Month: August 2016

School Girl Crush

Because the deal was done and the car wasn’t to be delivered to Boardman Road1 until Tuesday evening, I spent yesterday afternoon at work like a school girl with a crush on a boy who was going to ask her to the senior prom. But instead of idly writing my first name with his last name in the margin of my Biology II book, I recolored my windows login picture from maroon to silver and added a roll bar to it…

Windows 10 Profile Pictures

 

1. Seriously, how good a deal was this? When was the last time you bought a used car and they delivered it to you?

The Emperor’s Reign Ends

The King

Sunday night at 8:00 PM fellow MMC member David Adcock spammed the Club with an email that he needed garage space and was selling his 2002 Miata. Twenty minutes later I noticed it in my inbox. Two minutes later after conferring with Donna, I made an offer. Fifteen minutes later David countered somewhere in the middle. Ten seconds later I agreed.

David’s car rolled off the assembly line in February 2002 and the Emperor followed in August of the same year, so although different model year cars, they were actually built only a half a year apart.

David (who now I really have to mention in the will) bought the car with a mere 43,000 miles on it a year and a half ago. When he bought the car he did a bunch of updates that practically paralleled what we have done to the Emperor in the last year or so – shocks, springs, clutch & brakes. The differences were he replaced the radiator and hoses (which was on our short list) and the Emperor has a year old top while the car-to-be-named-later still has the original (and it is still in great shape.)

Because I have driven this car before recently, I really didn’t need to test drive it, but he insisted and rightly so because Donna hadn’t ridden it yet. We took it for a quick neighborhood spin, but because it was misting I didn’t do anything stupid. Donna said the same thing I did after a drive in it, “Boy, it’s nice to be in a quieter car again.” This car is exactly what Dr. Kildare prescribed for us, its just like the Emperor only 120,000 miles newer.

Making Everyone’s Dreams Come True

Posting has once again gotten really light, another whole week between posts, but behind the scenes the pace at Life of Brian HQ has been hectic. The Board has met with the regional and local VPs. Managers have powwowed with minions. And through the power of group knowledge (and a little luck) we have solved the unsolvable conundrum.

Brian & Donna dreamed of a trouble free Miata. Brian dreamed of no Check Engine Lights. Donna dreamed of not having a monthly car payment for the next 5 years. Brian and Donna dreamed of a Miata that was just like the one they have, only better. David dreamed of more garage space.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 209

Dealer Inventory

For the longest time the Mazda dealer in Augusta has only had 3 or 4 Miatas on the lot at one time. In the beginning, they were all automatics, but now the manual transmissions are starting to come into the mix. Plus the number of cars showing in their inventory on the web has steadily been growing. When I looked the weekend before last they had a dozen Miatas in various colors and trims.

The Sport model which I would prefer because it has less of all superfluous driving aids, including a satellite radio that I would not pay for after the trial, but would leave the ugly antenna still prominent on the trunk lid forever, but mainly because it is the least expensive one. This model is only available in 4 colors, red, white, ceramic (semi-gloss white-ish gray) and black. So in the spirit of martial harmony and compromise we played Remove-a-Color with Donna going first. She predictably chose black and I predictably choose red. We had sort of previously compromised on white, but she wanted a look at the ceramic.

A check of inventory showed the same 12 cars over at Gerald Jones Mazda, so Sunday morning we drove over to look at the two remaining choices. On the same lot with Mazda is a Gerald Jones VW as well, so for kicks I looked to see how many Beetle convertibles they had. Donna has always had a soft spot for them (I wonder why?) and it is more about the convertible experience than the Miata experience. They showed two, a special Denim edition (light blue with denim top) and a bronze with a tan top.

Out on the gi-normous lot there were exactly 3 new Miatas (red, black and ceramic) and 2 Beetle convertibles (both used.) Pressed our faces against the showroom windows of the two dealers and there weren’t any cars in either one. So the trip over was pretty much a waste. Not a total one though as Donna didn’t like the ceramic color at all. I still would like to see the Arctic White in person though.

Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 208

I Was Right, I Jinxed It

From the previous (Saturday) post:

And at the risk of jinxing something, we are now in the middle of the second round of high detergent Rotella T6 oil and it has been almost 4 weeks since the last check engine light.

Half a mile from home on the way to work this morning, the CEL illuminated. This thing must be set to come on at a certain amount of starts and then a certain amount of time from the triggering start because this is the exact same spot on the trip where it lit up the time before last.

Unlike that time, Donna didn’t tell me to turn around and get the Sonata, she asked, so I kept right on driving. Checked at lunch, it was my old friend P0012, so just reset the light.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 206