My new "motorcycle"

[Guth_imp]

Mickey, while I suspect you "might" be right regarding your observations about sports cars, I wouldn't totally bet on it. The beautiful thing about a car like the Miata in particular is that you can have an incredible amount of fun without achieving an incredible amount of speed. As far as sports cars go, the Miata has quite a bit of body roll relatively speaking (by pure sports car standards) and the limits of it's handling can be reached more easily in a more predictable fashion than many other sports cars out there. This is one of the primary reasons that the Miata has become the best selling sports car ever. You also might be surprised to learn that the demographic for the Miata is not too terribly different than the demographic for the CB1100 itself. The biggest proponents for these cars tend to be "older guys". Part of the reasons for this is that these cars are actually very well matched for someone whose road-going ambitions match those of your own. That's not so say that you can't have fun wringing their necks so to speak as VLJ and many others are aware (the MX-5 is also one of the most popular race cars out there as you can get into one for dirt cheap (by racing standards at least) yet the racing itself can be intense in that class. These cars truly are a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Have you by chance ever taken your brother's Miata out for a spin?

As far as roof leaks are concerned, as my old Spitfire was my only car at the time (at that point in my life it was my only car ever, lol) I drove it year-round. In Illinois that was less than ideal. Especially as the snow tended to be of the lighter sort that blew around and piled up in drifts all over the place. I attended a community college located 15 miles away. When I would get out of my classes and return to my car in the parking lot I would first need to sweep out the miniature snow drifts that had accumulated on the seats and elsewhere in the car before I would proceed to drive back home. It is safe to say that the top on the Spitfire was not "weather tight", lol. Despite it's many shortcomings (there were a few, lol) I had a total blast with that car.

DAC, like my old Camaro, I consider the 1st gen Firebirds to be incredibly beautiful cars. That was really a "Primo" option as a 1st car back in the day.

Rockhop, great photo, great story! I suppose at this point you can probably conclude that you were the main attraction and not the MGB, lol. Did your particular MGB have the small vent that you could pop open in the top center of the dash?

Stichill, my wife's uncle, who is an all-around awesome guy, previously owned a big Healey. His was a 3000 model, but I do not recall the specifics. He restored it himself (his featured a two-tone maroon and cream finish) and did an amazing job. He won some awards with both his Austin-Healey and with his Triumph TR6 (in French Blue). When it came time to sell one of the two, he decided to let go of the Austin-Healey. He loved the car and it was truly a thing of beauty, but he found the TR6 the easier of the two cars to live with. One of the main factors as he told it was that the engine in the TR6 generated a lot less heat than the engine found in the 3000.

DAC & Stichill, My 6th grade teacher, Miss Jacobsen, seriously could of been a model. She also happened to be every bit as nice as she was beautiful. Her father owned the Chevrolet dealership there in town. Miss Jacobsen drove an early 70's Camaro sporting a custom Hot Pink paint job with the 5 spoke Camaro Rally Mags of that era featuring purple spokes. (As frightening as that might sound, back then it was immensely cool, as was she.). I'll never forget her.

[LongRanger_imp]

My heartthrob teacher was Ms. Dalton, in 5th grade, but I digress.

[Ben70_imp]

Hey Rockhop! I had an MG just like that, but with a removable hard top. My wife was my girlfriend at the time, circa 1972. What a fun car! I think I have a photo almost like that, but no sitting on the hood!

Ben

[Stichill_imp]

Mickey, while I suspect you "might" be right regarding your observations about sports cars, I wouldn't totally bet on it. The beautiful thing about a car like the Miata in particular is that you can have an incredible amount of fun without achieving an incredible amount of speed. As far as sports cars go, the Miata has quite a bit of body roll relatively speaking (by pure sports car standards) and the limits of it's handling can be reached more easily in a more predictable fashion than many other sports cars out there. This is one of the primary reasons that the Miata has become the best selling sports car ever. You also might be surprised to learn that the demographic for the Miata is not too terribly different than the demographic for the CB1100 itself. The biggest proponents for these cars tend to be "older guys". Part of the reasons for this is that these cars are actually very well matched for someone whose road-going ambitions match those of your own. That's not so say that you can't have fun wringing their necks so to speak as VLJ and many others are aware (the MX-5 is also one of the most popular race cars out there as you can get into one for dirt cheap (by racing standards at least) yet the racing itself can be intense in that class. These cars truly are a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Have you by chance ever taken your brother's Miata out for a spin?

