Just shy of 28 years ago, in August of 1996, I was spending a long weekend at the Jersey shore. While driving around the neighborhood, I spotted a used white Miata on a Mazda dealer’s lot. (I’d say that it was a first-generation car, but in 1996, that’s all the factory had produced!) Having never driven one, I stopped in for a test drive. While I didn’t buy that particular car, the brief spin around the block had me hooked. Within days I began to scour the classifieds, and within a few weeks, I bought one: a black and tan 1993 Miata with 34,000 miles on it.

With plenty of summer weather still ahead of me, I drove my new-to-me Miata as much as I could, putting close to 10,000 miles on it within the first few months. I took it to work on nice days, and had it out almost every single weekend. The car was rust-free when I bought it and I intended to keep it that way, which meant that I’d never drive it in the winter. Since I was employed by Volvo and had a company car, the Miata became a toy car. We took day trips and week-longs trips with it, and it certainly got rained upon. But the exuberant feeling of being behind that wheel never faded.

Time flew by; the mileage continued to pile up; the car was serviced regularly by me; and almost nothing broke. In 2003, I had the top replaced. Sometime after that, the clutch secondary cylinder needed replacement (one of the car’s few known weak points). The power antenna needed repair. One headlight burned out! Oil changes, tires, and brake pads were attended to as needed, but the car was costing me very little to keep on the road.

Time continued to fly by; during the time I owned the Miata, I also cycled through an MGB, a Mustang, and of course, the Isetta. I joined AACA and learned that any car 25 years or older was eligible to be shown at an AACA event. Suddenly it was 2018 and the Miata was 25 years old. I decided to register (what was still in my mind a “newish” used car) for Hershey! The Miata was awarded its HPOF badge, and subsequently shown at AACA Nationals in Parsippany (2019) and Saratoga Springs (2021).

But something else changed. I was not driving the car much, through no fault of the car. I had purchased my Alfa Romeo in 2013 and drove that car a lot, including 4 times in the New England 1000 rallies. The Miata was still great to drive, but my older body was less tolerant of the heat. When I did drive it, the top tended to stay up. The Miata is low, and getting in and out of it wasn’t the easy affair it had been. I considered selling it. A funny thing happened after posting ads and taking prospects on test drives: I would ask myself, “Why am I selling this car? It’s so fun to drive!” In April of last year, I had a buyer all lined up, but at the last minute, the deal fell through, and I decided not to continue the ad.

Earlier this month, I thought I would try again, and for the first time with the Miata, placed an ad on Facebook Marketplace, where I have done very well selling items in the $20-$200 range. I placed the ad on Tuesday morning. A little more than 24 hours later, the car was sold. It has a little over 109,000 miles on the clock, meaning I drove it 75,000 miles in 28 years. The new buyer, a young man, had an NC Automatic which he sold, and seems thrilled to be getting into an NA stick. I have some seller’s remorse, while in reality, I know full well it’s time to let go. Will I replace it? Not right away. I have some shows lined up for the Alfa for the remainder of the summer. I’ll patiently wait to see if anything interesting pops up, but I’m in no rush.

 

 

 

 

All photographs copyright © 2024 Richard A. Reina. Photos may not be copied or reproduced without express written permission.