Miatatude

Bucky Earns His Name

A lot of folks name their cars, a lot of folks name their Miatas, I don’t always, but this time I will. For most of this purchase process on buying the 2001 LS off of Bring-A-Trailer I just referred to it as Miata #6 as in it was the sixth Miata I have owned.

But after 2 separate, very entertaining, visits to the phenomenal outsized “gas station thing” called Buc-ees on Sally and my road trip she came to calling the car Bucky. I was just using it in conversations with her, until Sunday when I took a trip to take post offices pictures.

I noticed that for the first 20 or so minutes it was hard to smoothly engage the clutch in first gear and occasionally second as well. No matter how I tried to start from a standstill the car would buck like a scared foal. Then, a memory floated up in my consciousness, I’ve been here before, the Emperor suffered from the same malady. I wrote about it back in 2004 if you are interested.

Technical Service Bulletin 05-001/03 covers what needs to be done which is basically put a new clutch disc in. I’ll be adding another couple hundred grand the Bucky’s budget spreadsheet. Mazda replaced the disc in the 2003 for nothing and according to that service bulletin they would do it on this car too, I’m still under the 12,000 mile warranty cap, but I missed the time limit by 21 years.

I’m Member Number 476

There probably aren’t 476 current members, this is probably all time and the club has been around since October 14, 1990. I think the leader of the run I did when I joined the club said there are still over 200 folks on the roll.

That badge says 2024 Blue for my car, but there is an addition Miata in the family that there have only been brief glances of so far, that changes tomorrow. I drive down to FTW Tuning in a rental car and return home to Fairview in a black 2001 Miata LS.

Now I’m going to be going back to having one car too many for the parking I have. From last September until just last month I had two cars and one parking spot. The Miata got the primo spot in the driveway under the awning while the Mini was outside up in a spot near the Community Center. After the Vertical Platform lift was removed both cars fit in the driveway under the awning, but now I will have two Miatas and the Mini will be back up by the Community Center. The rule here is that if you own a car, you must have a spot to park it. They kind of let me break that rule for a while because of my predicament, i.e. wife dying, but this time they might not be so lenient.

Another Sunny Day

I went out yesterday and took some photos of the new tire/wheel setup and totally forgot to put the top down. Remedied that today. This morning while I waited on the people who were coming to clean out the gutters I finally finished the 1000 piece puzzle of the Grand Tetons National Park that has been languishing on the table since before Christmas.

New Tires On Old Wheels On New Miata

Well, I gone an done it. I mounted new tires on some 25-year-old Miata wheels to put on the new 2024 Miata. And I for one think it looks fantastic. Before I could take the above picture, the car needed to be washed, so I pulled out the Griot’s Garage Foaming Sprayer and gave it a bath. After drying off the car I took a drive for lunch and headed out to a local spot to take some photos.

Bucky Update

Drove down to Eugene this afternoon to bring the folks at FTW Tuning the shock bushings. And as you can see from the above photo they were waiting on me. Right now it looks like they’ll be finished next week sometime. I’ll probably drive down on Friday in the Mini and pick up the OEM wheels with their 25-year old tires. Still not sure what I want to do with them, but I’m leaning towards mounting them on the New Miata.

I took this opportunity to snag three post office photos on the drive down. I might shoot for a couple three more on the way home.

The first post office was in Albany and the second was in the home town of Oregon State University, Corvallis, and the last was in Monroe. Tonight I’m staying Eugene which is the home of the University of Oregon. The town just over the Willamette River from Eugene is the home of the Simpsons, Springfield.

Can’t Leave Well Enough Alone

Because I have bought new lightweight 15″ wheels and some summer rubber for #6, AKA Bucky, I wasn’t sure what I’d use the the 2001’s stock wheels for after I get rid the 1/4 century old rubber that is mounted on them. My first thought was to put some snow tires on them and have them handy for winter time use. But then I ran into a picture someone had added to a thread on the Miata Forum, this fellow has a dark colored 3rd gen Miata that he had put the 16″ OEM Miata wheels on. I did a rough draft by adding a bright blue to that image:

Hmmm, I think I like that better than the stock 17″ wheels of the New Miata. I think that they looked better when the car was that Aero Gray color, but now that it is blue…

Jaunty Angle

I’ve tried a couple of times to get that front license place to be parallel to the road surface, but something keeps shifting it. Not sure if it is the post into the tow hook threads or the screw that holds the plate support to the post. I’ve tightened both separately and together, but invariably it ends up non-parallel.

My need of order is screaming at me, “Get that thing right!” while the newly created laidback vibe is saying, “Chill dude, it’s fine.” Or perhaps it’ll be some enterprising young rookie on the traffic beat telling me, “According to Motor Vehicle Code 237.4, sub section ii, the license plate must be set at exactly 0° or 90° to the angle of front wheel camber.”