SHOW us YOUR PIX here .... Odd, WeiRd ,UnUSuAl or EyE CaTchIng things from your rides

G-bike of the day is this throwback rig: Those cans will pay for a tank of gas.
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I own a 91 Miata special edition which came in British racing Green. Mazda modelled the Miata on the Lotus Elan. I was tooling around one day when I came to a red light and stopped beside a beautiful MG also in British racing Green. We both had the tops down on a nice day. The driver of the MG looked at me and said " Coward - don't want to be a mechanic do you?" My Miata is 30 years old now and still runs like a top - probably because I don't work on it!!!
My friend's '91 Miata was bulletproof. My friend only sold it because it was too expensive to keep replacing the electric window motors and other odd bits, it had probably gone over 200,000 miles. Before he did, he gave me his black hard top for my...

Red '99 MX5 that broke my heart that I owned for eight years-- fun but impossible to drive, total money pit, overpaid on the used market and cost me over $1,000 in maintenance every year to keep it on the road. It looked SO cool with the black top and red body, but something terrible had happened to it before it came to me, likely an overheating event that damaged the block or head. It would shoot spark plugs out of the cylinder head, which is really an alarming thing to have happen on the highway at 80 MPH, did it twice, and we helicored them and kept going till it was too painful for my wallet. Sold it to my mechanic's son, who could not control it all with the aftermarket rear suspension I installed, so he sold it again, I think.

My 2016 MX5 has been bulletproof, and is a far safer and more capable car. But think of the bikes I could have bought if I hadn't thrown good money after bad with the '99... still loyal to the brand and model. The 2016 saved my dog's life when he had a heart attack; it's astonishing what it can do in extreme situations. A little numb with the full power steering and traction control, but small price to pay for the extra year I had with my best friend.

MX5s are useless for carrying eBikes. If you have a solution, please let me know!
 
My friend's '91 Miata was bulletproof. My friend only sold it because it was too expensive to keep replacing the electric window motors and other odd bits, it had probably gone over 200,000 miles. Before he did, he gave me his black hard top for my...

Red '99 MX5 that broke my heart that I owned for eight years-- fun but impossible to drive, total money pit, overpaid on the used market and cost me over $1,000 in maintenance every year to keep it on the road. It looked SO cool with the black top and red body, but something terrible had happened to it before it came to me, likely an overheating event that damaged the block or head. It would shoot spark plugs out of the cylinder head, which is really an alarming thing to have happen on the highway at 80 MPH, did it twice, and we helicored them and kept going till it was too painful for my wallet. Sold it to my mechanic's son, who could not control it all with the aftermarket rear suspension I installed, so he sold it again, I think.

My 2016 MX5 has been bulletproof, and is a far safer and more capable car. But think of the bikes I could have bought if I hadn't thrown good money after bad with the '99... still loyal to the brand and model. The 2016 saved my dog's life when he had a heart attack; it's astonishing what it can do in extreme situations. A little numb with the full power steering and traction control, but small price to pay for the extra year I had with my best friend.

MX5s are useless for carrying eBikes. If you have a solution, please let me know!
Hello Catalyzt. I must say a bit of your Miata story scared the heart out of me. The car has basically cost me nothing to keep on the road. The entire time I was reading your story, I was touching wood!!!! I just fired her up a couple of days ago after sitting in the garage for 6 months with the battery in the basement. It fired instantly as if it had been running the day before. I too have no solution for carrying E-bikes. I actually don't drive it that much because of E-bikes. Before I got into E-bikes, I usually drove the Miata about 5 to 6 thousand kms per year in the summer. Now, I put about 5000 kms on the E-bike and less than 1000 kms on the car every summer. Anyway, good luck with your 2016.

Bob
 
The only problem I had with my 99 Miata was that the footwell got too hot in summer. Like Bob I put a lot of km on the Ebike and I only miss the Miata when I want to travel more than 100k from home. An Ebike really is the ultimate convertible (-:
 
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