Miatatude

Your High Beams Are On

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A couple months ago the right turn signal started to not turn on every time I tried to engage it. It is not a big deal to most folks, but I was taught very early on to use my blinkers. It is not too hard, and it is just part of driving for me. But the car is a quarter-century old, and things are not going to stay working forever.

A little more than three weeks ago I took it in to the dealer to have them do a 5,000-mile service. While I was there, I asked about how much it would cost to fix the blinkers. They said they’d have to troubleshoot to see if it was broken and then find out even if they could get a new one. The next day I was told it is not repairable; if you want to replace it, it’ll be around $500 for parts and labor. Or we can just put it back in, and that’s going to be just $75 for the diagnostics. I’ve already dumped enough money into the car; what’s another four hundred bucks? They wouldn’t get the parts in before I was headed on the Arizona trip, so I told them, “No worries, I’ll pick it up when I get back.”

So on Wednesday, I went to get the Miata back. Nice, it works every time, and there is a brand-new turn signal stalk feel. This morning when I went out to go grocery shopping, you could tell fall is coming, it was still slightly dark, so I turned on the headlights, and the high beams were on. I could see the high-beam dash light on. You push or pull the stalk fore and aft with the center being normal, forward with a click for high beams, and a spring-back pull backwards for flash-to-pass. The stalk position was centered, not in the high-beam position. I wiggled the stalk, and the high beams would go off or on.

After grocery shopping I just drove the Miata back to the dealer. They wanted to verify the issue and see if there was an easy fix. Half an hour later I was told they have to get another new stalk. Here’s an interesting thing about the replacement stalk, it’s the second one they had to order. The first one was lost in transit. It was the last one in the US. Remember, a 25-year-old car and the last time they used them in Miatas was in 2015. This one came from the motherland, Japan, and they expedited it so they could have the car ready when I got back. They aren’t going to expedite this one, so they are going to put the old new one back in, until the part gets here.

At least from Japan to here, the part doesn’t have to transit the Strait of Hormuz…

Red Sox chances of making the Wild Card round in the 2026 playoffs: 85.8%

 

I May Have Been Premature

West Salish Pond


 
After my morning walk around the Salish Ponds, I swapped the two cars from front to back. I’ve got my first real mod for the GTI coming, so I wanted it in the back near the workshop for tool availability, and also I needed the Miata out front because there is a club event Saturday. While the Miata was out, I opted to take a quick drive to the store to pick up a couple things. I took the long way home, and I may have been premature yesterday; I can’t get rid of it. Even with a bit of traffic in the first half of the drive and with the top up because it was sprinkling, it was still a fun car to be in.

End of the Line?

I was going to title this post “The End Of An Era?” but swapped it to the current one. Why, you might ask? When I opened WordPress, the song Radio Paradise was playing was by the Travelling Wilburys, called “End of the Line.”

I took the GTI to the local VW dealer to have them run the system checks they normally do when someone comes in for service. I also had them do an oil change because, for all I knew, it was the original 5-year-old oil. The car has only 14,000 miles on it, and that is below the synthetic oil lifespan. An hour and a half later, with a clean bill of health, we headed home. I’m really liking this car, and I’ll be driving it almost exclusively for the next 5 months. The Miata will get limited attention until late March.

Do I really need two cars? This led to a dark corner of my mind; maybe it’s time to get rid of the Miata. I know, sacrilege! I’ve owned a Miata for 35 years, and they are still a blast, but the GTI is 80% a blast. I hate the idea of it just sitting around; it should be blasting around winding roads, not staring at the backside of a Golf.

Ask me again in a week.

A Tale Of One Year Of Ownership

This is not the first time I’ve put stickers on the trunk lid. I started doing it in the late 90s, as evidenced by the photo to the right. This is from 2001, and by the time I traded in the ’95 on a brand new ’03, the trunk lid looked more like the one above. Thing is the dealer left the stickers on there when they resold the car. A year or so later the 2nd owner showed up, by happenstance, at a Miata Club event at the local car drive-in. She said that she really liked the stickers and had started adding some of her own.

I Got It Right This Time

The first attempt, just the custom faces, seemed a bit too dark. Next one, just white needles and metal bezel, went too far the other way; it was a bit too light. I got it right this time.

I Got It Right This Time

Completely Custom Revlimeter Gauge Faces – $$$
Used 1999-2000 Complete Gauge Cluster – $$
Jass Stainless Steel Gauge Cluster Bezel – $$
IL Motorsport Chrome Needle Caps – $$
Polished Aluminum Gauge Rings – $$

Congratulations Mr. Bogardus, It’s A Girl

Buckie

Two months ago I went to the DMV to register the 2001 Miata, and I wanted to give it personalized plates. Because the car had the infamous clutch chatter issue that made 1st gear buck until it was fully warmed up, I wanted something to reflect that. Plus, Santa Fe Sally and her fascination with Buc-ees had already started calling it Bucky even before I realized it had that issue.

You are allowed 6 letters with an additional space or hyphen in there somewhere. Because the regular state plate has a large fir tree right in the middle, that is where I opted for my space. On the form you get 2 options, so I wrote in BUC KEY and then BUC KIE.

I mentioned to a few people that if I got KEY, I would consider that a male name, and if I received KIE, that would be female, so the car’s pronoun would going forward reflect that. Today I found out which one I got. Congratulations Mr. Bogardus, it’s a girl.

Tinkering With The Look

I really loved the custom gauges, but after taking several photos of them, I realized they looked too dark. So in an effort to lighten up the gauge cluster, I purchased a brushed metal gauge back piece. I also had to buy a broken 99-00 gauge cluster so that I could harvest the white needles. And because the brushed metal only fits the earlier gauges, I also needed the black gauge covering piece.

I guess if I want to get as close as I can to the inspiration image, I’m going to have to buy the polished gauge rings and the shiny needle caps. Technically, I should go back to the red needles too.