On July 12, 2002, I bought a 1994 Miata. I wasn't intending on getting one as old as that. In fact, I planned on getting a 1995 or earlier since that would allow the bank to finance it 100%. But I had this checklist from Miata.net that I wanted to try out and I went and looked at a Miata that was listed for $8000 firm. It was perfect. I bought it for $7500.

These are just a few of the pictures I took recently, meaning February 2003, now that the weather is getting not so horribly nasty.

I'd just finished claying the car (Clay Magic, $10 at Autozone) and put some S100 wax on it ($15 at local Harley Davidson Dealer).

Unfortunately there aren't any trees aroudn to get a really good reflection off. The best way to get a good reflection is to get the car in the shade and get an object that's getting direct sunlight to reflect from the paint.

Oh, but the car. It has 85k miles on it now. I've adjusted the timing to 13 degrees above TDC. I've got a Voodoo Polished Magnum shift knob (insert geek snort noise here) and I've put in some stainless steel sill protectors (since the original buyer was too cheap to get the plastic ones).

It's running synthetic. I prefer Mobil 1 but as of the writing of this it has Havoline 10w30 in it using a Purolator PureOne filter.

Next up on the maintenance list is changing out the coolant and the differential and transmission fluid. It bothers me that the best coolant is just dumb old Prestone. I'd love to pay a few bucks extra to think I was treating the car. The tranny will get Redline MTF and the diff will get Mobil 1 75w90. Turret oil will also get the Mobil 1.