My 1991 Miata next to my 2009 Miata.
I graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in December of 2008. By then, the Great Recession was in full swing, and my new Mechanical Engineering degree didn’t do me a lot of good when it came to finding work.
As I couldn’t find a job, I decided to accelerate my plans and go to grad school and get my MBA. I applied for and got into the U of I’s MBA program, much to the satisfaction of my father, who still clung to the hope that I would someday take over the family laboratory business.
Only one thing, though. He couldn’t have his son, future CEO of the family business and MBA candidate, driving around in a toy car. The 1991 Mazda Miata had to go.
The bargain
And so my father struck a deal with me. He’d help me buy a respectable car as a graduation gift slash future company car. No more tiny little rusty NA Miata with the absurd steel roll bar on the parcel shelf — it was time for something a proper businessman would drive, like a Lexus.
I didn’t want a Lexus, or any other luxury 4-door sedan. I wanted a sports car. Eventually, my father relented, and I went shopping for a “respectable” sports car.
And what better car to replace a 1991 Mazda Miata than… a brand new Miata? (Okay, technically the NC generation cars were just badged as MX-5s and not Miatas, but I’m going to refer to it as a Miata from here on out.)
These days, I wonder how my life would have been different if I had chosen any other car other than a 2009 Miata. The other two cars I had briefly considered were the Mazda RX-8, which in 2009 was refreshed to resolve many of the issues plaguing the original iteration, and the Honda S2000, which could still be found new but was at the end of its production run. Maybe if I had the Mazda RX-8, I would have gone down a different path in my motorsports journey. Maybe if I got the Honda S2000, I’d have what would eventually be a rising classic car and it would have been competitive for many years in my chosen motorsports venues.
My 1991 Miata next to my 2009 Miata.
Coulda, woulda, shoulda. In the end, I couldn’t resist bringing home a new Miata. The top went down, and it granted me entry to future Miatas at Hallett events. (Thanks to business school, I would end up missing out on the 2009 Miatas at Hallett, but would return for 2010.)
I picked up my new Miata from a dealership in Indianapolis, as they had a selection of Miatas to choose from whereas other dealerships didn’t offer much variety. Even then, the dealership had an overabundance of maroon reds, off whites, and dark blues and blacks. There were no yellow cars and only one bright red car. I chose the bright red car. With just 9 miles on the odometer, she was mine.
Interior of the ’91.
Compared to the ’91, the ’09 was ever so slightly bigger in every dimension. After close examination, I realized that a lot of the “bulk” on the new Miata came from the fact that the belt line was nearly two inches taller than the older car, with a much more squared off front and rear. Otherwise, the cars were nearly the same in length and height.
Interior of the ’09.
I sold the ’91 and the ’09 became my daily driver and autocross car. As my MBA studies came to a close, I broke my end of the bargain and told my father that I wasn’t going to be taking over the family business. Instead, I had decided to go work in the Motor City for one of the big automakers.
The summer road trip of 2011
I and another U of I MBA grad had accepted jobs at Ford. I elected to start in August, which left me two months of time between graduation and work to do whatever I wanted. One of those things, I decided, would be a solo road trip to California and back. And the Miata was the perfect car for such a trip.
The first stop was Chicago, where I stopped by for a college friend’s birthday party. From there, I headed west, blitzing across the Central Plains until I hit Colorado. After a brief respite in Boulder where I found a local social swing dance to crash, I continued on into the mountains.
Pikes Peak, home of the famous hill climb, was a place I had always wanted to go see for myself, and here I was, with a little sports car. Back then, the road up to the top was still only half paved, so it wasn’t really suitable for enthusiastic driving with a street stock sports car, even if there wasn’t a constant flood of traffic slowly inching up and down the mountain. But the road is one of those where simply going 35-40 mph felt recklessly dangerous, so I took it easy and pulled over frequently to marvel at the views and to take pictures.
Taking the Miata up Pikes Peak. The road was steep enough that in some spots, all you could see ahead of you was sky.
Going up and down the mountain made it extra apparent how obnoxious my car’s muffler was. At the time, I had an extremely light weight (read: very loud and super drone-y) exhaust on the car. I decided to rectify the situation by going to the other side of the mountain range and stopping by Flyin’ Miata, a well-known Miata tuner shop in Miata circles.
At the Flyin’ Miata shop, I asked for an oil change and a new muffler to replace the ultra lightweight unit on the car. While one of the techs worked on my car, I got a tour of the shop, checked out all of the project cars, and even got a ride in their supercharged NC Miata. Sure beats wasting away in a dealership waiting room for a service. I left the shop with the ultra lightweight muffler stuffed in the trunk and a new, larger dual exhaust muffler hanging off the back of the car. My ears were very grateful for the change.