As far as roof leaks are concerned, as my old Spitfire was my only car at the time (at that point in my life it was my only car ever, lol) I drove it year-round. In Illinois that was less than ideal. Especially as the snow tended to be of the lighter sort that blew around and piled up in drifts all over the place. I attended a community college located 15 miles away. When I would get out of my classes and return to my car in the parking lot I would first need to sweep out the miniature snow drifts that had accumulated on the seats and elsewhere in the car before I would proceed to drive back home. It is safe to say that the top on the Spitfire was not "weather tight", lol. Despite it's many shortcomings (there were a few, lol) I had a total blast with that car.

DAC, like my old Camaro, I consider the 1st gen Firebirds to be incredibly beautiful cars. That was really a "Primo" option as a 1st car back in the day.

Rockhop, great photo, great story! I suppose at this point you can probably conclude that you were the main attraction and not the MGB, lol. Did your particular MGB have the small vent that you could pop open in the top center of the dash?

Stichill, my wife's uncle, who is an all-around awesome guy, previously owned a big Healey. His was a 3000 model, but I do not recall the specifics. He restored it himself (his featured a two-tone maroon and cream finish) and did an amazing job. He won some awards with both his Austin-Healey and with his Triumph TR6 (in French Blue). When it came time to sell one of the two, he decided to let go of the Austin-Healey. He loved the car and it was truly a thing of beauty, but he found the TR6 the easier of the two cars to live with. One of the main factors as he told it was that the engine in the TR6 generated a lot less heat than the engine found in the 3000.

DAC & Stichill, My 6th grade teacher, Miss Jacobsen, seriously could of been a model. She also happened to be every bit as nice as she was beautiful. Her father owned the Chevrolet dealership there in town. Miss Jacobsen drove an early 70's Camaro sporting a custom Hot Pink paint job with the 5 spoke Camaro Rally Mags of that era featuring purple spokes. (As frightening as that might sound, back then it was immensely cool, as was she.). I'll never forget her.

I definitely prefer the early Healeys...maybe they're slow by modern standards but the proportions are sublime.

One of my buddies had a TR6 in French Blue! One night in senior year of high school he let me borrow it to take a special date for a ride. I'd never driven anything like it and was mesmerized. It was the best date I ever had! ...with the car. Although the girl was amazing and I had the worst crush on her, for that hour driving along winding river roads my mind and soul was absorbed by the wind in our hair, the sound of the engine, the precision of the handling, and the the minuet of managing the clutch and gearbox.[/quote]

Mickey, while I suspect you "might" be right regarding your observations about sports cars, I wouldn't totally bet on it. The beautiful thing about a car like the Miata in particular is that you can have an incredible amount of fun without achieving an incredible amount of speed. As far as sports cars go, the Miata has quite a bit of body roll relatively speaking (by pure sports car standards) and the limits of it's handling can be reached more easily in a more predictable fashion than many other sports cars out there. This is one of the primary reasons that the Miata has become the best selling sports car ever. You also might be surprised to learn that the demographic for the Miata is not too terribly different than the demographic for the CB1100 itself. The biggest proponents for these cars tend to be "older guys". Part of the reasons for this is that these cars are actually very well matched for someone whose road-going ambitions match those of your own. That's not so say that you can't have fun wringing their necks so to speak as VLJ and many others are aware (the MX-5 is also one of the most popular race cars out there as you can get into one for dirt cheap (by racing standards at least) yet the racing itself can be intense in that class. These cars truly are a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Have you by chance ever taken your brother's Miata out for a spin?

As far as roof leaks are concerned, as my old Spitfire was my only car at the time (at that point in my life it was my only car ever, lol) I drove it year-round. In Illinois that was less than ideal. Especially as the snow tended to be of the lighter sort that blew around and piled up in drifts all over the place. I attended a community college located 15 miles away. When I would get out of my classes and return to my car in the parking lot I would first need to sweep out the miniature snow drifts that had accumulated on the seats and elsewhere in the car before I would proceed to drive back home. It is safe to say that the top on the Spitfire was not "weather tight", lol. Despite it's many shortcomings (there were a few, lol) I had a total blast with that car.

DAC, like my old Camaro, I consider the 1st gen Firebirds to be incredibly beautiful cars. That was really a "Primo" option as a 1st car back in the day.

