My Daily Driver: @midnightdorifto's Mazda Miata

1. How did you come to the decision of buying this car?

Haphazardly and with virtually zero foresight, which is entirely out of character for someone who is studiously researching the car they want to buy (import?) 5 years from now. I woke up on a Thursday morning with zero desire to own a Miata, received a phone call, and by Saturday morning I was a Miata owner. Didn’t have a place to store it, it didn’t run, and I didn’t even know if I fit in the car. Real sound decision making throughout the whole process.

2. What has your ownership experience been like?

Both the bane of my existence and a flood of proud accomplishment. When you buy a car that doesn’t run, it’s sort of like you’ve got 200 bowling balls that you need to store somewhere long-term that excrete fluids and accumulate both spiders and invoices. The car first fired to life in my ownership after about a year and a half at 2AM on a Monday morning. Having put the car together with the assistance of YouTube, Chilton, and generous friends who in no way took pity on my mechanical abilities, there is this sort of pure, almost inaccessible joy that comes with fixing something that was destined for destruction. Of course, it’d be another two years before it was ready to daily drive in virtually stock trim, but that’s a different story. It’s been my primary means of conveyance on and off for the last 3-4 years now despite owning more reliable and more comfortable vehicles. Again, sound decision making.

3. What is your fondest memory with this car?

Probably getting it on a dyno. That’s a weird sort of memory since I wasn’t even driving, but for me the car went from a scribbled notepad of ideas to something that cleared major project milestones and was reliable enough to drive to work and back. Taking something from a pile of parts in my backyard (now with the help of a shop and a knowledgeable tuner, it’s all fun and games until you introduce forced induction) has been a journey that I was not expecting to be as rewarding as it was. The car went from running on two cylinders in my girlfriend’s carport to being a rather quick little roadster.

4. Why do you love cars?

Oh I have no idea. I thought it was genetic, and I still think it might have something to do with being brought up in car culture from a very young age, but I’m not sure it’s just nature at work. I love the history and the stories and the idiosyncrasies and the solitude and the camaraderie and brilliant engineering and The Good Colors. I love having a special language that allows me to immediately access people on their level. I sort of love the whole bit. 

Ed.: Read more of @midnightdorifto's thoughts at Trust in the Machine.

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If you would like to participate, just answer the above four questions and submit one to three photos of your daily driver to milhousevanh at geemail. Thanks and have fun!