British Sports Cars and Miata

[Jeff Leites]

 

Cool, my older brother got his in 1990...Red/Tan...82,000 miles. garage kept. We were four brothers in the sixties and we all drove British Sportscars, Healeys, Triumphs, MG's etc. My older brother saw an original marketing ploy in a Miata ad likening the Miata to 'carrying the torch' of the old British Roadsters....he bit, and was hooked. I used to love to drive it, still do when he's in a 'giving' mood. Don't wanna derail a thread but, can you tell me what kind of Miatas you guys have?

 

 

It looked like the "Off the Grid" thread was being hijacked, so I started a new thread.

 

Our Miata is a classic red '99 that we bought about 5 years ago with about 40,000 miles on it. I don't think we've put 10k on it yet, since we only use it for club rides, and the occasional Sunday drive. We got it for my wife when she retired. She doesn't drive a stick so it's an automatic. She was lucky to find the year, color, and transmission she wanted within day's of her retirement. Yeah, I know an automatic isn't as much fun as a stick, but I never found a stick to be much fun in the city, with lights and stop signs every few blocks.

 

In '67, when I lived in the Philly suburbs, I had a '67 Triumph Spitfire. Lot's of fun, and always in need of repairs. 10 years later, I thought they should have all the bugs out of them, so I bought a '77. I was wrong, it was always in need of repairs. The Miata, on the other hand, has been very reliable.

[Lukenskywalker]

It looked like the "Off the Grid" thread was being hijacked, so I started a new thread. Our Miata is a classic red '99 that we bought about 5 years ago with about 40,000 miles on it. I don't think we've put 10k on it yet, since we only use it for club rides, and the occasional Sunday drive. We got it for my wife when she retired. She doesn't drive a stick so it's an automatic. She was lucky to find the year, color, and transmission she wanted within day's of her retirement. Yeah, I know an automatic isn't as much fun as a stick, but I never found a stick to be much fun in the city, with lights and stop signs every few blocks. In '67, when I lived in the Philly suburbs, I had a '67 Triumph Spitfire. Lot's of fun, and always in need of repairs. 10 years later, I thought they should have all the bugs out of them, so I bought a '77. I was wrong, it was always in need of repairs. The Miata, on the other hand, has been very reliable.

 

Cool, my other older brother Rick, had his first Brand new car in 1967...Triumph Spit, Green, not BRG, off white top...

Phila suburbs? can you give me some coordinates?

My oldest brother was Founder of the 'Greater Trenton Sports Car Club'...lotsa Philly members, we did time trials and Gymkhanas at Fort Dix, NJ and 'Rallied' all over Jersey and Pa.

 

I have never owned a car with auto trans...stick trans are getting scarcer...

My 2006 BMW 330 Coupe had to be special ordered from the Factory...

Funny, cos' in Europe you would be hard pressed to find a auto.trans.on a Bimmer.

[Jeff Leites]

Phila suburbs? can you give me some coordinates?

 

Lat. 40.20477 Long. -75.11338 aka Warminster, PA in Bucks county.

My '67 was BRG

 

The '77 was carmine red.

[Lukenskywalker]

Lat. 40.20477 Long. -75.11338 aka Warminster, PA in Bucks county. My '67 was BRG The '77 was carmine red.

 

Warminister is a 'stones throw' from where I now live...my bro's car was the same color as yours...but BRG must have changed as the years progressed.

Early BRG was a lighter shade, taken from the old WWII Spitfire Fighters...Then to be truthful, I am notoriously colorblind.

 

Jesus, my bro' had the same 'shades' but a more Beatlesque Hairdo...he had the Wirewheels instead of the caps...

The '77 as I remember had the 'wedge' front hood and front end.

 

My Avatar pic was taken in Lahaska near New Hope.

[Jeff Leites]

Warminister is a 'stones throw' from where I now live...my bro's car was the same color as yours...but BRG must have changed as the years progressed. Early BRG was a lighter shade, taken from the old WWII Spitfire Fighters...Then to be truthful, I am notoriously colorblind. Jesus, my bro' had the same 'shades' but a more Beatlesque Hairdo...he had the Wirewheels instead of the caps... The '77 as I remember had the 'wedge' front hood and front end. My Avatar pic was taken in Lahaska near New Hope.

 

I think the car came out a little darker in the picture than it actually was.

