I bought my car used in 1996 and it has been my primary transportation and mental health therapy ever since. The 7690th Miata built, my little car is still going as strong as ever with over 145,000 miles on him.

At first I started simple, making some convenience and appearance mods, including:

� Black Door Sill Plates with white Miata script. (these came with the car)
� Home Made Kill Switch with LED.
� Flash-to-Pass Diode Mod.
� Factory Cup Holder.
� Genuine Voodoo Knob.
� Moss Motors Trunk Light.
� Replaced the "Frankenstein" Hard Top bolts with flush screws.
� Air Horns.
� Leather Wrap on steering wheel.
� Factory Alloy Wheels.
� Hella Headlights
� Amber MiaLites (corner lights for front lenses).
� Robbins Cloth Top with Glass Window and lift track system.
� Team Miata Pneumatic Hood Lift.
� Home Made Remote Garage Door Opener.

The Robbins top replaced the old original that just finally gave out. It was so tired that it started to crack through the vinyl in places. I love the look of the cloth top, and of course the glass window is great to look through. The lift track system is nice too, it raises and lowers the unzipped rear window when you put the top up or down, so you really don't need to zip up any more!

Being a Base model from the start, my car didn't come with the factory radio and I didn't care too much for the bottom of the line Sony that the previous owner installed, so it got a sound system upgrade:

� 6.5" Infiniti Kappa Door Speakers driven by a 40 watt amp in the passenger footwell.
� 3.5" Infiniti Kappa Headrest Speakers driven by the stereo's internal 45 watt amp.
� 5.25" Bazooka Subwoofer in the driver's side tunnel, powered by a 20 watt amp in the spare tire.
� Pioneer DEH-P930 Stereo/CD Player.
� Pioneer CDX-P1270 12 Disc Changer.

Sadly, my beloved CDX-P5000 50 disc changer died once again. This time Pioneer said they were done trying to fix it (after the 4th time), and instead gave me a deep discount on some new, sweet gear. I splurged on the head unit, which is second only to their top-of-the-line ($1200) DEX-9. It has a gorgeous presentation, animated display, tons of features, and a cool little wheel-mounted remote that sits just below the horn button.

The CDX-P1270 is a great changer, I have been over some rough surfaces with it, and it hasn't skipped even once (something that couldn't be said for the CDX-P5000, may it rest in peace).

The system is set up to use a XM Satellite Radio tuner, which is on my Christmas List :)

I do miss having my entire CD collection with me, but in fact I never used more than about 12 of them except on long trips. I'll just get an extra magazine or two for those special occasions.

In the way of performance mods I haven't done too much. So far I have:

� Cannon Rear Subframe Brace.
� Team Flatspot Front Subframe Brace.
� Flyin' Miata Sway Bars (set on middle position).
� Tokico HP Shocks.
� Falken Azenis Tires(195/55-14).
� K&N Filtercharger.
� Timing Advance (14�).
� Performance Alignment.
� Long Nose Crankshaft Mod.

Wow! I didn't realize I had done so much to the car! It's always fun to look back at the different things I've changed. It's amazing because when I look at it, old 7690 still looks stock.

Epilogue: In September 2007 old 7690 was in need of new paint and a top but was otherwise just as strong and fun as ever. The odometer reading at that time was over 176,000 miles. The car needed some cosmetic attention and I was faced with the choice of applying paint and a new top as well as probably a clutch in the not so distant future, or looking at a newer Miata. I really enjoyed my little red car but with a growing family I didn't have the time to spend putting the car back into great condition. I decided to sell it to someone who would take over its care and move on.

At the same time I updated to a "much newer" ;) 1992 Sunburst Yellow. I've wanted a Yellow Miata ever since I first saw one and I found a beautiful one in Maryland. With just over 50,000 miles on the clock it is almost like a new car.

And so I bid a fond goodbye to 7690, that car gave me a lot of joy and I hope it has a long and fun future.