Rockhop, great photo, great story! I suppose at this point you can probably conclude that you were the main attraction and not the MGB, lol. Did your particular MGB have the small vent that you could pop open in the top center of the dash?

Stichill, my wife's uncle, who is an all-around awesome guy, previously owned a big Healey. His was a 3000 model, but I do not recall the specifics. He restored it himself (his featured a two-tone maroon and cream finish) and did an amazing job. He won some awards with both his Austin-Healey and with his Triumph TR6 (in French Blue). When it came time to sell one of the two, he decided to let go of the Austin-Healey. He loved the car and it was truly a thing of beauty, but he found the TR6 the easier of the two cars to live with. One of the main factors as he told it was that the engine in the TR6 generated a lot less heat than the engine found in the 3000.

DAC & Stichill, My 6th grade teacher, Miss Jacobsen, seriously could of been a model. She also happened to be every bit as nice as she was beautiful. Her father owned the Chevrolet dealership there in town. Miss Jacobsen drove an early 70's Camaro sporting a custom Hot Pink paint job with the 5 spoke Camaro Rally Mags of that era featuring purple spokes. (As frightening as that might sound, back then it was immensely cool, as was she.). I'll never forget her.

At that age, we were very impressionable and subject to "imprinting", eh?

[the Ferret]

Mickey, while I suspect you "might" be right regarding your observations about sports cars, I wouldn't totally bet on it. The beautiful thing about a car like the Miata in particular is that you can have an incredible amount of fun without achieving an incredible amount of speed. As far as sports cars go, the Miata has quite a bit of body roll relatively speaking (by pure sports car standards) and the limits of it's handling can be reached more easily in a more predictable fashion than many other sports cars out there. This is one of the primary reasons that the Miata has become the best selling sports car ever. You also might be surprised to learn that the demographic for the Miata is not too terribly different than the demographic for the CB1100 itself. The biggest proponents for these cars tend to be "older guys". Part of the reasons for this is that these cars are actually very well matched for someone whose road-going ambitions match those of your own. That's not so say that you can't have fun wringing their necks so to speak as VLJ and many others are aware (the MX-5 is also one of the most popular race cars out there as you can get into one for dirt cheap (by racing standards at least) yet the racing itself can be intense in that class. These cars truly are a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Have you by chance ever taken your brother's Miata out for a spin?

As far as roof leaks are concerned, as my old Spitfire was my only car at the time (at that point in my life it was my only car ever, lol) I drove it year-round. In Illinois that was less than ideal. Especially as the snow tended to be of the lighter sort that blew around and piled up in drifts all over the place. I attended a community college located 15 miles away. When I would get out of my classes and return to my car in the parking lot I would first need to sweep out the miniature snow drifts that had accumulated on the seats and elsewhere in the car before I would proceed to drive back home. It is safe to say that the top on the Spitfire was not "weather tight", lol. Despite it's many shortcomings (there were a few, lol) I had a total blast with that car.

DAC, like my old Camaro, I consider the 1st gen Firebirds to be incredibly beautiful cars. That was really a "Primo" option as a 1st car back in the day.

Rockhop, great photo, great story! I suppose at this point you can probably conclude that you were the main attraction and not the MGB, lol. Did your particular MGB have the small vent that you could pop open in the top center of the dash?

Stichill, my wife's uncle, who is an all-around awesome guy, previously owned a big Healey. His was a 3000 model, but I do not recall the specifics. He restored it himself (his featured a two-tone maroon and cream finish) and did an amazing job. He won some awards with both his Austin-Healey and with his Triumph TR6 (in French Blue). When it came time to sell one of the two, he decided to let go of the Austin-Healey. He loved the car and it was truly a thing of beauty, but he found the TR6 the easier of the two cars to live with. One of the main factors as he told it was that the engine in the TR6 generated a lot less heat than the engine found in the 3000.

DAC & Stichill, My 6th grade teacher, Miss Jacobsen, seriously could of been a model. She also happened to be every bit as nice as she was beautiful. Her father owned the Chevrolet dealership there in town. Miss Jacobsen drove an early 70's Camaro sporting a custom Hot Pink paint job with the 5 spoke Camaro Rally Mags of that era featuring purple spokes. (As frightening as that might sound, back then it was immensely cool, as was she.). I'll never forget her.

