Tech/maintenance Lacquer polish

turf3 · 2026-10-13T17:20:24+0100

The Miata is what a sports car was meant to be.

Small, light weight, nimble handling. Adequate power. Sports cars aren't about bone crushing acceleration or rock hard suspensions that can't hook up to any pavement that isn't as smooth as a surface plate.

Thus: MG TC, TD, A, B; Triumph TR3, 4, 5, 6; big Healeys, Spridgets, Boattail Alfas, Fiat Spyder, Lotus Elan, etc. The pre-1968 Corvette and the E type Jaguar BARELY qualify as true sports cars to me - they're really rather heavy and ponderous, although powerful and exciting. All that Mazda did ("ALL, he says?") is to take the essential nature of the classic small sports car and build it using RELIABLE components. (Oh, and a roof that keeps the rain out, and an actual air conditioner for Texas in the summer.)

Targa · 2026-10-13T18:54:17+0100

turf3 said:
The Miata is what a sports car was meant to be.

Small, light weight, nimble handling. Adequate power. Sports cars aren't about bone crushing acceleration or rock hard suspensions that can't hook up to any pavement that isn't as smooth as a surface plate.

Thus: MG TC, TD, A, B; Triumph TR3, 4, 5, 6; big Healeys, Spridgets, Boattail Alfas, Fiat Spyder, Lotus Elan, etc. The pre-1968 Corvette and the E type Jaguar BARELY qualify as true sports cars to me - they're really rather heavy and ponderous, although powerful and exciting. All that Mazda did ("ALL, he says?") is to take the essential nature of the classic small sports car and build it using RELIABLE components. (Oh, and a roof that keeps the rain out, and an actual air conditioner for Texas in the summer.)

I wondered what this Miata was, an MX5 apparently.
@Jeanette has one of them.
The best car I had, for 16 years, was a Toyota AE86 GT Coupe.

lig · 2026-10-13T19:04:05+0100

Targa said:
I wondered what this Miata was, an MX5 apparently.
@Jeanette has one of them.
The best car I had, for 16 years, was a Toyota AE86 GT Coupe.

AE86?!?! Legend. Rumors are that Toyota is bringing back the MR2 and Celica. They won’t be RWD, manual transmission purity like the AE86 but probably as close as it gets these days.

Jeanette · 2026-10-13T19:08:44+0100

turf3 said:
All that Mazda did ("ALL, he says?") is to take the essential nature of the classic small sports car and build it using RELIABLE components. (Oh, and a roof that keeps the rain out, and an actual air conditioner for Texas in the summer.)

Love mine

Jx

turf3 · 2026-10-13T19:26:24+0100

I wish I had an application for a Miata. When I lived in New England there were about five or six months of the year perfect for top down motoring, on those little winding roads once you got outside the 128 loop.

Now I live part of the time in a giant Southern city where it's either like living on the surface of the sun, or it's 33 degrees and blowing rain - and one week each spring and one week each fall when the weather's beatiful - and always sitting in traffic with a hundred thousand of your closest friends - or bombing down the freeway at 90 MPH in between asphalt trucks, or sitting in a standstill on the freeway. None of that is inspiring for a small light nimble sports car.

The other part of the time I live in a rural district with a decent number of gently curving roads - except the weather's the same as described above - and 99% of the traffic is angry young men in one-ton flatbed trucks, driving their usual and prudent 80 MPH in a 50 MPH zone on a two lane highly crowned country road with no shoulders and a bar ditch on either side. Also not conducive to enjoyably tootling down the country lane in your tiny sports car.

My friend in New England promised me that when he moved he'd let me know so I could buy his beautiful little white Miata. Then he sold it and didn't tell me. GRRRRR. Then I moved away. GRRRR GRRRRR.

PigSquealer · 2026-10-13T20:03:02+0100

turf3 said:
Miata Is Always The Answer.

I sold my ‘94 A model with hard top in 2012.

PigSquealer · 2026-10-13T20:06:26+0100

lig said:
Miata is my car guy litmus test vehicle. Those that dismiss it offhand or worse are ignorant imo.

In 18 years of owning a ‘94 I can say it was the best car I ever had. I actually tried to buy it back a few years ago with no luck..

lig · 2026-10-13T20:38:27+0100

PigSquealer said:
In 18 years of owning a ‘94 I can say it was the best car I ever had. I actually tried to buy it back a few years ago with no luck..

Was ‘94 one of the years with the special edition burgundy color? Those were so nice.

I think I’d have to have one in British Racing Green to honor the Elan inspiration.

A big fan of Miatas aka MX5s.

And @turf3 - have removed the extra stiff suspension from the S2000. My days of chasing lap times and trophies are likely done. Replaced the Japanese race spec coilovers with some SakeBomb Garage tuned street/track spec Ohlins.

Much more compliance on the street.

To your point - at a BEAC (Boeing Employee's Auto-x Club) test and tune session I took the 911 out for some fun. It was faster in "Normal" than it was on "Sport" mode.

Sport mode stiffens up the shocks, quickens the throttle response and opens up the exhaust. The car would temporarily lose traction more often due to its stiffness and was consistently slower than in the more compliant mode.

Now the S2000 has been upgraded via removing the extra loud exhaust with proper old man spec Mugen Ti catback. No highway drone and won't wake up the neighbors just getting out of the driveway.

The car is now ready to go with me into even older age. 😀

A pic from my Miata owning friend’s garage where he and some of the other S2000 club members did most of the heavy lifting since my mechanical skills are rudimentary at best. 😀

Ride height set - corner weights dialed in right then and there. It's a blessing to have smart and capable enthusiasts for friends! ❤️

Targa · 2026-10-13T20:52:23+0100

lig said:
AE86?!?! Legend. Rumors are that Toyota is bringing back the MR2 and Celica. They won’t be RWD, manual transmission purity like the AE86 but probably as close as it gets these days.