Leaving the "rice" behind

Now that I had realized that the modifcations I had done were really holding me back, the big wheels were sold in favor of some very light 15"SSR competion replicas, and upgraded the shocks to tokikko HP's, and raised the car up an inch all round. Finally, I ditched the playstation along with the heavy subwoofer. The difference in how the car drove was unbelievable. My sports car now handled, stopped, and acellerated as it should, my roadster was no longer a ricer. Well, it could have acellerated better... That's where things begin to get interesting :)

New wheels!
I was so proud of this shot.

"modding" early on

My first modifications, like many done by a young car owner really weren't improvements, but took the car in the wrong direction. On day one, I had added the 17", 42 pound wheels from my previous car, which I thought looked great, but anyone who knows been around these cars for awhile knows heavy wheels on a Miata are like a prisoner's ball and chain. Pretty soon, I did some other silly modifications, like replacing the passengers airbag with a Playstation 2 and a stereo headunit with a 6" flip out TV screen, and adding an eclipse DVC titanium 10 inch subwoofer and around 1000 watts of amplication. I also got a really crappy looking pair of "altezza" style chrome tail lights, a ridiculous looking rear spoiler, and finally some e-bay sourced coilovers on my stock shocks knocking the car into the ground. There was one good modification I had sense to add, a hard dog, double diagaonal roll bar. I thought this was all cool until sometime in 2002, when I made my first group mountain run up into the North Georgia mountans with about six or seven locals. It was during this trip, that I really learned how bad the poor wheels and tires were slowing me down. I also realized how ridculous my aluminum wing looked. I wanted the car to handle better, as well go faster. It was time for a change.

Playstation and Eclipse 7002 in the dash, well it was cool then.
This one shows the Hard Dog Roll bar, the only Decent mod that remains currently
A few red bits and an air filter don't hurt either, I guess..

How it all started...

In the Winter of 2001 I had just started my second year of college. I had what I thought was a very cool 1992 Saturn SC which I had purchased a few years prior for a steal from an auto auction. Despite the fact that the odometer had stopped turning at 150,000 miles, it was still running good enough to run a 16.0 flat quarter mile on heavy 17" wheels, with a aftermarket muffler and a custom cold air intake, and a few other cosmetic modifications. The car really was not aging well and was starting to fall apart at approximately 180,000 miles. One day, on my way to school it all came to an end. I was sitting at a red light and was rear ended by a Ford F-150 truck, which shortened the car about 16 inches, rendering it a total loss. With duct tape keeping what was left of the rear of the car together I continued to drive it for about a week while in negotiations with the insurance company. Once I had the very nice settlement in my hand (far more than I had invested in the poor Saturn) I knew what I wanted, a simple, lightweight two seat convertible around $10k that was easy at the pump and fun to drive back and forth on my long commute to school and work... and the Miata fit the bill nicely. After one test drive I was hooked, and soon found myself driving home from the dealership a beautiful Brilliant black 1997 Miata with the Popular equipment and leather package for $224/month after my down payment. Pretty sweet ride for a kid bringing home $9/hr.

A little about me and my ride..

Well, obviously I'm a hard core car nut (among other things). I've grown up around musclecars as my father was always building something something in the garage, and I was taken out to car shows and related events before I was even old enough to walk, so I was hooked at an early age and I'm sure I always will be. In 2001, I finally was able to purchase a car worth having, a 1997 Mazda Miata which I began to modify from day 1, and I'm still finding ways to make it look just a bit better or go just a bit faster... Its a sickness, I tell you! It's gotten to the point now where my wife and some of my friends are sick of hearing about it, so I decided to begin this blog for my "Miata Ramblings". I dont know if anyone will actually read this stuff, but since you are, Enjoy! I've got much more to come.