Miatatude

Thanks Axl

Got my letter from the Doctor today. Now I just have to remember to drink it slow.

In spite of my washing the car just 8 days ago, the Emperor got another washing tonight. Had to clean the Florida off him.

There are now two Miatas in the parking lot at work. The Assembly Engineering Supervisor finally pulled the trigger. He really liked the new body style Miatas when they came out in 2005 and has talked about getting one since 2006. Last week he found one he just had to have, a 2006 Grand Touring model in silver with black interior that had 45,000 miles on it.

Started down, went up, back down, up again, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 73

Mitsuoka Himiko

Believe it or not this is a modified Miata. An enterprising Japanese firm has created this Morgan inspired conversion of a 3rd generation MX-5. You can see it in the interior and the doors. There are a bunch more photos of the $50,000 Himiko (along with links to a couple more interesting cars made by the same company) over on the Jalopnik post where I stumbled on this.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 58

Lazy Sunday

We almost didn’t go out at all today, except for me walking into the front yard early to get the paper.

We threatened a walk in the woods…

But didn’t. The picture above is from yesterday’s running around, the photo is not the best as I only had time to take 3 shots before he hid on me and plus I was using the digital zoom to get close.

Finally around three o’clock I decided to back the Emperor out of the garage and wax him. With me out of her hair Donna got down to writing out most of the rest of the Christmas cards. When I was done waxing I put the MAZDA & MIATA badges back on the car, it was easier than having to get the wax residue out of the little holes in the bumper. In the fading daylight we took a short drive around town to naturally blow off the rest of the wax dust that had adhered to the car due to the static charge created by rubbing a cotton cloth on a metal object in low humidity air. We mailed the Christmas cards, so go ahead and wait by your mailbox.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 56

Top Update

After nearly 4 weeks and 3 dozen top transitions the new roof has stretched enough that latching it is as easy as it used to be with the old roof. There is still a extra push required on the back window to get it to fold down. I’ve done it enough so it has become second nature and barely noticeable in the top down process, but I worry about the stress on the material surrounding the glass. Maybe it will loosen up more in another month or so.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 36

Picture Time

Lunch with friends. Went for a 10 mile bike ride. Swept off the roof and driveway of fallen leaves and branches. Went downtown and sampled some chili at the city’s Fall Festival. Took some photos of the new top on the car. And we still did find some time to watch 3 more episodes of Mad Men.

I took several pictures today of the top in full sun and the shade to attempt to show what the color looks like. Comparing it to some photos of the car with the original it is awfully hard to see a difference. I’m thinking the color variation is more noticeable in person because you can see it and the interior at the same time in the same light.

The attached photo was run through a trial version of Dynamic Photo HDR and then tone mapped with the ultra contrast setting using only one image. In spite of everything else appearing surreal, the top looks just about right. You can not see the difference for your self by checking out the pictures in the Flickr! gallery I made.

I put the top up and down in the garage just to see how hard it was going to be and it wasn’t that bad. When I went to put it back up later in the day to take pictures it was a struggle. I had to latch the driver’s side and then go over to the passenger seat to get enough leverage to close that side. The way the top folds (and I’m guessing that’s because of the different construction) the back window doesn’t just flop down, it needs a slight helping hand to tuck it behind the windblocker. Goes up smoothly though. The fabric still needs a bit more stretching I guess.

Started up, went down, back up, down again, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 4

Numbers

Episode #18 is Hurley-centric. We see him win the lottery and then have nothing but bad things happen to him. Through a convoluted route we learn that the numbers are more than likely the reason he is on the island. They are the reason the mysterious “French Chick” ended up on the island sixteen years ago as well. Up until now there have been a lot of little weird things going on on the island and they have seemed just that, but with this development it appears that something really big and metaphysical is happening here.

About a year ago I noticed some wear spots on the Emperor’s top and I thought it wouldn’t be long before we needed to buy a new one and have it installed. Managed to get another year out of it. This past Saturday when I got in the car I could see two pinholes of light coming through the top right where I had noticed the cloth had been worn. I thought for a while I would opt for a vinyl replacement top to save a couple hundred bucks, but decided to go with cloth again this time because of it’s longevity. On previous Miatas I’ve had vinyl and I seemed to have needed a new top about every three years. I use a top (see below.) The Emperor came with a cloth top and it has lasted nearly five.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 382