Guth, keep in mind I have been riding a motorcycle as my daily transportation since I was 15 years old and my dad let me get my first street bike. My first car, a year later, was a crappy old 56 Chevrolet 4 door that I bought for $150 and a 22 rifle. It got me thru when the roads were too bad for the motorcycle so I didn't have to rely on my mom for transportation in the winter. I have never been into cars. The neatest car I ever had was a 1991 Accord 4 speed 4 door, I bought new when I was 41 and in over the road sales and had to have a dependable car. I put 282,000 miles on it and gave it to my daughter. I have never been a car guy. They just never interested me. Although truthfully my "dream car" if you will, is a Mustang Fastback with a 5.0 liter motor, although I will probably never own one. I just think they look cool. Kinda like a P-51 Mustang from WW2. if I did get another car, it would probably be another Honda Civic for the gas mileage and dependability. Not very exciting huh?

Truthfully.... I know my brother took me for a ride in his Miata when he first got it 8 years ago, but I can't tell you if I have ever driven it. If I have, it didn't make enough of an impression on me to remember lol.

It's also why I never listen to music. Since I was 15 my "wheels" have basically had no radio, so I never got used to listening to music. Most of my music came from a crappy little transistor radio at home, or the 8 track tape player I installed in the Chevy lol. When I sold the Chevy out of my parents front yard a few years later, the 8 track went with it. Even today I don't listen to music and the radio/cd player in my truck which is ten years old probably has less than 5 hours of being turned on. Can't remember the last time I listened to it.

My vehicle needs to lean and the wind is my music

[RockHop_imp]

Hey Rockhop! I had an MG just like that, but with a removable hard top. My wife was my girlfriend at the time, circa 1972. What a fun car! I think I have a photo almost like that, but no sitting on the hood!

Ben

Sitting on the aluminum hood is not a recommended activity for sure.

Guth - about the dash vent ... honestly can't remember .. oh well

[LongRanger_imp]

This is a stock photo, but we've had a '56 XK-140 Roadster identical to this one in the family since 1960. It's fast, but it's a handful to drive and the brakes are scary. It's nice to look at but I'd rather be riding!

[VLJ_imp]

Guth, in addition to older CB1100-type guys, a big part of the Miata fanbase is the young-kid tuner crowd. They like to buy beater originals or second gens and lower them, stance them, throw roll bars in them, different wheels, exhausts, motors, etc., and go be as obnoxious as they can in them.

[Guth_imp]

Mickey, while I suspect you "might" be right regarding your observations about sports cars, I wouldn't totally bet on it. The beautiful thing about a car like the Miata in particular is that you can have an incredible amount of fun without achieving an incredible amount of speed. As far as sports cars go, the Miata has quite a bit of body roll relatively speaking (by pure sports car standards) and the limits of it's handling can be reached more easily in a more predictable fashion than many other sports cars out there. This is one of the primary reasons that the Miata has become the best selling sports car ever. You also might be surprised to learn that the demographic for the Miata is not too terribly different than the demographic for the CB1100 itself. The biggest proponents for these cars tend to be "older guys". Part of the reasons for this is that these cars are actually very well matched for someone whose road-going ambitions match those of your own. That's not so say that you can't have fun wringing their necks so to speak as VLJ and many others are aware (the MX-5 is also one of the most popular race cars out there as you can get into one for dirt cheap (by racing standards at least) yet the racing itself can be intense in that class. These cars truly are a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Have you by chance ever taken your brother's Miata out for a spin?

As far as roof leaks are concerned, as my old Spitfire was my only car at the time (at that point in my life it was my only car ever, lol) I drove it year-round. In Illinois that was less than ideal. Especially as the snow tended to be of the lighter sort that blew around and piled up in drifts all over the place. I attended a community college located 15 miles away. When I would get out of my classes and return to my car in the parking lot I would first need to sweep out the miniature snow drifts that had accumulated on the seats and elsewhere in the car before I would proceed to drive back home. It is safe to say that the top on the Spitfire was not "weather tight", lol. Despite it's many shortcomings (there were a few, lol) I had a total blast with that car.

DAC, like my old Camaro, I consider the 1st gen Firebirds to be incredibly beautiful cars. That was really a "Primo" option as a 1st car back in the day.

Rockhop, great photo, great story! I suppose at this point you can probably conclude that you were the main attraction and not the MGB, lol. Did your particular MGB have the small vent that you could pop open in the top center of the dash?