The Miata at Flyin’ Miata, getting an oil change and a new muffler.
Onward I drove in search of the roads that were recommended to me by the Flyin’ Miata staff. I was told to drop off the highway just as one entered Utah, and to take the backroads towards Moab. I briefly got lost trying to find the road, ending up on a rocky gravel path that ran next to the Colorado River. People on the river, probably surprised to see a Miata doing some light offroading, waived from their boats; I waved back. I eventually found the road, and as promised, it was one of the best little roads that I had ever driven. Fortunately for me, it was a weekday and the traffic on the road was extremely light, and I had a ton of fun as I sped towards Arches National Park.
Stopping for a photo on the way to Arches National Park.
It was late afternoon by the time I got there. I did some hikes and got to see the Delicate Arch from below, as well as some of the easier-to-hike-to arches in the park, as I didn’t have much time to spend. I was hiking one trail loop when the sun went down, and it suddenly became dark.
Very dark. I hadn’t occurred to me until then that there were no lights anywhere in the park. With the help of my cell phone flashlight, I briskly made my way back to the car. It was only when I got back to the Miata that I bothered to look up, where the clear night sky was dotted with more stars than I had ever seen in my life. Wow. I grabbed my camera and tripod and tried to take some nightscape shots, but I had no idea what I was doing, and all the pictures came out terrible. I vowed to myself that I’d come back when I knew what to do and try again.
I continued west. I made a short pit stop at the Bonneville Salt Flats. The salt was wet, so I didn’t try driving my car onto the flats themselves, but I did walk out there and take some pictures.
Little Miata at the Bonneville Salt Flats.
Moving on, I stopped by Yosemite National Park for a very brief moment. I didn’t have any time to go on any hikes or stay in the park, so I just took pictures from the park road of all that was visible. There was a little bridge that had an excellent view of Half Dome, and it was jam packed with photographers waiting for the sunset. I joined them for a while before continuing on to San Francisco.
Little Miata in Yosemite National Park.
In San Francisco, I hung out with some of my fellow recent MBA grads, eating and drinking in cool places and visiting all of the touristy things.
From there, I headed south, following the Pacific Coast Highway. I can’t think of a better place for a Miata than running down Highway 1, top down, ocean breeze in the hair, beautiful vistas for the eyes to devour, and winding roads with which to play on. I stopped in Monterey for lunch, and then headed to Laguna Seca to check out the racetrack. There was an SCCA club race going on, so I went to the spectator area overlooking the Corkscrew and took photos of the Spec Racer Fords out on track. I purchased a souvenir mug from the track shop as a memento of my visit.
I arrived in Los Angeles, staying nights at a family friend’s house and visiting swing dance friends during the daytime. I hiked up the hills to see the Hollywood sign, which ended up being unexciting and a bit underwhelming, and went to the Peterson Automotive Museum, which was freaking amazing and very overwhelming in the best possible way.
Turning east, I followed Route 66 the best I could. I briefly stopped at the rim of the Grand Canyon and took some pictures in the morning dawn. Scattered along Route 66 was a mix of desolate ruins and kitschy roadside attractions, and I delighted in photographing all of the things I came across. I took a picture standin’ on the corner of Winslow, Arizona, spent some time poking around Roy’s Motel, and watched tourists spray paint the Cadillac Ranch.
Checking out Roy’s Motel on Route 66.
Finally, I rolled into Saint Louis, Missouri, where I would spend a weekend dancing at what ended up being the last Show Me Blues dance exchange. It was a perfect cap on a perfect summer road trip.
Moving to Michigan
At the end of July, it was time for me to pack up my things and move. Ford offered moving assistance, but I took the cash reimbursement and moved myself. I didn’t have much stuff to move anyway, so I enlisted the Miata to be my moving van.
All I had to bring to Michigan were my two computers, my clothes, and a small collection of tools and parts for the car. All of my personal effects I packed into the Miata, and the tire trailer carried my extra set of wheels and tires, my tools, and anything else I couldn’t fit inside the Miata.
The trick to packing a Miata? Yes, the trunk is the most obvious place to put things, but when the top is up, the parcel shelf behind the driver can hold quite a lot of stuff too. Add in the passenger seat and foot well, and you can carry more than you might think.
I moved myself to Southeast Michigan, first crashing at my fellow MBA grad’s apartment while I looked for a place of my own. I found a condo in Dearborn that was very close to work and had a two car attached garage.
Now that I had space for one more vehicle, my next course of action was to retire the Miata from winter driving duty and buy a daily beater…
Uh, will the daily beater be a Ford?
