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.