Stichill, my wife's uncle, who is an all-around awesome guy, previously owned a big Healey. His was a 3000 model, but I do not recall the specifics. He restored it himself (his featured a two-tone maroon and cream finish) and did an amazing job. He won some awards with both his Austin-Healey and with his Triumph TR6 (in French Blue). When it came time to sell one of the two, he decided to let go of the Austin-Healey. He loved the car and it was truly a thing of beauty, but he found the TR6 the easier of the two cars to live with. One of the main factors as he told it was that the engine in the TR6 generated a lot less heat than the engine found in the 3000.

DAC & Stichill, My 6th grade teacher, Miss Jacobsen, seriously could of been a model. She also happened to be every bit as nice as she was beautiful. Her father owned the Chevrolet dealership there in town. Miss Jacobsen drove an early 70's Camaro sporting a custom Hot Pink paint job with the 5 spoke Camaro Rally Mags of that era featuring purple spokes. (As frightening as that might sound, back then it was immensely cool, as was she.). I'll never forget her.

Guth, keep in mind I have been riding a motorcycle as my daily transportation since I was 15 years old and my dad let me get my first street bike. My first car, a year later, was a crappy old 56 Chevrolet 4 door that I bought for $150 and a 22 rifle. It got me thru when the roads were too bad for the motorcycle so I didn't have to rely on my mom for transportation in the winter. I have never been into cars. The neatest car I ever had was a 1991 Accord 4 speed 4 door, I bought new when I was 41 and in over the road sales and had to have a dependable car. I put 282,000 miles on it and gave it to my daughter. I have never been a car guy. They just never interested me. Although truthfully my "dream car" if you will, is a Mustang Fastback with a 5.0 liter motor, although I will probably never own one. I just think they look cool. Kinda like a P-51 Mustang from WW2. if I did get another car, it would probably be another Honda Civic for the gas mileage and dependability. Not very exciting huh?

Truthfully.... I know my brother took me for a ride in his Miata when he first got it 8 years ago, but I can't tell you if I have ever driven it. If I have, it didn't make enough of an impression on me to remember lol.

It's also why I never listen to music. Since I was 15 my "wheels" have basically had no radio, so I never got used to listening to music. Most of my music came from a crappy little transistor radio at home, or the 8 track tape player I installed in the Chevy lol. When I sold the Chevy out of my parents front yard a few years later, the 8 track went with it. Even today I don't listen to music and the radio/cd player in my truck which is ten years old probably has less than 5 hours of being turned on. Can't remember the last time I listened to it.

My vehicle needs to lean and the wind is my music

Even though I dig both cars and motorcycles, and have since I was old enough to hold a license, I will admit to having a special affinity for soft-top sports cars. If you did in fact drive your brother's Miata then obviously your point has been well made.

What I have found is that for me, a convertible allows me to immerse myself every bit as much (maybe even more so) in the visceral experience found via motorcycling. Nothing can replace the lean of course, but unless I'm willing to ride without a helmet, the motorcycle can't match the overall exposure the the senses provided via a roadster (I do understand that anything with roll-up windows technically does not qualify as a roadster). And while the lean might be absent, things like weighting the front and rear tire to allow one to pivot and change direction in the desired fashion do remain intact. I would note that the stereo works just fine in my S2000, but I've never bothered to turn it on while driving ever since I've owned the car. (I tend to do the same thing in my truck, but the audio system in the Tundra is in serious need of help, lol). Whether riding or driving, when left to my own devices my mind is more than capable of filling in any mental space left behind by the lack of music.

The other thing that I personally can appreciate is that whether I am riding my CB1100 or driving the S2000, both experiences benefit from my maintaining smooth inputs and calm reactions. The smoother I get, the more efficient the experience becomes and the easier it is to carry speed, even in the relative sense.

I only go on about this because the thought of you having nothing to look forward to, in terms of road-going experiences, one you hang up your boots actually tends to depress my to some degree. On the other hand, I once had somebody hand over complete control of his airplane for an extended period of time while we were up in the air (even though I had never been in an airplane before). Guys who love to fly likely would have loved such an experience. I have to admit that it did nothing for me, I've never had any interest in learning how to fly, either before or since that experience. in that light I can totally understand where you are coming from.

As usual, your points are well made and offered free of any drama. Man, is that ever frustrating in this case, lol.

[the Ferret]

Guth, in addition to older CB1100-type guys, a big part of the Miata fanbase is the young-kid tuner crowd. They like to buy beater originals or second gens and lower them, stance them, throw roll bars in them, different wheels, exhausts, motors, etc., and go be as obnoxious as they can in them.