I bought my 99 because it was
1. A "sports car" (and a good one for the money)
2. A convertable sports car.
If it had not been a convertable, I would have likely gotten something
else, perhaps an older sports car in good condition.
That aside, I get more queries concerning the car when it has the matching
hardtop installed. Seems the "Roadster" logo & the hardtop confuse some
people, even today. Sports cars should be Red, Silver, Green, or Blue. No
White, Black, Grey or Chameleon allowed. (G)
One of the funniest events occurred when the 99 was fairly new. I had
buffed it, removed any "orange peel" and waxed it with a very high gloss,
high carnuba content wax intended for boats and RV's. Then in the
afternoon,
stopped by a "Classic Car" show at the local shopping center. I ended up
parking at the end of a row of cars to be judged, but just on the other
side
of the "rope".
The first thing that happened was that a family with a small boy (about
3-5
I'd guess). The boy was bored with the classic cars, saw the shiny RED
99,
and went sorta ballistic. Seems he "WANTED THAT CAR". Parents had to drag
him off screaming and kicking.
Next, the judges actually started think about judging the 99, at first
thinking it was one of the older italian "exotic" sports cars, even though
it was on the other side of the saggy rope. They got a judging sheet
partially filled out before they noticed the lack of an entry number (The
sun was very bright on Marco Island that day, and most of the cars had the
number tag on the inside of the windshield, so that it didn't blow away.)
"Chris D'Agnolo" <cdagnolo@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:9439e$47b66368$97d5bb2c$32156@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> I too underestimated the upside of the convertible and I too love the
PRHT
..
>
> Anybody else remember how old this idea is? Almost that exact design was
> floated as a concept cat by Mazda back in 96. I have the Car and Driver
> calendar page (Oct 5, 1998) up on the wall in front of me! It was
called
> the 1996 Mazda Miata M Coupe.
>
> Chris
> 99BBB
>
> >
> >>
> > The PITA factor and the additional maintenance/replacement cost of a
> > convertible top compared to a coupe did not seem to make up for the
fun
> > factor of dropping the top to me until I had driven it for some time.
> >
> > The initial reasons that I bought the Miata were almost entirely based
on
> > the price, handling and reported reliability of the car.
> >
> > Pat
> >
>
>
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