Miatatude

4 Month Update

OK, we’ve had the new Robbins Streamline Top on the car for 4 months now, time for an update. The top has made well over a hundred transitions and it has stretched out just fine, making the raising and latching of the top a cinch. But putting it down is not the simple unlatch and throw it over your head the OEM was.

I still have to reach back and help the top (front) of the glass window down, by pushing slightly back and down. Doing the maneuver has become almost second nature and doesn’t slow down the operation (unless I fumble it, like I’m apt to do every dozen times or so.) My concern is to what this will do to the longevity of the top. I can’t help but think in a couple, three years that that extra push along with the aging of the fabric is going to cause a rip along the top or bottom of the glass.

One other little nitpick (and it really is a nit) is that the original top had a short strap that went from the edge of the top between the first and second ribs and attached to the frame which the Robbins Streamline top lacks. The purpose of this was to pull on that bit of the top, tucking it inside the well when the top was lowered. With the Robbins, the top folds up fine, but there is a little ear sticking out of the well that needs poking under when putting the boot on. I think I need a picture to better illustrate my point, but to do so might elevate the nit to a full blown bother.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 131

Mother, Jugs & Speed

Every time the MMC goes out for a breakfast run I take a few pictures, usually shots of the cars in the parking lot, people at the tables, the place we are eating at, what we might be eating, etc. While standing outside the restaurant lining up one more photograph of a row of Miatas I decided no more generic photos. This picture is the result. Fresh & New? Or Lame & Amateurish?

Stumbled on the last half of M, J & S on Fox Movie Channel tonight and instead of watching the news we opted for classic cheese. The cast included a Battle of Network Stars Dream Team: Raquel Welch, Bill Cosby, Dick Butkus & Larry Hagman. The soundtrack listing was fun too, the only mid-seventies band missing was Geronimo Jackson.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 128

Weekly Book Review*

At the 1989 Chicago Auto Show Mazda unveiled its new sports car, the Miata. Right now twenty years later at the same Chicago Auto Show it is unveiling the freshened third generation version of that same sports car. Motorsports Books has recently published a new book by Larry Edsall, Miata 20 Years, that is an excellent guide to the history of my (and possibly your) favorite car.

If you would like to know how the Miata was born (an auto journalist?s response to a car executive?s question), how it got where it is today (Guinness World Record?s best-selling sports car with over 850,000 made) and everything in between, then this book is for you.

Even if you think you know everything there is to know about the Miata, this book is still for you, as you?re bound to find some stuff you didn?t know. I did, and that is a tall order because I?ve owned three Miatas since 1989, I have a 14 year collection of the original Miata Magazine, I used to read the big mailing list back when (can you say 200 emails a day) and now peruse the Miata.net Forum with regularity.

If you are thinking about buying your first book on the Miata, start with this one, for the list price of $25 you get nearly 200 pages full of information, color photographs and illustrations that will keep you entertained for days.

If you already have a bunch of books on the Miata, this would still make a nice addition just for its trick 2-layer front cover. Looking at the book you see an overhead view of the car with its top up, unfold the right side top flap (lightly magnetized) and now it is an overhead view with the top down.

You can get the book direct from the publisher, on Amazon or possibly your local big box bookstore.**

*I’m not really going to do a weekly book review, I have enough trouble keeping this blog thing filled with regular (and sometimes irregular words), I just wanted a nice title for this post.

**Ethics Disclaimer: The publisher gave me a copy of the book because I said I would write this review.***

***Ethics Disclaimer, Sub Paragraph B: Had I known Miata 20 Years existed before that happened, it would have already been on my Amazon Wish List…

French Toast

The MMC meet for their monthly breakfast event here in Aiken at the Sugar Magnolia Cafe (not to be confused with Sugar Magnolia’s Cafe in Lompoc, CA) and we got a nice turn out of 10 people in 7 cars, 5 Miatas and a Sebring (which counts as two Miatas), a much nicer turn out than the November one there which was just Donna and I.

Frakking Sony DVD player. I spent most of the late morning and early afternoon trying to get William & Mary burned on a DVD. No matter what I tried, none of the 4 discs produced would do anything but play the No Public Display warning, the production company logo and the “pirating is stealing” PSA before halting and giving an out of region error message.

All the forums posts I found on the net said that the programs I was using should take care of the Region Coding. Then I searched for a way to set the Sony DVD player to region free and found that there were no sure fire way of doing it with my model, but there were a couple of ways that I could try that worked on similar models. Ha, close, but oh so frustrating.

I’m not sure what prompted me, but about 3 o’clock I took one of the, what I thought were toast, discs into the other room and tried it in the old JVC player. It worked perfectly….

The JVC was exiled to the back bedroom a few months ago because it was refusing to play DVDs or lock up with increasing regularity. We bought a Sony DVP-NS57P for $40 at Walmart to replace it and it has been great; until now. I’ve moved the JVC back into the living room, now the two of them sit on top of each other in the cabinet ready for anything.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 100

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