Most of this text was originally published on Miata.Net

Mary has loved Mazda Miatas for a long time; she thinks that they are just so darn cute. Long before she fell in love with Mercedez-Benz SLK’s and her current VW Beetle convertible, she had test driven several Miatas, liked them but could never afford one. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer* she decided that life was too short to wait and she wanted to start competing SCCA autocrosses on one condition– in a white Miata!

We began looking at early NA Miatas, only some of them were not white but all of them were interesting. It started with a white 1990 model with factory BBS wheels that we came close to purchasing until the salesman let it slip that the car had recently been repossessed from a stripper who had stopped payment on the check and had hid the car in a stable with some horses. While test driving this car, Mary noticed that it made some funny noises (maybe they were whinnies) but when we heard that tale she decided to pass.

Mary and I haunted the usual car search websites and one Saturday, we compiled a list of cars and went in search of an affordable, perfect Miata. We started with a black ’96 that had steel wheels. While the miles were reasonable the car had seen hard use as an urban assault vehicle. The husband of the really nice old, hippie couple who owned the car pointed at the hump in the hood and said “see that! You wrap a half a chicken in aluminum foil and drive up to the mountains and lunch will be done when you get there.” I don’t think the Colonel’s secret herbs and spices included Castrol or STP.

We called the next two owners on our list and left messages and decided to go take a look at a car that was further away. Along the way we drove by a Mazda dealer and asked if they had any Miatas we could afford. “Nope,” the nice saleslady said but Bob in Parts is trying to sell his ’93.” It’s got a lot of miles (186,000 miles it turned out) “but the engine is all chrome and get this,” he says excitedly, “It has teeth.” Fresh from the mouth of Ralph the Shark there’s stainless steel teeth chomping away in the front grill. The engine was a work of art, but when Mary tries to sit inside, the smell of tobacco smoke stops her in her tracks. “We can get somebody to de-stinkify it,” says Bob.

Ultimately we did find the car you see on this page. And while that Miata is long gone from the garage but it not forgotten and she still talks about this car and misses it.

*Update: Since this was originally written Mary has undergone surgery and radiation therapy and a few years ago was declared “cancer free” by her oncologist

“If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”- Mark Twain.

A common phrase that you sometimes hear in the car business is that you have to “kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince,” meaning that you have to look at a lot of sad, bad cars to find the real gems. I’m guessing that in the automotive weirdness we’re all dealing with now, it’s even worse…

If you read my post When Mary’s MX-5 Was Miata of the Month, you got to read about some of the Mazda frogs we kissed to find the right Miata for her, including one with shark’s teeth,  The toothy Miata shown at left was not that one, this is a much nicer car than that one but the photograph gives you an idea of the effect. If the Miata we looked at was in as good shape as this blue car, I would have played part-time dentist.

We went through a similar process when Mary and I looked for a car to enter in The Great Race, which at that time required cars be of a specific vintage. Originally, I wanted to have a Ford Falcon because of the nostalgia factor but it’s a simple car that should have been able to handle a cross country rallye as well as being easy to fix when the inevitable old car breakdowns occurred. I found an early Futura, similar to my original Falcon, in Minnesota and asked a friend who lives near Burnsville to take a look at it. Not only was it not a real Futura but it was a rust bucket. And that’s one of the challenges of finding an old car that was originally inexpensive; people don’t seem to take care of them.

Then we went looking for a 1958-’60 Thunderbird “squarebird.” In 1958, Ford made 38,000 Thunderbirds and produced 200,000 over the three years the cars of this design. Although I was unable to find the original price of this car (if anybody knows, click Contact and tell me, I’ll send you a nice prize) but they were not cheap. The squarebird frog seen here was nice and was affordable but the cost of making it reliable enough for a cross-country trek was prohibitive for us. And while nicer examples of the hardtop model were available (at the time) those cars was outside our budget for this project.

We ultimately ended up with a 1953 Packard Clipper and while you can read some information about the car in that linked post, there is a “rest of the story…” aspect to our Great Race plans that will have to wait for another time, after the pain is gone.

