Miatatude

Color Theory

The specter of a new Miata still hovers over the House of Bogardus, and it now seems inevitable, but there is the further trouble of color. The base (AKA, Sport) model is all we need and it comes in only white, matte white black & red. Of the four, Donna would pretty much accept only the red which as it turns out, is the only one I really don’t want.

Back in November of 2014 I said if the 4th Generation Miata came in a bright blue I would be seriously tempted to buy one, so my solution is to buy a brand new car and spend more money by having it vinyl wrapped in blue. But yesterday on our way back from North Augusta Donna told me she was tired of blue and said, “How ’bout that color?” She was pointing at a Dodge Journey SUV in Copperhead Pearl. I thought aloud, “That would look pretty good on a Miata.”

While the Copperhead Pearl color seemed just right to the both of us, a perfect blend of red, orange and brown, that exact shade is not available as one of 3M’s 1080 films. There are a couple of copper-ish colors and for a mere buck apiece you can get a 3″ x 5″ sample of the vinyl from a supply house called Fellers in Oklahoma. So I ordered 3 orange samples and as a back-up, 3 blues:

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 174

Well, That Was Something

This morning we went over to Augusta to get Donna measured for her new lenses. Not eyeglass lenses, but eye lenses. Our optometrist has been keeping an eye (pun not intended) on her cataracts for years, but about a month ago Donna noticed a big change in vision and when she went in to see the eye guy he said it was time to get the cataracts fixed. After the measurements we set up the appointments for the surgeries, the right eye will be in late June and the left one will be fixed about four weeks later in July.

Before driving to Atlanta get a room at a hotel near the airport we went over to the Mazda dealer to drive one of the new fangled Miatas. The Gerald Jones Mazda inventory hasn’t changed since three weeks ago, but we had the time and needed to get inside one and go for a drive. Wade got us the key to a black Grand Touring that was sitting just out front. The thing was pretty dirty and the inside was dusty, but it didn’t really matter because even if we loved the new car, this was not going to be one we’d buy.

Not only are the cup holders in a strange spot to use, but they also interfere with placing your elbows in a comfortable position on the center console, so we yanked them out and tucked them in the cubby between the seats on the back wall. I dropped the top and crept out of the parking lot. I had a short loop planned that was familiar from doing the Susan Komen BMW Drives all those years ago. Good thing I didn’t want to go far as the low fuel light was on and the gauge is on one notch above E.

Part way through we pulled into a grocery store lot and swapped drivers. Donna drove about halfway back before pulling over to let me finish the loop. We thanked Wade again, he said he’d call when they got a manual sport in stock again and we parted ways.

We both thought the ND drove nice, as it should because of its newness (the Emperor felt like that way 13 years ago too.) We both thought it was more claustrophobic compared the our current car. You do seem to sit down in it more than our second generation car. The lack of a glove box in front of the passenger in its traditional spot seemed weird, but probably after a while could be adjusted to. While the passenger foot well isn’t as short as the third gen car, the hump adjacent to the transmission tunnel is still a big hindrance to Donna’s storage of water bottle and purse in their usual spots.

Neither one of us are all gaga about getting this new car, but it is just going to come down to whether we want to keep the old familiar and currently not so reliable car or go ahead and bite the bullet and except new, reliable and slightly quirkier one.

Another Miata T-Shirt

xtra_detail_grande
Yesterday’s thrice weekly Blipshift t-shirt was another one that was Miata related. And when I saw it, I asked Donna, “Seeing as I’m not getting a new Miata1, can I get a new Miata shirt?” I said, “Don’t worry, I really don’t like it that much.”2

My ChoiceI play on the whole internet meme of Miata always being the answer to any automotive question. I felt they missed the mark slightly and they might have sold a few more shirts to us Miata owners if they had not checked the all of the above and left the selection circles empty. That way we could use a Marks-A-Lot to check the box that corresponds to the generation of Miata we own. And if we owned more than one Miata and they happened to be of different generations we might have bought more than one shirt.

