Spring!!! It’s a special time for all Miata owners. The time when cars come out of hibernation. The time when snow tires can come off and tops can go down. The time when cameras come out to snap trite, heavy-handed spring imagery like you see above.
I just couldn’t help myself. It was my first top down drive in months.
I took a drive in Bucky to enjoy the spring air. Maybe end up somewhere pretty for some pix.
Why Bucky and not Sharka? Well… Bucky still has a convertible top. Going for a top-down drive with Sharka would involve removing the hardtop. Not a difficult thing to do, but I just wanted to hop in and go.
And besides, Bucky has these new gauges.
I call them Version Sunstorm. They’re named after one of my favorite Transformer clones (Yeah, that’s right. I named gauges after a robot.) and they’re based on my own Version Revolver design. However, I changed absolutely every aspect of the Revolvers for this set. Sometimes minor changes, but everything was touched.
Over the holidays, a guy named Justin ordered a set of Revolvers with a yellow tachometer. I had often thought about doing a gauge design with a yellow tach, but had dismissed it due to the Miata not having a central rev counter. I thought having one gauge on the side in a different color would be rather amateurish and boy-racer. Then the gauges came out of my printer and I was stunned. It looked AWESOME.
Fast forward a few months, and now I have a full design based on that custom order. They’re for sale in both NA and NB flavors. I hope to have some NC ones out shortly.
Of course, credit must be given to Ferrari, the originator of the yellow gauge. However, I’m quite proud of this design. It was very very hard to not copy a Ferrari design. Instead, I just kept chipping away at the Revolvers that I made up in 2010 until they looked right.
Maybe the most modern design I’ve ever done. I’m more of a vintage guy, but I enjoyed every minute I spent working on these. Perhaps there will be a few more modern designs in the pipes.
I unveiled these gauges on the various message boards a few weeks before posting about them here. Let me just say, the welcome has been very warm. I’ve never had so many NB orders in a row. Usually my NA customers outnumber the NB drivers by 10 to 1. In the last few weeks, it has been exactly the opposite.
And this is how they light up at night. It’s distracting. It’s extremely loud. And I love it. I get to drive with this every morning while it’s still dark at 6:00a. My Sunstorms don’t match anything else in Bucky’s interior and I don’t care. It’s just so much fun.
I’ll put it this way: the weather has been very nice. I’ve been driving Bucky more than Sharka. That, my friends, is a statement I never thought I’d make.
So, happy spring everyone! If you need me, I’ll be outside.
Yeah yeah, brag about summer; mine just ended! Stupid southern hemisphere.
My NB’s roof goes back up until about September….
But I get to read the same thing every September… hahaha
Fair enough… You could be one of those people that has two houses and follows summer.
Meanwhile, I’ll be in my nice winter-resistant 2011 Fiesta.
Yellow tachs look amazing! I really wish I could get these for my car, but I’m sure I’d never stop staring at them while driving.
I donno. I could probably make something for ya. I clicked your link. VERY pretty yellow car you have there.
Why thank you sir! It’ll look prettier when it can go back in summer mode.
If you could/would actually take on that project I’m sure it would go over quite well. Unfortunately used clusters (to play with) are few and far between since the cars are so new, understandably.
I would very much like one though…..
Offer stands. If you happen across a cluster or if you can do without yours for a week or so, let me know.
It’s starting to sound like this might be the year of the NB for you??? Not at all a bad place to be, since Sharka is………. Done ?!
Possibly! There’s at least more untouched items on it than on Sharka. I donno. The NB is such a good daily driver, I’m hesitant to change much. But there is some low hanging fruit.
I think you are very brave driving a small car in the snow.
Not at all! The lovely Miata balance doesn’t go away when traction becomes scarce. Add a set of snow tires and you’re probably in better control than 90% of the 4WD things on the road.
Taking the overwiev, this post is first class
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