So Mary and I have kissed a few frogs along the way in our search for automotive nirvana. And that’s kind of where I find myself today. It’s been more than three years since I sold my Mecedes Benz CLA 250. No, I don’t miss it but with all it’s quirks I like it better that driving one of Mary’s three cars. With the skyrocketing costs of even marginal cars it may be a while before I can find a car for myself. If you have any suggestions for affordable and interesting cars, click Contact and tell me about them. Thanks.

If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to buy Joe a cup of Earl Grey tea ($2.50), click here.

We all have cars that we’ve owned and miss because for reasons we can’t always remember, we sold. Today, it’s about Mary’s Miata. If you would like to write a post about one of your favorite cars, drop me note using the Contact tab above.

Mary has loved Mazda Miatas for a long time and thinks that they are just so darnn cute. In the past few years she’s test driven several Miatas but could never afford one. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer 13 years ago she decided that life was too short to wait and she wanted to start running autocrosses on one condition– in a WHITE MIATA!

We began looking at early NA Miatas, only some of them were not white but all of them were interesting. It started with the white 1990 model with BBS wheels that we came close to purchasing until the salesman let it slip that the car had recently been repossessed from a stripper who had stopped payment on the check and had hid the car is a stable with some horses. While test driving the car, she noticed that it made some funny noises but when we heard that tale Mary decided to pass.

Mary and I haunted the usual car search websites and one Saturday, we compiled a list of cars and went in search of the affordable Miata. We started with a black ’96 with steel wheels. While the miles were reasonable the car had seen hard use as an urban assault vehicle. The nice old, hippie couple who owned the car pointed at the hump in the hood and said “see that! You wrap a half a chicken in aluminum foil and drive up to the mountains and lunch will be ready when you get there.” I don’t think the Colonel’s secret herbs and spices included Castrol.

We called the next two owners on our list and left messages and decided to go take a look at a car that was further away. Along the way we drove by a Mazda dealer and asked if they had any Miatas for sale. “Nope,” the nice saleslady said but Bob in Parts is trying to sell his ’93.” It’s got a lot of miles (186,000 it turns out) “but the engine is all chrome and get this,” he says excitedly, “It has teeth.” Fresh from the mouth of “Ralph the Shark” there’s stainless steel teeth chomping away in the front grill. The engine is a work of art but when Mary tries to sit inside the car, a stong smell of tobacco smoke stops her in her tracks. “We can get somebody to de-stinkify it,” says Bob. But there’s more to how she came to get the particular Miata pictured…

Update: Since this was originally written Mary has undergone surgery and radiation therapy and was declared “cancer free” by her oncologist. The Miata is now gone from the garage but it not forgotten and she still talks about this car and misses it. That’s why I’ve been looking for a clean unmolested example, with manual transmission for her but so far have just been ‘kissing frogs.’

This website’s subtitle is “the home of Tortuga Racing…” and from time to time I receive e-mail asking What is Tortuga Racing?

Tortuga Racing was originally started in 2001 by Mary and I and consisted of the cars that we competed with in various forms of motorsports at that time—a Mazda Miata for Mary and and my VW GTI 337—and with which we participated in various forms of amateur motorsports such as SCCA Solo2, autocrosses, as well as import drag racing.

We wanted our little racing team to have a distinctive name and one that was not already being used. In case you didn’t already know it, tortuga is Spanish for turtle, which gives you some idea of the type of racers we were and are. Our motto was “never last” because while we didn’t think we could win any trophies—OK, Mary thought she could—and competed mostly for fun.

Along the way a talented graphic designer in Las Vegas came up with a logo for our team featuring Tomas, the turtle wearing goggles and sporting racing slicks instead of feet. His look was inspired by the movie series featuring the flying, fire-breathing turtle Gamera and if you’re not a fan of Japanese kaiju films you may not get that.

The Tortuga Racing logo appeared on T-shirts, shorts, tank tops like the one that aspiring model Sabrina is wearing at right and, at the time, were given away to fans of my blogs and this site.

Mary and I had a lot of fun with Tortuga Racing and somewhere in time the exigencies of the real world caught up with us and Tomas went into hibernation.

Tomas was not the only one in hibernation but sometime next year Mary and I want to bring Tortuga Racing back and have begun looking for a car or cars we can both enjoy and compete with but no deals have been made as of yet. And I’ll update this page when that changes.

