zenoreilly

Hi all, I'm Chris from northern IL (not the school but not far from it). The following story is true. No names have been changed because I didn't use any.

I was talking to a buddy of mine who manages the local Autozone. I had a '98 Blazer with a sketchy past that needed a bunch of nickel-and-dime stuff fixed and cost a mint to feed as I was commuting 1 hr+ each way to work. I paid too much for it 7 years ago from a loansharking operation disguised as a used-car lot, where half a can of Stop Leak was considered an acceptable substitute for replacing a water pump. If it wasn't for good timing and my bizarre need to replace things 5 minutes before they fail, that truck would have died 3 times already. Alas, it was still a Blazer, one that had overheated (250℉+) twice, threw its fan through the shroud on a separate occasion, had a Rube Goldberg-designed 4WD setup, and an evap code that wouldn't go away. I was its 6th owner and I doubled its mileage, though to be fair I couldn't say by exactly how much since the dash stopped working properly 18 months ago.

I'd known my Autozone source for a few years before I got the Blazer; we crossed paths at a previous mutual employer who made aftermarket parts, or at least claimed to after they outsourced it all. He had a thing for Pontiac's obscure Turbo Grand Prix from 1990-ish; hey, everyone has quirks, right? I mean, he had other cars too: A 2-door Caprice with a Cadillac 500, a Sedan DeVille with a Chevy 350...basically if it was weird and cheap, he was interested. His winter daily-driver was a Ford Festiva. I'm glad I never accompanied him to any swap-meets; something tells me they would be expensive trips.

He mentioned he was trying to sell a Miata.

My sense of humor was game; I was standing in an Autozone after all. I suggested we trade my Blazer for his Miata. To my surprise he took me seriously, if not the offer itself. "Whoa, wait until you actually see it", he said as if I was expecting a show-car.

I went to look at it the next day and met one of his neighbors along the way, a retiree who raced vintage British cars up north. I always had a thing for MGBs and Triumphs, as long as that thing wasn't a repair bill. I mentioned I was there to look at the Miata. "Great cars", he said, "but they're kicking our asses on the circuit." He said to bring it back for him to see when I was done fixing it up. He knew what was up before I did.

I drove up to a rusty '94 NA8 with 258k miles. The back window was shards of sharp cat-****-colored plastic held to the zipper material with a combination of silicone and, probably, super-glue. If it wasn't for a distinct lack of swampiness in the interior I'd have sworn it was driven into Lake Michigan at some point. It was leaking brake fluid...somewhere. The throwout bearing sounded like it was chain-driven. It was missing 4th gear.

Needless to say, we took it for a test drive.

There's a well-known road with several curves nearby, and we took it as you would expect in a proper sports car. Later, I dug up the title to the Blazer and cleaned it out, dropped it off, and drove the Miata home with a just-about-empty master-cylinder and lots of heel-toe practice so as not to lurch the driveline. Getting home, I replaced the brakeline and discovered that our spirited driving was on 3 broken springs. He threw in a trans rebuild kit and clutch kit NIB, but I knew I was better off getting another trans anyway.

So, thus begins Project Miata. It will be turboed, but that's the last thing that will happen, and probably not until next spring. I have a lot more to do first.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

Welcome to the forum. I enjoyed the entertaining story.

Best of luck.