I went to a Miata meetup

"daender" (daender) 11/06/2016 at 12:47 • Filed to: miata

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...And no one showed up with an overly-stanced/unsafe Miata! Huzzah!

(Not my pictures since my phone’s battery was low and I needed to conserve power.)

In fact, a lot of the Miatas present were either stock, tastefully modified, or prepped for track day! This was the first true meetup for the Columbia Miata Club after numerous tries to get members together and hang out.

The guy behind organizing the meetup brought his project turbo NA 1.6 Miata.

He bought it post-turbo and has spent untold amounts of hours making the old-school GReddy top-mount setup reliable enough to survive weekend drives.

This NA was the only true track day ready Miata present and it’s very ready for that matter! The 1.6 has been heavily worked over and the interior is stripped to the bare bones.

By far the newest Miata to arrive was a ND. We did give the owner and his wife some playful flak for not parking next to the rest of the Miatas at the time as there was still one spot left open. There’s not much else left to say other than it’s the fully-loaded Club model with the BBS and Brembo package.

Would you believe that this humble ‘93 has over 400k on the original long-nose 1.6L motor? The current owner doesn’t baby it a single bit, joking that he was doing 100 mph on the interstate (please don’t do that, Oppo) while driving from Charleston to the meetup in Columbia.

This 1.8L NA was fully dressed up! Apparently the owner bought a wrecked NA that was loaded to the gills with accessories and then swapped them over to this beautiful Montego Blue body. Everything on this car was well done, especially the 90s Protege valve cover that was painted wrinkle black with brushed fins and lettering!

This ‘97 M-Edition was one of two there.

This is the other ‘97 M-Edition, rocking Jass Performance headlights and aftermarket suspension but otherwise stock...for now. Apparently the owner is going to modify this one beyond the point of no return!

Speaking of modified, this one has gone very far down that road. The owner deleted both the AC and the power steering after they failed from age, the body was the typical faded Mazda Classic Red before being repared in 350Z blue, and the bodywork tastefully modified to clear the wide Rotas on lowered suspension!

Of course, your’s truly was there with his Miata all dressed up like a wannabe autocrosser! Now that I’m carpooling with pops to work, my Miata’s odometer hasn’t gone up as quickly as before but it’s still only a few hundred miles away from breaking 100k!

I also met a highschool student with his father and their recently-purchased ‘02 Miata! It reminds me a lot of mine when it was still stock...minus the intake, blue mica paint, factory “tupperware” bodykit, and 6-speed transmission (ew). I did my best to pass on a lot of my knowledge and experienced of NB2 ownership; what areas to look out for, what mods work best, and other items.

Also, I potentially recruited three owners into joining the local SCCA autocross region!

CB > daender 11/06/2016 at 12:53

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So, how did talking with the power go? Did you get some in your phone back?

And looks like a fun meet! I love the look of the new ND.

daender > CB 11/06/2016 at 12:58

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Derp.

I like the look of the ND, but now that I finally noticed the Miata hood “bulge” was not part of its design, I don’t like it as much as I used to. Also, it’s not as useful when living by yourself, unlike the NB with its spacious (in comparison to all other Miatas) trunk and non-intrusive softtop assembly.

Tristan > daender 11/06/2016 at 14:37

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NC Miata is best Miata.

daender > Tristan 11/06/2016 at 15:06

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Oddly, no NC Miatas showed up!

Tristan > daender 11/06/2016 at 15:11

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They rarely do. Most Miata folk turn up their noses at NCs. I had an NA, then I spent some time in an NC Grand Touring PRHT... I didn’t even care about the NA afterwards.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Tristan 11/13/2016 at 20:56

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Just totally different cars. NCs are undeniably better cars but they aren’t better Miatas. In most ways, the ND has brought back the “Miata vibe”. I think it takes a different mindset to enjoy NA/NB/ND versus the NC. Unless of course you go off the deepend with mods of course.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > daender 11/13/2016 at 20:57

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I wish I wasn’t thinking about what day this week to put on my snow tires. Shit is getting sketchy in the morning and at night on summers! At least it is always top down weather!