Back to life

Picture taken October 18, 2007

If you have been a reader of this blog over the past few years, you will remember how excited I was to buy my 1990 Mazda Miata, almost 3 years ago. The car is practically a classic. It has low miles for its age and is definitely worth much more than what I paid for it. I bought it off a guy in Baltimore, MD who was just married and was consolidating his life and possessions with the earthly goods of his new wife. I paid cash for it and brought it back to its new home in Pennsylvania.

This past year was a strange year for me. I felt like I was in a state of constant limbo - living between my old and new realities. One casualty of my state of limbo was the Miata. The last time I drove it was about a year ago. How ridiculous is that?!

The Miata had a few problems that I needed to rectify. First of all, I couldn't get it to start. And second, the front left tire was flat. In the midst of being busy with too many things at once, I just let it sit there, cold and lonely, until I took some time to figure out what was wrong.

Apparently, when I had my stereo installed at Best Buy, the amplifier was wired directly to the battery and it quickly drained. About a year ago, I had to buy a new battery. I assumed it was because the original battery was old. Now I know that wasn't the case. I took the battery out of the Miata this past Tuesday and brought it to Auto Zone where they charged it and tested it. The battery had been completely drained, but they were able to re-charge it and make it useful again. Once I reinstalled the battery, the Miata started on the first try. I was then able to hook up my tire pump to the lighter outlet and fix my flat.

I have to take the car back to Best Buy. They guarantee their work for the life of your vehicle. Now that I had to disconnect the amplifier from the battery, the stereo gets no sound, so I want them to correct that.

I spent some time yesterday cleaning and waxing the Miata. I even found an unopened peach air-freshener in the trunk (my favorite). Once the car was waxed, I masked the tires and re-painted the rims with some metallic silver spray paint. Now they look brand new.

All this to say, I have re-discovered my love for this car. It has a little rust near the bottom corners of both doors. I plan to address that issue next (possibly in the Spring).

The Miata has been re-born and I'm looking for excuses to drive it.

Side note: I thought it would be a good idea to put some fresh gas in it since it has been sitting for about a year. It needed about half a tank of gas to top it off. I stopped at my local Lukoil and amused myself with the fact that "topping it off" amounted to a total of 3.9 gallons.