A History of Vehicles – ’96 Mazda Miata

I couldn’t tell you where my head was. For a short while I spent street sweeping days running back and forth moving this car and the MR2 around. This wasn’t the first time I’d owned two cars at once, but it was the first time I thought it’d be a good idea to own two two-seaters.

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Maybe I thought I could restore the MR2 while enjoying the Miata. Or maybe I thought I could swap back and forth between a hard top with a good sounding motor and a convertible with a pile of meh turning the back wheels (love the chassis, but I’m eternally disappointed by the 1.8 BP). Either way, it didn’t last long.

A late night Craigslist session pulled up the worst Miata I’ve owned so far. Sure, it had coilovers, a roll bar, sway bars, and was cheap cheap cheap (did I mention it was cheap?). But it crop dusted with the finest 20w-50 I filled it with, had a bunch of accident damage, and worst of all had a pair of truck nuts hanging from the back when I picked it up. Or maybe worst of all was the Crown Royal shift boot. Or maybe worst of all was the leopard print duct tape on the roll bar. Or maybe worst of all was…ah, you get it.

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The Momo was my sole addition to it, which I kept for a couple months after the sale.

Somehow the damn thing passed smog, so it wasn’t hard to register it. It also wasn’t difficult to sell it immediately after the title came in the mail. The car ended up going to the same buddy who had taken the first Miata off my hands. Just like before, he was smart enough to do what I should have done with it. Drive it for a while, then part out the bits that were worth something (not the Crown Royal shift boot).

 

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