Faithful readers will know that I park the Emperor out in the north forty of ASCO’s parking lot. You johnny-come-latelys do now too. Well now I have the satellite photo to prove it. Look almost at exactly 12 o’clock in the attached photo, see that little bright speck (I must have been using the cockpit cover the day the Googlesat1 flew by), that’s the Miata.
We had a great turn out for last night’s MMC Bug Splat Rally. Nine cars and eighteen people. When we all gathered at the Mexican restaurant for the pre-drive meal we exceeded the number we had called in for, so he nice folks there just added another table.
When Donna and I arrived at the eatery we parked in the back row. The one car that was already there backed out of his spot and came over and parked next to me. The four of us went inside to make sure our table was ready. As the rest of the folks showed up, they, in typical Club fashion, parked one after another in the back row creating a long line of Miatas. Unbeknownst to me about halfway down they left one spot open because there was some glass in it.
After eating and before the drive I always go out with my Meguiar’s Quik Detailer and clean off the noses of the cars, so I could tell the new from the old bug splats. Some folks even go so far as to not wash off their cars just to have a little fun with me. Last year’s “winner” pointed out the mark that was still left on the nose of his car that no amount of bug remover or cleaning could completely erase. I started with my car, hey it was right there after I got the Detailer and towel out of the trunk. As I worked my way down the line of cars I came to a green ’99 with a lip spoiler, hmmmm, I don’t recognize this car. By now most everyone was done inside and was out standing around chatting. I finished the green car and moved on to the next and then the next. It was about then that two fellows walked out of the restaurant and wandered over to our group, seems that they had just come out to get some Mexican food. Seeing the line of Miatas with one open spot in the line was too tempting to pass up, so they parked right in the middle. In spite of our best efforts, they wouldn’t join us on the rally, some sort of work conflict, but we did give them an old newsletter as a Club come-on. Plus they did get a cleaner nose out of it.
Even though we had a good amount of people come out, too bad the bugs didn’t cooperate. The Biggest Bug trophy was won by Dave & Bobbie Winkler for a moth with a 3/4″ wingspan. John & Carol Haff were almost the winners, but when we pulled the remnants of a decent sized dragon fly out of the mouth of their car it was too badly dessicated to have been recent. But they did take home a prize for Closest To The Dot with what is a Bug Splat first by having a spot right dead center of their green one inch diameter Avery dot. The Nicholls won for the most bugs, although most of them may have been on there from the beginning because their nose was the dirtiest to begin with. Rudy & Patti had the cleanest nose to begin with and finished the same way, the front of their car marred only by a long narrow string of insect “blood.” Everyone who participated was awarded a prize of their choosing from a selection Mazda/Miata goodies supplied by Mazda.
We then literally took over the Sweet Cow Creamery in downtown Aiken for dessert and post drive storytelling.
As I mentioned Thursday, I did start a photo contest over on Miata.net called Capitol Idea. I got it all setup and ready to go late Friday evening. I posted the announcement even though I didn’t even have my usual example entry up. I didn’t have one.
This morning Donna and I drove up the Columbia to snap some photos of the Miata with the SC State Capitol in the background. First we tried to shoot from the east side so that the sun was behind us. There was no clear vantage point. The couple of pictures I tried were awful with just a glimpse of the dome behind trees. The east side views are nearly non existent period. The west side views were slightly more accessible, but the sun was such that the extreme back lighting made good exposure impossible. The best views and lighting were with the north side views. Of course there was road construction going on such to prevent any stopping for picture taking.
I ended up with nothing for a contest entry. While driving around we passed one of my favorite photo spots, the parking area that has the hay rolls mural and the tunnel mural. We found a new place with some railroad themed murals, a night club with a nice parking lot out front. The sun didn’t really cooperate here either, but I did get the one attached, that isn’t too bad.
After the “Capitol” disappointment I logged on to Miata.net and cancelled the contest. I hadn’t received any entries anyway. Still in the mood to run one of these things, I renamed the contest “My Favorite Miata Picture” Contest 2 and relaunched it over on Miata.net.
I’m getting bored.
Time to change the look of the blog maybe? Probably not, as I do like the look and the scheme goes well with the car color…that’s it, I just need a change of the header image. Wait, I know, I need to run another photo contest.
Last year I did one called “My Favorite Miata Picture” Contest and got 44 entries. I think I want to call it a “Capitol Idea” Photo Contest. A picture of a Miata with a capitol in the background. I can’t seem to find it, but the inspiration for for this is a photo I’ve seen a couple of times on the Miata.net Forums (and I can’t seem to find right now) of a 10AE in a parking garage at night with a lit up dome in the background. Found it! Now I realize that limits the backgrounds to 51 (states & DC), so maybe I’ll let them use any sort of domed building, county courthouses, churches, etc. Heck, how about any business with capitol or capital in the name.
Today Mazda released some photos of the new 2007 Retractable Hard Top MX-5. It is power operated and adds about 80 lbs to the car. The big thing is it does not encroach on any of the existing trunk space. Now we know why the trunk is shaped the way it is.
Everyone questioned why they make the lid so short, why was it reshaped to be slightly bigger, but less usably shaped. When I look back at the new car’s introduction photos they showed a bare frame and it seemed like there was a lot of empty space below the storage area for the folded soft top. They added some behind the seat storage area plastic cubby holes in there, even put covers on them in the higher trim levels. Obviously they were thinking of this folding hard top contraption from the very begining.
They must not be so proud of the direct side view with the top up because of the angle this shot was taken from. There is another image that shows the top mid-change directly from the side and the hard boot cover has some funky looking bulges in it…
The recent 80’s with low humidity weather, which is very much unlike SC in June, has been perfect weather for top down motoring. After dinner Donna wanted to go over to Hopeland Gardens and take a walk, so we drove over. The parking lot was empty except for two other cars.
Put on the replacement C & H sticker on the back bumper. I think it is a little bigger than the last one. The original sticker in silver that I put on crooked was 6″ high and I thought it looked a little big, so when I went to dark yellow I got him to make it 5-1/2″ high. This one looks like we reverted to a 6″ size. Seems a bit too big and I put it on leaning a little too much, but it looks good back there anyway.
I had one zoom-zoom sticker left and I put it in the same spot I have on the last two cars, on the inside of the trunk lid with each zoom straddling the trunk latch, so you can see it when the lid is up.
Now we just have to make a trip to Deal’s Gap to get a dragon sticker and start the under lid collection in earnest.
While I was there I straightened out the lid. loosened the 4 nuts and pushed and pulled until it is pretty good, not perfect, but better than before. I used an 11/64th drill bit as a spacer. On Monday I’ll take the calipers back out and give you the new measurements. Oooh, goody, more trigonometry.