1. Now that the Emperor is mostly fixed (pending a successful road trip of some sort this weekend.
2. I ended up buying one anyway when I noticed that the long sleeve shirts were on gray heather instead of the flat gray shown.

Back Home Again

The Emperor is back in the garage again tonight. The original theory of a timing issue because of the previous shop needing to get under the timing belt covers to change the Crank Position Sensor didn’t pan out. Turns out that sensor sits outside the cover so there would be no reason for them to be inside the cover.

Yesterday evening’s new theory was the fact that I was a quart low on oil so that the VVT was not working all the way and that would have caused the CEL, the slight hesitation and possibly the louder exhaust sounds. When they suggested this to me I tried, maybe not to successfully, to hide the incredulous expression on my face. Their plan for today was to test drive it before adding oil and then afterwards to see if that had any effect. I said, “Go for it.” I mean, what the heck, can’t hurt.

I didn’t get any phone calls today from the folks at AW, so on the way home today we stopped in. They had gotten busy and didn’t have a chance to get to my problem, so when I showed up Holley said let’s try it. He added a quart and off we went with him driving. They had cleared the CEL and I have to admit I felt no hesitation and maybe the exhaust note was a bit less. At the halfway point, we swapped places, and I drove it back to the shop. No light, no bogged down feeling, but still just a little louder than this old fogey would like at wide open throttle. Holley said, “Let me run a full bead all the way around that resonator and you can take the car home. The exit prescription was to change the oil and if the CEL comes back on, bring it back.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 163

Sitting In An ND II

ND <= NB

Now having had to spend big bucks twice to get the Emperor running in the last month, we thought maybe we should go check out the new Miata once more to see if this could be an option for the next time we have to pony up half the Kelly Blue Book of the car to get it running right again. Eight months ago we sat in a new one, with mixed feelings, but didn’t drive it because it was an automatic transmission. I understand why a lot of folks choose one, but for Donna and I a Miata has to be a row your own.

We arrived at the Gerald Jones Megaplex1 and made our way through the lot to the Mazda area. Parked near the street end of the lot somewhat close to a couple of Miatas they had near the entrance to lure in buyers. And because we didn’t get there until 11:00 AM or so there lots of potential customers wandering the lot with salesmen cruising around in golf carts trying to herd them into a cubicle in the showrooms. No one zeroed in on us so we walked over to the dark gray and the white/gray and I looked inside, both were automatics. We then made our way towards the buildings to find somebody to get a car to drive. During the 50 yard walk still no on approached.

Close to the showroom was a Miata in a shade of blue (called Reflex Blue that is really a medium gray with blue undertones.) I looked inside it and it was a stick. Donna said, “This is a pretty blue.” And comparing it to the two grays we saw already and the black Miata right across from this one, she was right, it was the nicest looking Miata we’d seen so far, but sort of in the way of it being the most attractive of Cinderella’s ugly step-sisters.

It was unlocked, so I opened the door and got in the driver’s seat, Donna got in the passenger seat and we tried it on for size. I pointed out the awkwardly placed cup holders. Explained the no glove box thing and opened the cubby between the seats to show the spot that is supposed to replace it. I unlatched the top and threw it back. Nice. We got out, walked around the car and changed seats. After another minute or two with still no salesman approaching, we headed into the showroom.

The gatekeeper asked us what we were looking for and I said a Miata to test drive. He send somebody off to find somebody else. Soon Wade appeared, after handshakes all around, I said I’d like to drive a Miata with a manual transmission. He started walking out towards the two Miatas near the lot entrance and after a few steps I stopped him, telling him they were autos. Wade turned back towards the showroom, so I pointed towards the blueish one we had sat in before, “Oh, that one is sold already.”2 Then he turned towards the black across the way, I had peeked inside that one too and it was another automatic, so I let him know.