Terrific article, that road trip seemed like the perfect venture for a new sports car. Great photos.
The pictures show how proud of this car you are. I love the one at Arches, where you both appear to be grinning for the camera.
I took Route 66 across the country, too, when I was in my late 20s. It was the perfect age to do it, and I did it in a new (at the time) red Mustang.
I spotted this old gal at the Route 66 Cafe in Santa Rosa, NM and posed for a picture. This used to be my avatar here at CC for a couple of years.
What an awesome adventure! And I understand perfectly that “college graduation during the depth of a recession” thing – did that one myself in 1982.
Which dealer did you hit in Indianapolis? I am thinking that we had three or four of them here at the time. It’s kind of odd that “sports car colors” were the hardest to find. But then maybe those were the ones that sold the fastest.
Yes, I too did that graduation thing in a recession, late 1991 was mine…thankfully I had a job lined up.
Excellent choice as your first “grown-up” car! 🙂 When one Miata does you right, then why not another one and you certainly got out there and used it as intended instead of letting it sit.
Looking forward to the next installment as well.
Mine was 1984
And my MX-5 is a 1990, in red and one of the early ones in the UK.
I’d love to drive it to Yosemite – that would be a trip!
A truly spectacular trip! Making such a trip is a bit harder once working (but by no mean impossible) and you did it in an ideal car for a solo journey.
Like others, I’m looking forward to the next installment.
Welcome to Michigan! Daily beaters here are also referred to as salt cars. Remember that a giant salt mine is located underneath Detroit. Seems to be the reason why we use so much of it in the winter.
Did you use Pacific Highway (Route 1) traveling from Monterey to LA? This is a prefect route for Mazda MX5.
Few years ago, I tried to do this from LA to Monterey via the same route, but it was closed due to mud slide. I ended up drive from Monterey to Sa Francisco along Route 1. It was nice, I am certain other section is much more senic and enjoyable. The vehicle I had was a rental Cadillac rear drive ATS with V6 engine. That is very respectful vehicle even it is another failed GM product on the market
Great story and photos. I’ve never been to the left coast of Canada or the U.S., but a road trip out that way is a definite bucket list item…and a Miata in the summer would be the perfect car for it.
Johnli:
Would it be possible to elaborate on the improvements and other changes Mazda made in 18 years?
What a great trip and stops along the way! We cannot wait to find out what new adventures await you at FoMoCo and new vehicles to drive! Onward!
Are you still at Ford? If so, I don’t suppose you can get them to reverse their decision to stop making sedans?
As a matter of interest, there was a young female mechanical engineer at my workplace until recently. She’d been a summer intern as a student and the come to work for us when she got her BSME. She left a few months ago to take a job with Fiat-Chrysler.
Great story, and I’m glad the new Miata worked out well for you! I always wanted to make the same solo road trip when I was that age, but never did. It’s still on my bucket list. If you still haven’t gotten into night photography, it takes a little practice, but once you get the hang of it, it’s really fun. Curtis Gregory Perry on Flickr captures some really great night city and automotive related shots. He’s been featured here quite a few times.
Actually you have it backwards Miata is the US market name for the Mazda MX5 not that it matters, the early ones have hit beater donor category here we have boatloads of the Eunos braded MX5s being wrecked for parts all over the place the parts fit earlier Mazda cars apparently for up grades, I had an early 80s RWD Mazda that handled far too well for the two door van body it wore and I suspect the two platforms are closely related the RX7 shares a lot of the same parts with that 323 and Toyo Kogyo had to start somewhere with their toy car.
Interesting you replaced the sports exhaust, hours spent at the wheel in anything becomes torture if the noise is too much, the straight thru on my pet car isnt going back when the new system finally replaces the rusted out prototype for that one reason.
Yet another outstanding story. And it’s almost like you took those pictures knowing that you’d be writing this article a decade later!
I was horrified when I found out recently that Pikes Peak is now completely paved. I drove up Pikes Peak on a cross-country trip with my father in 1989, just about six months after I got my driver’s license. We drove up in early July, just a few days after the Hillclimb, and some of the race pennants were still up. Best of all, we were driving my parents’ Mazda 323GTX… a car that was made for that road!
It was thrilling, and like you said, even a modest speed felt recklessly dangerous. Actually, for a brand-new driver it was recklessly dangerous, and Dad had nerves of steel to let me drive. I remember taking one curve a bit too fast, and did a (tiny) amount of sliding – of course it was at one of those massive drop-offs. I can still feel the lump in my throat from that one. I slowed down after that. And Dad drove on the way down. But it’s still one of my most memorable driving experiences.
Helluva trip!!! I really want to get out and do a trip like that!