Up until about 2 years ago I was vigorously anti-Miata. I remember when they first came out, and I believed all the stereotypes. I had no use for the cars. A college friend of mine's dad bought one, and it puzzled me to no end- he was an engineer, a machinist, a man's man, and here he was driving around in this blonde hairdresser's car? I shook my head in bewilderment. (he's since sold the Miata and bought a 356...in pieces. The man's my hero)
Fast-forward to 2009. We fielded our first LeMons car, and showed up to our first race, and holy crap- the darn Miatae are EVERYWHERE. And they're FAST as HELL. A buddy of mine has this magazine called "Grassroots Motorsports" and they seem to love on the Miata all day long. Herm.
So I'm surfing CL one day about 2 years ago and come upon two separate ads for 1991 Miatas- both white, both under $1000. One was wrecked, but drove, and the other had a good body and a locked-up engine. It was fate. In a fit of...something...I buy both of them, drag them both home, and proceed to build one good car out of the two. And then I drove it. It was a marvel of a car. I even enjoyed working on it- something I can say of few other cars. Everything just made sense about it. I didn't even care that it had no back seat. It was just fun. The only other car I've ever driven that was as much fun are my beloved Volvo 122s, and like the Miata they share a feel for the whole driving experience that is just so...live.
I sold the good running car, not because I particularly wanted to, but because my wife, who is ever so tolerant of my car hobby, called it "the ugliest car ever". I think "ugly", in her mind, meant "boring", and here I have to kinda agree with her. The driving experience is what this car is all about- it'll certainly never win any beauty contests. I kept urging her to drive it, figuring she'd actually appreciate the car if she did, but that was a non-starter.
I've since bought a silver NA, with a hardtop, and am in the process of making it good and roadworthy. The wife actually likes the silver one- I think the hardtop helps- and I told her it's a rare, late-first year model for this color. ;-) I still have the remnants of the wrecked-but-running white NA I bought last year, too. It sits in a corner of my garage, whispering "LoCost" to me when nobody's around and the radio is on low and the lights are dim.