I think I can add some sage comments here, for at one time I was a
Miata nut. Having owned LBCs for about 15 years, I saw the first
drawings of the Miata in the February 1989 issue of Motor Trend. I
showed them to my wife, and we were hooked! Suffice it to say that
Mazda knew how to push all my buttons, this was the first time I was
bowled over solely by a car's styling.
Started buying every magazine article I could find, put together a
huge Miata scrapbook, finally test drove the car in June 1989. It
ran rings around my B, everything felt ergonomically right, and my
wife liked it too. I waited another 10 months until the prices
dropped from "astronomical" to "merely irritating", then bought a
white one.
Started the Sacramento chapter of the Miata club, drove the car
everywhere, took it autocrossing once (great, but decided wear and
tear would be too great for a steady diet). Lived with it for 3
years.
BUT...started to miss working on the thing. All I could do was clean
it, nothing ever went wrong. Also, it just didn't seem as exciting
as it should have been. Exhaust note too muted, power steering made
it feel like a Civic, etc., etc. I no longer peered at it, sitting
in my garage. The car had become an appliance.
Finally got a chance to buy a Factory MGB-GT V-8, so the Miata went
on the market. It held its value well, and I gave the new owner the
scrapbook, the Club stuff, and all the tech info I had collected.
Only one pang of regret, right before the car went out the door, I
sat in the cockpit with REM's "Shiny Happy People" blasting out of
the CD player. That was the car's song. I will miss that.
Here I am, back in the LBC fold, with grease under my fingernails.
British sports cars never become appliances.
Cheers, PK
Paul D. Kile
kile_paul@aphub.aerojetpd.com
(916) 355-5162
GenCorp Aerojet
POB 13222
Dept 5784 Building 20019
Sacramento, California 95813-6000
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