He said wait here, and went inside to check their inventory. The only stick they had on the lot was the Club on the showroom floor and told him I wasn’t interested.3 “Well, we have two sport models coming that have manual transmissions, I’m not sure exactly when, but would you like me to let you know when they get here?” I said, “Sure,” so we traded business cards. After rereading our experience from last August again, this is the exact same thing the salesman told me then and I never heard from him.

We have now sat in the new ND Miata twice, but still have not driven one.

4 Years Later

McLeod Museum

We took a drive on Saturday to scout a route for a future MMC event, but we didn’t take the Miata, it was just a little too cold (and windy) for a convertible drive. The picture above is from the destination, the McLeod Farms Antique Museum.

It was even colder today. We got up this morning for our usual Sunday morning breakfast bike ride. Our first stop was downtown at the ATM because we didn’t have any cash and after were going to go another dozen miles or so before eating. The temps were in the upper 30s with the wind chill near freezing. We both felt uncomfortably cold in the 15° below normal, so after the ATM we just rode home and got in the car to drive for breakfast. Post breakfast we did the weekly grocery shopping and we have not been outside since.

This afternoon we sat glued to the couch watching the only golf tournament we ever watch, the Masters.

I have been seeing Dr. PCP twice a year forever for him to run my cholesterol numbers and I can’t believe it has been 4 years since I put up the numbers…Maybe because they looked pretty much like this latest batch of results, cholesterol & LDL within limits and my triglycerides too high with my HDL not high enough.

  Chol HDL LDL Trig
Goal 80-199 40-110 30-130 30-150
03/31/16 170 37 95 180
10/10/12 196 36 128 160
04/10/12 193 39 121 166
10/10/11 162 43 88 155
04/04/11 155 38 96 107
12/06/10 176 41 114 105
05/18/10 151 38 91 109
12/15/08 167 41 92 171
03/21/08 164 37 104 115
12/12/07 175 38 104 165
07/17/07 185 36 117 162
03/05/07 195 39 123 167
09/19/06 167 37 103 135
04/06/06 168 37 106 126
12/08/05 182 35 120 137
07/28/05 177 30 113 169
06/17/05 164 31 85 238
05/06/05 174 27 108 194
01/10/05 176 33 110 167
09/21/04 209 24 131 271

Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution1

In Case of the Removal of the Favored Car from the Garage, or of its Death, Sale, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Garage, the Same shall devolve on the 2nd Favored Car, and the Household may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Sale or Inability, both of the Favored and 2nd Favored, declaring what Vehicle shall then act as Favored, and such Vehicle shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a New Favored Car shall be purchased.

I have had a business card for a local place called Wayne’s Automotive in my wallet for like 15-20 years. A co-worker had given it to me way back when her sister got the job as the dispatcher for the towing portion of the business. She was giving them out to everybody she talked to, so I took one just to be polite. A few years later when I got a new wallet I transferred the card. At the next new wallet the card moved again right along with everything else, I had became superstitious about it. I just knew that if I discarded it, I’d need it the very next day. And it was a good thing I still had it.

Yesterday on the way home, about 1-1/2 miles from work, while accelerating through 3rd gear, the acceleration just stopped happening, the check engine light illuminated, followed by the battery light and because we were on a slight uphill slope the Emperor slowed to a graceful stop along the side of the road. No sturm und drang, the engine just quit like somebody flicked a switch.

I reached into the little compartment behind my driver’s license, slid out the dog-eared card and called Wayne’s for a tow truck. We originally were going to have it towed home, but during the wait we changed our minds in consideration of my very limited mechanical knowledge and abilities. Decided to have it taken to their garage portion of the business instead.

As we stood watching the Emperor being winched onto the back of a flatbed, a different co-worker pulled over to see what was happening. He offered to drive Donna home so she could swear in the Sonata as Favored Car and come get me at Wayne’s.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 158

1. We had to cite Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution in elevating the Purple Whale’s status because South Carolina is one of only three states that never ratified the 25th Amendment.