Hi, my name is Lou and I’m a Miata addict who lives in the San Francisco south bay. As my name suggests, I’m an old fart, but still a boy at heart. I usually hang out on the BAMD forum. I joined this forum primarily because of pointers to the wealth of information here, some of which I’ve used, but I’m hoping I can also make a positive giveback.
I originally bought my 2000 LS to teach my sons how to drive a standard when they indicated that they could not make the transition to manhood without knowing how to drive a stick. I could relate to that and it reminded me of my favorite of the car I got rid of when they were born because it wasn’t a family car – my 1978 Celica GT lift back (2.2 L SOHC 4, 5 spd, 95 hp, rear drive). It was my 1st brand new car. I sold it with 137K miles on it – I still miss it today – it was perfect. The only mod I did to it was Bilstein shocks. That’s all I could afford back then, but it transformed the ride. I really wanted to put ITBs on it bad, but I digress…
So, after a lull of about 25 years, I went looking for something like my Celica for a cool car with a standard and stumbled upon Miatas. It seemed like everyone who had one loved it and was having fun. After a couple of months of searching, I ran into this pristine 2000 LS with 38K miles for saie by an 80+ year old gentleman w the beginnings of Altimers. I hated to take it from him because you could tell he and his wife loved it, but it was time… I felt so bad for him and still do. He was very happy it was going to a good home where it would continue to be well cared for.
Here is my car the day after I bought it.
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I then promptly struggled through a coil pack failure, cat failure, and blown engine (3 times – one my fault from a combination overheating at Fernley and then overreving on a downshift at Thunderhill). This started my mod addiction which, while getting back to smog legal status and replacing my engine, resulted in the addition of a suspension setup, a bunch of braces, roll bar, and dozens of tiny bits and pieces. Along the way I hooked up with some great people at meets, tech days, and going on drives. I sampled autocross and am now getting more active in HPDE days. Here is my car today doing what it does best at MRLS 2012, turn 5 – photo courtesy of gotbluemilk dot com.
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Oh, and my sons: youngest took to a standard like a duck on water and loves autocross. He is off to college now driving the old hand me down Camry family sedan, but I see a Miata (or other sports car) in his future. He always wants to drive the Miata when home. My oldest son, after checking out driving a stick, noted “It’s very busy…”. He continues to drive his Nissan R-spec auto. Each to his own.
I’m sure I’ve waved at lot’s of you on the road and will continue to do so. Sorry for the long intro, but I had a couple of cups of coffee to drink this morning while getting over a mild cold. Until we meet… Lou
I originally bought my 2000 LS to teach my sons how to drive a standard when they indicated that they could not make the transition to manhood without knowing how to drive a stick. I could relate to that and it reminded me of my favorite of the car I got rid of when they were born because it wasn’t a family car – my 1978 Celica GT lift back (2.2 L SOHC 4, 5 spd, 95 hp, rear drive). It was my 1st brand new car. I sold it with 137K miles on it – I still miss it today – it was perfect. The only mod I did to it was Bilstein shocks. That’s all I could afford back then, but it transformed the ride. I really wanted to put ITBs on it bad, but I digress…
So, after a lull of about 25 years, I went looking for something like my Celica for a cool car with a standard and stumbled upon Miatas. It seemed like everyone who had one loved it and was having fun. After a couple of months of searching, I ran into this pristine 2000 LS with 38K miles for saie by an 80+ year old gentleman w the beginnings of Altimers. I hated to take it from him because you could tell he and his wife loved it, but it was time… I felt so bad for him and still do. He was very happy it was going to a good home where it would continue to be well cared for.
Here is my car the day after I bought it.
I then promptly struggled through a coil pack failure, cat failure, and blown engine (3 times – one my fault from a combination overheating at Fernley and then overreving on a downshift at Thunderhill). This started my mod addiction which, while getting back to smog legal status and replacing my engine, resulted in the addition of a suspension setup, a bunch of braces, roll bar, and dozens of tiny bits and pieces. Along the way I hooked up with some great people at meets, tech days, and going on drives. I sampled autocross and am now getting more active in HPDE days. Here is my car today doing what it does best at MRLS 2012, turn 5 – photo courtesy of gotbluemilk dot com.
Oh, and my sons: youngest took to a standard like a duck on water and loves autocross. He is off to college now driving the old hand me down Camry family sedan, but I see a Miata (or other sports car) in his future. He always wants to drive the Miata when home. My oldest son, after checking out driving a stick, noted “It’s very busy…”. He continues to drive his Nissan R-spec auto. Each to his own.
I’m sure I’ve waved at lot’s of you on the road and will continue to do so. Sorry for the long intro, but I had a couple of cups of coffee to drink this morning while getting over a mild cold. Until we meet… Lou