PS. I’d like to make new T-shirts thisyear but the screen printing company who made the original Tortuga Racing shirts and specialized in small runs is out of business and if you know of anybody who can do short runs of affordable shirts, please drop me an e-mail via the Contact button at the top of the page. I’ll make sure you get one of the new shirts.

In the spring I happened across a story about the annual Grand Prix Festival at Watkins Glen, NY. I mentioned his event to a fellow photo club member and he raved about it as he had been there a few years ago with his Lotus. I registered my partner Cathy and I for the Roadster Rally in my 1988 Mazda Rx7 convertible. Our group of Roadster Rallyists was limited to two-seater convertibles only—if you had a t-bar roof you need not apply! There were other rallies available to other car types and even motorcycles.

We met at a park in nearby Montour Falls. As we were greeted by the other members of this particular rally, I was struck by the distinct display of cars. Peter and his wife Gerry were parked beside us in their Miata which they won in a raffle. John and Sue were behind us in a 12 cylinder Jaguar E-type with more chrome under the hood than I’ve ever seen on a Jag. He bought it on eBay from photos without seeing the car. Beside them was the father and son duo of George Senior and Junior in another beautiful black Jaguar. I’m not sure which had more variety: the cars or the people!

During the meeting we quickly realized that this was a navigational rally of sorts. I have participated in my fair share of rallies, but Cathy and I had not entered a navigational rally for almost thirty years. I was hoping for a “follow the leader” event here. After all, my car has an odometer that was in kilometers and not miles. My plan was to simply follow the bright yellow Pontiac Solstice in front of us. The organizers had outsmarted me however as the route map had both miles AND kilometers on it! It is a good thing too because within 45 minutes you could see participants scattering in various directions. I thought of the bumper sticker “Don’t follow me-I’m lost too!”

The highlight of the day was to drive two laps of the original Watkins Glen course used in the late 40’s to early 50’s through downtown which included crossing the train tracks and Stone Bridge . The pace was slow and safe through the town as an estimated 20,000 spectators lined the sidewalks. Once we were out of town on the back part of the circuit I had a quick look at my speedometer and I am sure that it was higher than the posted limit!

After we parked and settled into Watkins Glen, a selection of racers that were participating in the US Vintage Grand Prix at the nearby Watkins Glen International racetrack did a run through town. Ahh, the sights, the sounds, the smells. As we were leaving the track on Sunday and we shared a final wave with George Jr., I was reminded of something our bed and breakfast host had said months before when we made our reservations, “This is better than Christmas!”

Senior International Travel Correspondent, John Larsen has created a photo magazine documenting the 2016 Watkins Glen Grand Prix Festival. You can preview a copy of the magazine and purchase either a printed or digital version by clicking here.

Other than a few year-round Cars & Coffee events, the local car show season is over. And so is most motorsports, even amateur events, especially here in Colorado where we’ve already had some snowfall in the mountains.

Nevertheless, I hope to attend the LA Auto Show and we also hope to be at the Vehicle Vault’s October 8 Cars & Coffee event. I’m testing a Nikon D810 and AF-S Nikkor 105mm f/1.4E ED lens for Shutterbug magazine and will be bringing it along to make some phonographs—maybe some that will appear in the magazine.

As we move into fall, one of the projects I hope to get launched is the “Your Car; Our Website” concept. Staring in October I will be actively looking to interview the owners of interesting cars and feature them on this site throughout the Winter.

And before you get to thinking that this is just for owners of Duesenbergs or Lamborghinis the answer is no. All you have to do is look at John Larsen’s RX7 (featured) and read his story and you’ll know what we are looking for—and interesting car with an interesting story

I would like to feature your car in the same way we did with John’s. Click on the Contact button and tell us about your car in a sentence or too. We’ll make arrangements to photograph the car and sit down and talk with you about it and it will be featured in an upcoming blog post. There is no charge for this; this is just a way of showing the kinds of cars that readers of this blog drive.

