retro cars .... miatas etc.

[ian c]

so , mazda built the mx5 as a modern day lotus elan .
the elan was a seriously cool car .

the mx5/eunos/miata is a very well engineered car , very much in the spirit of the older car .

its an excellent buy .....


is it the same as buying a stocker/run-down type1 , then adding parts to make it ape an old california-look car ??
 

[Jim Ratto]

Hi ian c
sorry I missed you for all the fun and action @ Nicks.... next time for sure

So, yeah I don't see a Miata as any diefferent really than any other "cult following car" and aside from good ribbing humor, I don;t see any reason to refer to MX5's as cars for homosexuals. It's a sprts car for the masses.....  like the MGB was or the Midget/Sprite, may I even dare say the Corvette from the 50's and 60's. Building one to one's own taste may be "different" from building a VW or a VW based car, but still deserves respect. I don't see Miata enthusiasts as the idiots that mount neon lights under car, paint brake rotors, lower a car to no wheel travel, install "sounds like" blow of valves noise makers or hey, even like us, running around on a 80-year-old design skateboard floorpan with big 1950's tech Ford carburetors and drum brakes (not you Rayburn  ). Maybe the wide spread acceptance of the romanticized view of the Cal Look Cult is kind of overblown.... I mean I love my VW and all, but really, it's a flexi-flyer that has no business really having 180hp in it.... let's just lay off the fucking Miata topic and get back to talking about music, bmx bikes, falling down stairs....

[cal_gecko]

Jebus Christo .. If I knew that the Miata subject would have caused so much drama, I would have just discussed my '71 Dodge Dart instead.   

Look - even I'm not going to make the stretch and compare a modern day vehicle like a Miata (even though my car is nearly 15 years old) to a classic like a Cal-Look VW.  There are very few similarities when it comes down to it.  The bottom line is, a lot of the guys/gals who own Miatas (especially the NA and NB [1st and 2nd gen, respectively]) Miatas (Miatae?) are at heart - real car enthusiasts... myself included.  My primary reason for checking out this forum was because I heard Jim hung out here a lot (from what I can tell, he should probably be paying rent...), and I've been out of touch with him for years.  I didn't come into this forum to disrespect anyone or disparage the VW.. for a couple reasons - it's not "my house" (I am just a visitor without a VW to my name), and I DO respect the older/classic VW's.  I seemed to be doing fine here up until one user decided to make a stink..., and I accept the fact that being a Miata owner opens one up to the Village People comments and such.. which is fine.. they're typically all in jest anyways... (I am really thinking about getting a "Trunk Village People" button, similar to the "Trunk Monkey" button in those GM commercials)... I can joke around about it too. 

In the famous words of Rodney King -


"Ouch, Dammit - that hurts!!!"...





oh, wrong quote...

never mind.

[Jim Ratto]

Mark, dude, we almost died together.... in a Honda no less .   I'm glad you're here. Wanna borrow my VW?

how is Dan Howell these days?

[Jason Foster]

    <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/M7XOFfjiL-U" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/M7XOFfjiL-U</a>



   Can't We All Just Get Along??    That's the one.

[cal_gecko]

    <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/M7XOFfjiL-U" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/M7XOFfjiL-U</a>



   Can't We All Just Get Along??    That's the one.

THAT'S the one I was thinking of ...

Ratto - Last I heard (can't remember if Ty told me or John told me), Dan was still doing fairly well, still married, and was actually buying up multiple properties in his neighborhood to rent out.  He was involved in a bad car accident years ago that resulted in him being out on workers comp with back injuries for a couple years.. he was in a work van, hauling a roll of carpet to a job site,.. the van had a typical (old van style) low-back seat, .. someone rear ended him at a stop light, hitting the roll of carpet, which shoved forward into his seat, and since it was a lowback seat with no head/neck support, he got some SERIOUS whiplash.. I'm not sure what he's doing for a living now, but I know that his old employer ended up paying for him to go to school or something to get re-trained in a different career.  I always liked Dan - really nice guy who didn't really get caught up in all the Cisek crap-talk.

[ian c]

I don't see Miata enthusiasts as the idiots that mount neon lights under car

nothing wront with a bit of neon underglow


the second worse mod that has become popular in recent years is fitting a carbon fibre bonnet(hood) and leaving it un-painted to show you fitted it ......


the worse mod is painting your bonnet(hood) black , so from a distance people might think you have fitted a carbon fibre bonnet(hood)