Miata

I love sports cars.  I really do.

Jaguar XK 140

It's almost a Hollywood cliche - 1964 - a cold, damp, cloudy Minnesota autumn Sunday and a young man, barely in his teens stands in a used car lot, looking at a robin-egg blue, Jaguar XK140.  His life changes in an instant, and from that moment .......

Sound's kinda corny, doesn't it?



Anyway, that Jag made a lasting impression on me if nothing else.  I fell in love with sports cars, especially the British cars - Jaguar, Austin Heally, MG, Triumph, Lotus.  I fell in love and had to have one.

That took awhile.

One day not long ago, I had the Tardis into the dealership, for an oil change and tire rotation.  That gave me a hour to kill, so I wandered the lot, looking at the Miatas they had in stock.  Tucked away in the used section of the lot was a black-on-black second-generation (NB) Miata.  It seemed to be in pretty good shape for it's age, so I went and found My Guy at the dealership, Doc, to get more info.  He brought the car up on his laptop and we went over the info they had.  Doc pointed to mileage, looked at me and smiled.  I read......

27,000 miles??????  Are you.....fucking..... KIDDING??  A '99 Miata with only 27,00 miles on it............ 

I had to have it.

and you want how much????

The wheels were turning.

I had wanted car like this, lusted in my heart for it, for almost 50 years. Now opportunity was staring me in the face.

Now,.... you're probably thinking ....

Christ, Chaz, 50 years?  What did you wait so long for???

Well, a lot of reasons, career .... marriage ....... divorce ..... marriage .... education ..... mortgage - you know, the usual.  I figured the car would come in it's time.  I waited.

And waited.

I waited a long time, until a few years ago, when we started talking about a sports car as if it was a real possibility, instead of something that might be fun to do someday.  It was exciting.  I had be looking at various sports cars, casually - kicking tires, and test driving -  for years., but now my shopping got serious. I had narrowed my search to three cars - the BMW "Z", the Honda S2000 and the Mazda Miata.  The car I'd get would be one of those.  All that was needed was the right car at the right time.

Lotus Elan

The Miata was a favorite. The first one I ever saw, reminded me, immediately, of those much-loved British cars. The styling cues were unmistakable.   It's about the same size as the MGB and Triumph Spitfire and had an engine and body style strikingly similar to the Lotus Elan.  It was a Japanese sports car in British clothing, tailor-made to attract people who were attracted to British Sports cars of the 60's.

I was attracted.

But back to the dealership .......

Test driving this car didn't disappoint.  As you'd expect, with only 27K on the odometer, the engine was tight, clean, smooth and powerful.  The tranny was great.  This was the base model and didn't have the sport suspension or wheels.  Just the same, the car cornered flat and was sure-footed.  It did have a delightful lightness in the back on harder turns.  Twisty bits were a gas, the car was solid, stable, nimble and fast.  But most importantly, it felt like it could be driven for a while - a road car.

I could go on......

I'd always wanted a car just like this one.

This was it.  The time had come.

Now came the hard part: breaking the "good news" to She Who Must Agree ......

Honey, you have to come test-drive this .........

The drive home in the Miata that night was ........

Well, that's a story all by itself.

Some other time.