All this talk about Miatas makes me think about my recent Miata experience.
First some background. This winter, we were a two-car family; 1 nice, modern
Mazda MX6-GT, and one 1962 MGA 1600 Mk-II. All well and good. Well, this
past winter was *really* wet. Now *I* don't mind terribly much getting
leaked on. My Dutch Reform Church heritage (Suffering Builds Character) has
always resonated well with British cars. My wife, however, was fairly
emphatic that Leaking when she needed to drive the car was Not a Good Thing.
And although The Geezer is many things, dry in the rain it is not. Things
got dodgy enough that I began to contemplate trading the Geezer for a Miata.
Think of it folks: wind in the face, bugs in the teeth, but a Top That Does
Not Leak. And people tell me it's big inside, so maybe I'll be able to
straighten out the permanent kink in my right leg that I've gotten from
dealing with an accelerator pedal that is too far forward. Thinking (naively
in retrospect) that I can have my cake and eat it too, i.e. have an MGA with
a top that doesn't leak, a fuel-injected OHC engine, and four-wheel disc
brakes, I gird my loins and go to the Mazda dealership with my wife,
I was (still naively) thinking we would buy a nice BRG Miata with tan leather
seats and reluctantly say goodbye to The Geezer. Well, strike one. They
don't make BRG Miatas any more. The first Miata we drove happened to be the
one with all the power bits on it. I started in on some winding roads behind
the dealership and...strike two: nothing. It was like driving the MX6,
except that there was a breeze in my hair. The power steering removed most
of the road feel, the brakes were too powerful, and the salesman put the
power windows up! My car doesn't even *have* windows! Or power brakes. Or
fluffy power steering. Sorta like drinking Champagne out of a paper cup, it
leaves something to be desired. The taste is sort of there, but it is
missing a certain je ne c'est quoi.
I went back and drove a stripped model. No power steering, no power windows.
Nicer, but I went home, drove The Geezer a bit, and came to a Profound
Conclusion. Strike three: the Miata was just plain not as much fun as the
MGA. It didn't go a whole lot faster, it wasn't a whole lot roomier, and it
was, let's be frank here, boring looking. I discovered that I like my
engine's throaty purr (the Miata's engine has an insipid whine and this
specially-tuned-for-LBC-like-noise exhaust), I like the smell of oil, wood,
and leather, I like manual brakes, and I like steering that fights back.
Now we get to the good part. While we were at the dealership and I was
driving Miatas, my wife found a 1993 RX-7 and test drove it. As I'm thinking
about how best to tell her that I really don't want to buy a Miata, into the
parking lot comes this black RX7; my wife pops out with a big grin on her
face and says, "we're not getting the Miata". My spirits rise. "We're
getting the RX-7". My spirits fall. It's a pretty car, yea perhaps even
somewhat British looking. A lot of Jaguar D-type in the front. But it's not
a convertible! I got in and drove it, returning half an hour later with a
similar big grin on my face. I have finally found a way to get the Lotus
Series II Turbo Esprit I've always wanted. Sort of. Certainly the same
level of performance, and nice looking too. And (say it quietly) reliable.
Well, to cut a lot of rambling short, my wife bought the RX-7. And since she
has a nice, modern, dry car now, she doesn't really care if I keep The Geezer
or not. So they all lived happily ever after. I even get to drive her car
now and then. And more importantly, I get to drive The Geezer whenever I
want.
I gleaned a few lessons from the experience. Our LBCs are so much fun
because they are *interesting*. They are *quirky*. They have *character*.
They were made (or at least mine was) at a time when car building was more a
craft than a straightforward exercise in various marketing and engineering
trade-offs.
On an average Saturday, driving around Palo Alto running errands, I see
fifteen to twenty Miatas. 80% of them have the top up (and the A/C probably
on). For you non-Californians, it Does Not Rain here in the Summer. Summer
in California is British Car Heaven. What's the point of driving a bloody
convertible if you never take the top down, even when it is 75 degrees and
sunny outside! I see maybe five LBCs (no MGAs though. Sigh). I wave to the
LBC drivers, they wave back. Sometimes we chat at stop-lights. I wave at the
Miatas (or I used to anyway), and most of them stare at me like I'm from
Mars.
Now what's interesting is that when my wife waves to other '93 RX7 owners,
*they* wave back. I'm beginning to wonder if this new RX7 should be made an
honorary LBC. It's certainly got more character than 90% of the other cars
out on the road. It is so much fun because it too is not a compromise. You
drive it purely for the fun of it.
Happily driving The Geezer, I remain
markl
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Mark L. Lambert
Architecture Group, Network Products Division
Oracle Corporation
Internet: markl@us.oracle.com
UUCP: ...uunet!oracle!markl
USMail: Oracle Corporation
500 Oracle Parkway, box 659410
Redwood Shores, CA 94065
"The parts falling off this car are of the finest British quality"
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