black na with yellow hardtop at harbor frieght

[miata5620]

saw a black na with yellow hardtop at the harbor freight in lilburn. had a roll bar in it and also looked lowered. always nice to see another miata when i am at work.

[iscariot]

black stripes on the top? that's my dads.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_XkxLua5W3H0/SAu6afZbCtI/AAAAAAAACos/lUnpTOqwBeE/s800/IMG_0598.JPG

just checked - yep, he was there.

He got that one off craigslist for $1500 after I got my first one. It reminds him of his first car, an MGB Sprite. Then the bug hit him - smoked signals, H4 light housings, hard top, got the wheels powdercoated and new rubber along with a remote spare mount and new muffler this week. Not lowered, just busted suspension - I think my setup turned him off to upgrading/stiffening it.

[miata5620]

yeah that was the car.

[LagunaRoadster]

nice setup, I saw it at the DIY meet and thought the yellow looked neat.

[Pitt]

Its like a Bumble Bee or Yellow Jacket.

[Georgia Cracker]

iscariot - not trying to star anything, but there is no such thing as an MGB Sprite. There is an MGB, or an Austin Healey Sprite (same thing as an MG Midget).

Your dad has a neat looking car, and got his for the same reason as me. My first sports car was an MG Midget. Now the Miatas have gotten down to the prices MG's were a million years ago when I was most of y'alls age. Now I am acquiring one for each of my family. We're up to three so far, just like you guys.

[Atlanta93LE]

My first sports car was an MG Midget.

Me too! What year? Mine was a '73; one of the few years with rounded rear wheel arches.

[quadmasta]

Nice SHO in the garage. I can't see the tail lights enough to know if it's a Gen1 or Gen2 though :)

[iscariot]

Bah - brainfart - you're correct. Austin Healy Bugeye sprite.

1990 SHO, my first car. Just completed a rebuild, should've brought that to the megameet instead of the plain jane miata. At least it's pretty.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_XkxLua5W3H0/SOlegDzvWYI/AAAAAAAADaA/78Q8gwsszGY/s800/IMG_3871.JPG

[Georgia Cracker]

My first was a '62 Midget. Many more came in the ensuing years including three Bugeyes. I lust after another, but have too many cars now.

[quadmasta]

I used to drive a 91 SHO Plus. My dad neglected normal maintenance so it ended up being a money pit.

[Jack-MX5ATLanta.com]

What's the deal with these SHO cars? I've heard a bit about them but not really looked into them with much depth. Certainly an attractive engine.

[quadmasta]

It's got a Yamaha 3.0L DOHC V6. It was REALLY revolutionary for a car of its time. Its drivetrain was supposed to go into the DeTomaso Pantera to replace the 351C. DeTomaso went belly up so Ford didn't want to waste all of this money so they crammed it into the Taurus, upgraded the suspension and put a lot of options in it, tada! SHO. Ford took 5 or 6 SHO drivetrains and 5 or 6 Festivas, made the cars about 9" wider per side in the *** end and made a mid-engine monster they called the SHOgun. Leno's got one :)

The motor, from '89, had a lot of features that are common in todays engines; namely variable length intake runners.

[iscariot]

Yeap - high revving, 3.0l v6. Accessory-limited to 7.2k redline, but remove those (who needs an alternator anyway?) and they would rev to 9 till tomorrow - or so they say. 220hp 210ft/lb, with a nice flatish torque curve past 2k.

Grocery-getter with a 5 speed, subtle enough to be a sleeper. And I swear - the most comfortable bucket seats you have ever sat in. If they weren't 3 inches too wide, 5 inches too tall, I would gladly stick them in the miata.

Great engines - but time has passed them by, considering the base level taurus now comes with a 260hp v6 out of the box.

I'll be happy when I get everything finally put back together, A/C works, no more clunks in the suspension, interior is back in, yadda yadda. The engine parts are getting very rare, the transaxles have a tendency to eject their diff pins through the case and are getting hard to find - but I can always pick from 20 other Taurus's in pullapart for body items.

[quadmasta]

I'm seriously considering a 2010 SHO. 365Hp twin-turboed awd paddle shifted twin clutch 6-spd automatic.
http://ll.speedhunters.com/u/f/eagames/NFS/speedhunters.com/Images/Mike%20Garrett/1FebFeatures/sho/sho2.jpg