Not my first girly car
 

Hello folks,

I'm happy to have added a '99 to the garage, to liven up my 100-mile commute. I bought my wife a '94 off the dealer's lot, which we had a blast in until we needed room for a baby seat. I've been through a lot of cars since then but have been hankering for another Miata in the 16 years that have passed.

After watching the forums and Craigslist for about a year, I came across a deal too good to pass up about two months ago. Single-owner Twilight Blue NB with LSD, cruise, CD, leather, etc., for sale about an hour away. Owned by a college professor who was about as ---- about maintenance as you could ever ask. When I went to the dealer to get a printout of the maintenance history, it was comprised of over 60 service tickets and ran to over 25 pages. All of it was routine maintenance, except for a new engine 20,000 miles ago after the 120,000 original one suddenly seized on the freeway. That ticket cost over $5,000.00, far more than I paid for the whole car. All told, the maintenance over the 11 year life of the car came to more than $17,000.00 and included brakes, clutch, cat, wheel bearings, battery, alternator, a/c parts, the aforementioned engine, etc. In short, just about everything that could ever need replacing on the car has been replaced by a dealer in the last 30,000 miles. The end result is that the car feels as smooth as our '94 did when it was brand new. It is the perfect daily driver, gets great mileage, has ice-cold air and a decent stereo.

...which, of course, is why I'm working hard to ruin it completely. In the short time I've had it, I've picked up a set of Konig 15 x 7 wheels, ordered some 225-45-15 RS-3 Hankooks, bought a T25/28 Begi Chinacharger/cast manifold/downpipe, and a Hard Dog rollbar. I'm actively looking for an ECU and the rest of the parts to complete the turbo install, with suspension and brakes looming on the to-do list. I do about four track days a year and the occasional autocross, and although my intentions were pure when I bought this car the fine handling balance has corrupted me already. I hope to join the turbo ranks by summer's end and surprise all of my Corvette-driving buddies at a track day shortly thereafter. I've already benefited greatly from the knowledge base on this forum and look forward to many more nights of surfing the topics and scanning the classifieds for more stuff I never knew I needed.;)

I know we talked a lil bit on PMs but what part of SA? I actually just moved from there a few months ago.

it all went downhill after the BOLD.... hahaha jk (well... kinda)

funny that all the items that were replaced are the things that piss me off about these cars.

post some pics, pull the bose stereo out and toss it into the dumpster, and welcome to the club (again)

Just outside of Bandera, right in the thick of some of the best Miata roads in South Texas. If you can avoid the pickups and RVs, that is...

Not much time today, but here's a shot from the day I got Girly Car home.

Cool, I lead a group of S2000's and 2 Miatas through Bandera and Medina all the way to Leakey, TX last Sunday. It was definitely a fun run. 337 is almost always a blast to drive if you don't hit traffic. ;)

Oh, and welcome to the boards. :)

Thanks. Yes, 337 is a great road if you're not staring at the back of a Winnebago the whole way. I used to live a little closer to Medina Lake and Park Road 37 was part of my commute twice a day. Another great road but I sure went through a lot of tires.

Chris, I think the last AX I did with SASCA (early 2009) was one of your first, if I'm remembering you correctly. I was driving my Lister replica, and also bummed a ride in Ray LeBlanc's Lotus Elise, which I managed to spin rather nicely.

lol! Small world. ;) I do remember the Lister Storm that was out there but I don't think I've met you yet; but yeah I started autocrossing January 2009. I had a 2002 Suzuka Blue s2k then. I was ran off the road in May 2009 which totaled the car and I now have a 2006 Laguna Blue s2k. I got to drive Ray's Elise for one of the Safety Check runs. Definitely a fun car!

Hey Chris, I'd like to come out and join in one of your runs. But after I get my car back from BEGi.

Oh btw Bob, welcome to the board! Nice Miata, just need boost!

Working on it! Just need $$$...

Yes, that January '09 would have been my last AX. I seem to recall talking to your parents or someone who mentioned you had just started. I don't know why that stands out in my memory since these days I can't remember what I had for lunch. Since then I've been concentrating more on track days although I'd like to get back into it and try out the pavement at Blossom.

Mister Lister at the track. 1,970 pounds, 410 rwhp:

Yeah the three sisters are awesome, 335,6,7. In the year I lived there I managed to get out there twice. I was on the NE side of town... quick video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m1VQNwLXKg

Nice editing on that video!

I remember seeing that at the AT&T center, that's a sweet car.

Cool, hopefully I'll see you out at H2R and other surrounding tracks whenever I get my Miata back from BEGi. ^_^

I'm going to have to ride the other 2 sisters, giggity. :bigtu:

Sounds good. I've run with a bunch of clubs at H2R--the PCA, S2KCA, SimplyEA, Velocity Adventures, the Texas Cobra Club...any day out there is a good one, even when it's hotter than a MF outside.

Welcome to the forum, I used to live off of 1604/UTSA blvd about two years ago. There are some awesome roads up there, but I think the ones in Austin are a lot better. The driver's in SA are the worst ones in the state, be really careful of the idiots there, lol.


We have a little miata meet every two weeks between SA and Austin, it will be on the 28th of this month in San Marcos if you're interested in coming. I can get you some more information if you're interested in coming along and joining us. There are a few members off of this forum that you could possibly caravan with.

Beautiful car though, I really like the color! Any idea if it used to belong to a UT Austin professor? I used to drive past a VERY similar looking car everyday for the past two years on my way to school here in Austin.

Thanks for the invite. I'll be out of town on the 28th but hopefully I'll catch up with you on another one.

My car came out of the San Marcos area so I don't think it was the same professor. Guess it's a standard color combo for college types!

It must be, if I remember correctly the car was on rpf1s as well, I should have taken a closer look at that picture instead of just viewing the thumbnail. Anyways, clean car once again and welcome to the forum. I'll try and post the meets up on here as well, it would be cool to meet a few more miata peeps. I still need to make an intro thread as well, lol.

Manifold and DP arrive alright?
Theyre made of iron/steel but I still tried to package them up well, UPS can be pretty rough, haha