I'm not wearing shades, those are regular prescription glasses... kind of Buddy Holly style.

My hair got a little longer a few months later:

I used to straighten it, but gave up on that about 35 years ago.

 

They moved the bumper up higher on the '77 (Spitfire 1500):

I wonder if you're thinking of the wedge shaped TR7:

 

I visit New Hope whenever I'm back east.

What town are you in?

[Lukenskywalker]

I think the car came out a little darker in the picture than it actually was. I'm not wearing shades, those are regular prescription glasses... kind of Buddy Holly style. My hair got a little longer a few months later: I used to straighten it, but gave up on that about 35 years ago. They moved the bumper up higher on the '77 (Spitfire 1500): I wonder if you're thinking of the wedge shaped TR7: I visit New Hope whenever I'm back east. What town are you in?

 

Right near Washingtons Crossing....Upper Makefield, My daughter just moved out of New Hope to take a job in Washington DC...

 

Yeah, I was thinking of the TR7, your '77 Spit is a sweet looking ride, those wirewheels looked great.

[Jeff Leites]

 

Right near Washingtons Crossing....Upper Makefield, My daughter just moved out of New Hope to take a job in Washington DC... Yeah, I was thinking of the TR7, your '77 Spit is a sweet looking ride, those wirewheels looked great.

 

 

That's not my '77. It's just a picture from the web. I'd have to dig through a box of pictures to find one of mine, which was a darker red.

 

Yeah, Washington's Crossing. That was a great area for driving these little cars with a stick.

[Raymar]

Back in the 80s I made the mistake of trading a '69 VW bus for a '67 MGB GT. The thing just ate money as it fell apart. The design was weird too, the starter solenoid was under the body so if I went through a puddle, or God forbid a slightly flooded street the engine would die and not start until the solenoid dried off. It had two 6 volt batteries wired together to make 12 volts with a positive ground. Buying electrical parts that didn't work sucked too. Also I went through a couple of hoods as the latch would come lose on the freeway then the thing opened up and wrapped back to the top of the car ruined and preventing me from seeing on comming traffic! Three people backed into me in three month intervals in a nine month period.

[Jeff Leites]

Yeah, I once read that those British cars were perfect for teaching a young man the virtues of walking. My '66 Spitfire (MkII) had a positive ground also, but just one battery. If I had it all to do over again, I think I would have bought a Volkswagon Karmann-Ghia.

[nat whilk II]

Ha....lots of buddies of mine had British 60s left-overs, trying to keep them going in the 70s...MGBGTs, Midget MKs, Triumph Spitfires, one guy even had an Aston Martin almost like the one Bond drove.

 

The main problem with all these was the existence of wives. For some reason it seems they all objected to cars being up on blocks for weeks, months, etc, and when the things actually ran (which was rare), they were dangerous, and when they didn't run, they had to be fed a constant diet of expensive replacement parts. If not fed enough expensive parts, they just sat on the blocks until the tarp rotted.

 

My brother did have a pretty reliable Italian Alfa Romeo Spider that I got to drive a good bit. Not very fast, but very responsive, cool as hell.

 

nat whilk ii

[drewl]

Never could warm up to those little things, ESPECIALLY out here in the Philly burbs with bad roads:facepalm:

 

I had a '73 Mercury Capri (German version) that was decent and handled great, but man that was an auto repair course all by itself.

[Lukenskywalker]

 

Yeah, I once read that those British cars were perfect for teaching a young man the virtues of walking. My '66 Spitfire (MkII) had a positive ground also, but just one battery. If I had it all to do over again, I think I would have bought a Volkswagon Karmann-Ghia.

 

 

My girlfriend at the time had a Karmann-Ghia and it was soooo dependable.

 

They, like the Porsches had rust issues as they aged.

 

Jeff, I just remebered I ran in to a guy with a real nice TR-6(BRG) at the New Hope Car Show this month,

 

He had visited the Triumph factory in Coventry, England in the early seventies and was told the colors were never really uniform, all depended on how much pigment was available, also that the BRG got progressively lighter between paint deliveries.

[Richard King]

If I recall correctly the ads for the TR-7 at the time called it "The shape of things to come". My boss had one in the early '70's that he was quite fond of. But then, he could afford to take it to the shop when it needed repairs. I drove him to the airport a couple of times when the 7 was "broken".