There is one caveat—and you know there would be—and that is people living in Colorado will get photographed first. Your have two options if you’re out-of-state:

• It may take me while to get around to photographing you car but this is going to be an ongoing series. When I will be out-of-state, I’ll post a travel notice and make it easy for you to get in touch with me when I’m on the road.
• If you have a good picture of your car and can write your story about the car, we’ll treat it as a guest post. But, check first (click Contact) for details on how many words to submit and image file sizes.

A couple of years ago my fiftieth birthday was staring me in the face. Like many people, my life had not evolved as planned. I thought it would be the ideal time to take a trip with the sole purpose of photography. I’ve always wanted to go to Churchill, Manitoba in northern Canada photograph polar bears in the wild. It was exactly the kind of the adventure I was seeking; until I started to do my research! Due to the short season, remoteness and lack of accommodations, the cost for one week was more than anticipated and I could not justify the expense.

Earlier the same year a friend-of-a-friend had joined us for our annual trip to the Rolex 24 in Daytona. This guy was an auto enthusiast and had more cars, trucks and motorcycles than most small dealers. I heard about an old Mazda RX7 that he might be selling. I have always liked the RX7 that had a removable Targa top and a sporty front air dam, so I asked if this was the model. He confirmed that it was. While I thought it was interesting, I tucked this away in my memory based on the rumored price.

Months after I had decided that my photo adventure was not going to happen, I contacted the Mazda owner to see if he still had the car and if it was for sale. He confirmed that it was and invited me to visit. With that, I called my Dad to see if he wanted to make a road trip and off we went.

We arrived to see it in the driveway but this was not the Targa version that I’d envisioned. This was the newer body style with a convertible roof. It did have the BBS wheels that were only available on these models. It had more mileage than I had hoped and as a result had more stone chips on the hood than I would have liked. However I have cars to drive them, not to just show them and trailer them around. After a short test drive with Dad I was still hesitant. I did not feel that the price that had been mentioned to me by our mutual friend was justifiable for a summer toy. When I asked the owner the standard “How much?” his response was almost half of what I had expected. Now I had to give this purchase serious consideration! After all it was even cheaper than that one week photographic journey would have been.

As I was leaving, the owner eyed my Subaru WRX and said that if I wanted to borrow the RX7 for a weekend and leave my WRX I could get a better idea of whether the Mazda was for me. We arranged for the following weekend and swapped cars on the Friday evening. It was the ideal evening to cruise home “topless” with the roof down. I stopped at a burger joint to grab a bite where my niece, Jenna, was working. When I brought her outside to show her the car she said “Wow, Uncle John, that is really, umm, old.” I replied, “Yes it is, Jenna, just like your Uncle John”.

After driving another thirty minutes, I pulled over in the next town and called the owner and all I said was, “I’ll take it!”

Senior International Travel Correspondent, John Larsen is located in the Greater Toronto Area, whose PhotoGraffics website contains samples of motorsports and hot air balloon photography from numerous Canadian balloon festivals.

It was a dark and stormy night… Well it wasn’t nighttime but there was a chill wind blowing 40-degree temperatures across the parking lot at the Vehicle Vault for the May edition of Cars and Coffee.

Each month I had planed to do something different; last month I shot the show using an infrared-converted camera and this month, inspired my friend Mark Toal’s soft focus photography at a car museum I was going to try shooting with the Skink Pinhole lens to create something completely different.

But no, that didn’t happen because a combination of soft focus with dark clouds with flat lighting is a recipe for boring and even shooting normally with my Olympus E-P3 and “the worst lens ever made” was a challenge.

Because of the weather, the show’s attendance was down slightly but was helped when a large contingent of mostly current generation Camaros showed up. And yes, that is a Chevrolet engine in that Mazda Miata, with a build courtesy of Flying Miata. And the installation was so perfect the engine looked like it was designed for this tiny car. The owner told me because the engine block is aluminum, the swap only added 150 pounds overall to the car and they were able to move the weight slightly rearward than where the standard Miata 4-cylinder sits. This kind of stuff is why I love Cars & Coffee.

Coming Next Month: For a change of pace, Mary and I will be at the First Saturday Cars & Coffee in Colorado Springs on June 4th, when the host club will be the Pikes Peak Little British Car Club. We are also planning (and as yet confirmed) holding a Coffee an& Camera event at a nearby Starbucks after the show. Watch this blog for details as we get plans firmed up.