I’ve been holding out. I apologize.

We’ve got a new car. Of course, not really new, but new to me…

I’ve come to realize that most people associate me to one of two cars… a Civic – the “newer” generation and a Miata – the “seasoned” generation.

Below is “Antigone” – a base model 2001 NB Miata – and it was, bar-none overall, the best car that I have ever owned. It was easy to work on, parts were cheap, the community was not filled of toxic car culture, and it was fun to drive – and even more fun once I got the torsen LSD in.

Sadly, I had to get rid of the car as I couldn’t afford to keep it at the time. If there was one car that I could choose to regret selling, this would be the one…

As years went on, my other half kept prodding me about possibly getting another Miata as she enjoyed Antigone. She even recommended to get “the one where the lights flip up and down” instead of an NB – which would be tougher as NAs are more desired and more expensive.

WhiIe casually looking through Facebook marketplace, I ended up seeing one that might have been of interest.

However it was on another island.

After some back and forth coordination with the seller, I decided to fly over “just to check it out.”

My initial impression upon seeing the car was that it was visually in bad shape… there were dings and dents everywhere, paint was peeling, and there was rust. But the first thing that the guy tells me is that the car was prepped – and used – for autox.

Damn. Like foreals. Damn.

It didn’t take long for me to fill him in that I too did autox on Oahu and for both of us to converse about it.

He immediately let me take the car out for a test drive.

Holy sh!t.

The car drove so solid and felt planted to the road – the shifting also felt brand new. He told me he replaced a lot of parts on the car as it wasn’t running when he bought it.

He was also not shy in telling me to really let her go. He encouraged me to redline it, slam on the brakes, take some hard turns… He took me out to a fairly windy road to test out her capabilities.

Needless to say it didn’t take long to fall in love with the car. As much of an eye sore it was, the excitement that came with being behind the wheel of the chassis again overwhelmed me.

With some more coordination, I bought the car and had it shipped over.

In the tradition of my naming of cars – please meet “Adelphia” – which interestingly enough means “sister” in greek – the sister to Antigone.

What ended up happening was it arrived at the port the day before the final SCCA race at the stadium. Though the opportunity presented itself, I opted to take the Civic instead and my brother the S2000.

However, at the event, after my brother’s first run, the S did not want to start, even after trying to jump and kickstart it. By some stroke of luck, the car started when I turned the key. Not wanting to potentially get the car stuck at the stadium, I told my brother to bring his S back home and to bring over the Miata instead.

So we were able to take it out for a spin as well, in all its E Street preparedness.

Overall the worst part of the car is the outside, but everything else is pretty damn sweet.

Expect a slow progress for this throughout the year, but it’s such an exciting thing to be able to share the progress with you all.

Endgame goals? I definitely want to bag this sucker and drop it on some Work Wheels, but it’ll have to go through a few iterations before it gets there…

Till next time RiceFans!