miata was out, I opted to take a quick drive to the store to pick up a couple things. I took the long way home, and I may have been premature yesterday; I can’t get rid of it. Even with a bit of traffic in the first half of the drive and with the top up because it was sprinkling, it was still a fun car to be in.

End of the Line?

I was going to title this post “The End Of An Era?” but swapped it to the current one. Why, you might ask? When I opened WordPress, the song Radio Paradise was playing was by the Travelling Wilburys, called “End of the Line.”

I took the GTI to the local VW dealer to have them run the system checks they normally do when someone comes in for service. I also had them do an oil change because, for all I knew, it was the original 5-year-old oil. The car has only 14,000 miles on it, and that is below the synthetic oil lifespan. An hour and a half later, with a clean bill of health, we headed home. I’m really liking this car, and I’ll be driving it almost exclusively for the next 5 months. The Miata will get limited attention until late March.

Do I really need two cars? This led to a dark corner of my mind; maybe it’s time to get rid of the Miata. I know, sacrilege! I’ve owned a Miata for 35 years, and they are still a blast, but the GTI is 80% a blast. I hate the idea of it just sitting around; it should be blasting around winding roads, not staring at the backside of a Golf.

Ask me again in a week.

A Tale Of One Year Of Ownership

This is not the first time I’ve put stickers on the trunk lid. I started doing it in the late 90s, as evidenced by the photo to the right. This is from 2001, and by the time I traded in the ’95 on a brand new ’03, the trunk lid looked more like the one above. Thing is the dealer left the stickers on there when they resold the car. A year or so later the 2nd owner showed up, by happenstance, at a Miata Club event at the local car drive-in. She said that she really liked the stickers and had started adding some of her own.

I Got It Right This Time

The first attempt, just the custom faces, seemed a bit too dark. Next one, just white needles and metal bezel, went too far the other way; it was a bit too light. I got it right this time.

I Got It Right This Time

Completely Custom Revlimeter Gauge Faces – $$$
Used 1999-2000 Complete Gauge Cluster – $$
Jass Stainless Steel Gauge Cluster Bezel – $$
IL Motorsport Chrome Needle Caps – $$
Polished Aluminum Gauge Rings – $$

Congratulations Mr. Bogardus, It’s A Girl

Buckie

Two months ago I went to the DMV to register the 2001 Miata, and I wanted to give it personalized plates. Because the car had the infamous clutch chatter issue that made 1st gear buck until it was fully warmed up, I wanted something to reflect that. Plus, Santa Fe Sally and her fascination with Buc-ees had already started calling it Bucky even before I realized it had that issue.

You are allowed 6 letters with an additional space or hyphen in there somewhere. Because the regular state plate has a large fir tree right in the middle, that is where I opted for my space. On the form you get 2 options, so I wrote in BUC KEY and then BUC KIE.

I mentioned to a few people that if I got KEY, I would consider that a male name, and if I received KIE, that would be female, so the car’s pronoun would going forward reflect that. Today I found out which one I got. Congratulations Mr. Bogardus, it’s a girl.

Tinkering With The Look

I really loved the custom gauges, but after taking several photos of them, I realized they looked too dark. So in an effort to lighten up the gauge cluster, I purchased a brushed metal gauge back piece. I also had to buy a broken 99-00 gauge cluster so that I could harvest the white needles. And because the brushed metal only fits the earlier gauges, I also needed the black gauge covering piece.

I guess if I want to get as close as I can to the inspiration image, I’m going to have to buy the polished gauge rings and the shiny needle caps. Technically, I should go back to the red needles too.

Another Set Of Custom Revlimiter Gauges

They have been in the car for about a week, but Saturday I photographed them. And today I’m blogging about them. These gauges were inspired by a photo I’ve had on my hard drive since 2005, when I was considering getting a set for the 2003 Garnet Red Miata.

I thought they were Mr. Revlimiter’s creation, but they are actually the work of AWD, a Japanese Miata customizing shop that is no longer in business. Before the AWD site disappeared, someone scraped the server for the web pages and has them posted online: AWD ARTWORKS/DEWA

I’ve ordered a silver gauge cluster cover similar to this from Moss Motors, and I bought a busted 1999-2000 gauge cluster off eBay to harvest the white needles and put them in place of the red ones.