Hi, just found this NG, don't know why it took so long, as I have been active in rec.motorcycles for 13+ years and have owned Miatas for almost that long. I guess we're a Miata family... thought I'd introduce myself.
I'm in northern Virginia, USA, and my current Miata is a '97 M Edition, green with tan top & interior; 50k miles on it. My previous Miata was a red '92 that I bought back in about 1998 with 16k miles on it, drove it for two years, then my wife drove it for five years, and now my grown son has owned/driven it for the past five years. He still has it and it is still his daily driver with about 130k miles that he put on it in Blacksburg VA, Chicago IL, Dallas TX, and most recently in St. Mary's County MD.
My middle son has a 1990 Miata that was his street car until he started doing track days in it, then took NASA's High Performance Driving schools in it, then SCCA's licensing school, then took it off the street entirely, converted it to Spec Miata, and is racing in the NASA mid-Atlantic region this year, and currently is third in the SM standings with his 150,000 mile (head's never been off the engine) former street car.
I'm currently looking for a reputable, high-quality body shop in the greater Washington D.C. area to repair the left side of my Miata; damaged when I spun off the road in West Virginia in the rain in mid- June, when a truck spilled diesel fuel in the exit of a turn... and I was the first of several to hit it, lose control, and - in my case - fetch up against a stand of trees just off the road surface. My son (a Ford tech by trade) has realigned the car and found no chassis or suspension damage (the front left wheel hit a tree hard enough to ram tree bark under the tire bead and deflate the tire) and the car, thank goodness, drives beautifully.
The major impact was sideways, exactly where the driver's door meets the rear quarter panel, crushing the door and the door sill and latch area. Amazingly enough, the door still opens and closes, although the wndow will only lower about 1/3 of its normal travel before interferance from the crushed outer doorskin.
It needs the driver's side rear quarter panel replaced(!), the driver's door replaced, a small repair on the sill beneath the driver's door, and the driver's side front fender replaced or repaired. I'm planning to buy new oem body parts, since the car is pretty much perfect other than this damage.
I'm currently contacting local bodyshops that are highly rated in Washington Checkbook magazine, but any personal experiences and/or recommendations would be welcome.
Oh, and sorry that XS11E won't see this post, as I use Google Groups these days, and I see that he filters them out. I enjoyed his contributions to "Reeky" (rec.motorcycles) for many, many years.
Oh, other background information:
Previous sportscars owned:
1960 MGA 1969 Triumph GT6+ 1971 Triumph GT-6 MkIV 1971 Triumph Spitfire 1973 Triumph GT-6 MkIV 1992 Mazda Miata 2001 BMW Z3 3.0i CoupeCurrent motorcycles:
2006 Ducati S4Rs Monster 2006 Harley FLHXI Street Glide 2000 Ducati 750SS 2006 Ducati 1000SS trackday bike 1967 Honda CL90 pitbikeHauler:
2006 Chevy Silverado 2500HD Ext Cab LB, 8.1l, 2WDTim