Mark Stahlke wrote:
> How many of those million+ cars will be on the road
> in 40 years?
I have tried to stay out of this fray, but I feel I can
quite safely state that there will be more 40-year old
Miatas on the road in 2027, than there are TR3s on the
road today. (Unless the government has made driving
older cars impossible by emissions regulations.)
Why? There *IS* a large following of Miata enthusiasts.
Yes, the number of Miata enthusiasts is but a small
fraction of Miata production, but there are so many more
Miatas than Triumphs that even a smaller "enthusiast
fraction" leads to much larger raw numbers.
Do you not believe me? Go to http://www.miata.net and
take a look at the Miata following -- the "Vintage Miata
Register" :-) (Actually the "Miata Club of America".)
There are already far more Miata clubs than Triumph clubs!
Look at the number of vendors on their vendor list (gee,
a lot of the names are the same -- Moss, Robbins, etc.)
Look at their event schedules, club magazines, etc.
Anybody insisting that there won't be a following for
Miatas in 40 years, as there is now for Triumphs, hasn't
checked out the Miata scene.
In the same way that you and I grew up wanting a
Triumph, there are tens of thousands of teenagers who
would love to have a Miata (even though their parents
only drive minivans), and don't just feel that cars
are appliances like a refrigerator. When this teenager
turns 40, he's going to try to find the car he lusted
after in his youth, and will become a Miata enthusiast.
As to the electronic components of the Miata -- the
demand will keep these parts in production, in the
same way that our Triumph parts are remanufactured
because of the demand by enthusiasts. The free
market will keep the Miata alive for decades, just
as the TR2 of a bygone era.
That said, I'll stay with my Triumph and do what
I can to keep it falling the way of the Model T.
Yet, I know that is the eventual destiny of our
marque -- largely forgotten -- but, in the meantime,
I'm going to enjoy the Triumphant life to the
fullest, and try to keep the demand up for those
remanufactured Triumph parts!
--ken
VTR WWW Maintainer -- http://www.vtr.org
'70 & '74 TR6 Daily Drivers
--
Kenneth B. Streeter | EMAIL: streeter@sanders.com
Sanders, PTP2-A001 |
PO Box 868 | Voice: (603) 885-9604
Nashua, NH 03061 | Fax: (603) 885-0631
|