Merlin's MX5
Merlin's MX5
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I'm starting a thread for him cos he hasn't gotten around to it yet. When he got it (I'll let him fill in the spec etc) it was untouched and in need of some TLC. Adam was collecting ideas at JAE last year and the various events we've been to at the Pod. He told me lots of ideas he'd had and mentioned a thing or two he'd done but at Waxstock I was very surprised at how much he's done already and the little car has changed so far. He got some lovely wheels from FossilFuels and did this under the bonnet: [/COLOR]
Ok, after some (a lot!) of pestering from the Purple one I have put aside some time to update & enlighten you all about my MX-5!
You lucky people
I bought the car in June 2013 having driven quite a few, customers cars, over the years I spent in the garage trade.
When I bought it, all I wanted was a softtop car to drive in the summer, something that was rear wheel drive for that little extra fun
This one came up at the right price and made it possible for me to get rid of the boring Kia estate I had at the time...!
Once Witchy found out what I'd bought (OK I couldn't wait to tell her & send pictures) she started on about this car club she was involved in and that I HAD to join, now I owned a Jap car..!
The people I have met and the fab cars I have seen in the last 12 months make it one of the best decisions I have made in a long time!
So.... to the car..
It was a very standard MX-5 when I got it.
Standard that is, apart from the N/S/R wobbly wheel, knackered bearing and bent lower arm bolt.
I strongly suspect this was from the previous (Hoonigan) owner learning the art of drifting & failing miserably! :o
Fisrt job then, was to replace said bearing, as the radio was only just able to drown out the noises it was making.
It worked out cheaper to buy 2nd hand rear hubs, than it was to purchase new bearings..
Other than that it was quite a sound vehicle with the usual sill rot, that had been so called repaired for it's freash MoT.
This is the image from Autotrader
As you can see, a good base to start from
Now... having bought it, driven it hard, joined OJC and been to a few events, I have caught the bug again.
A few ideas have been swirling around in me noggin for a while now!
First off I was convinced that I would JUST paint the calipers in blue, to give it some identity.....
Then I bought a hardtop for it, which just happened to be yellow!
My initial thoughts were, "It's OK I'll respray it black, to match the rest of the car."
So at Japshow Finale 2013, I arrived on the Sunday with this yellow roof.
It kinda looked really good and a few club members said it would be good to keep it yellow.
There were some suggestions & ideas of what else could be done, to enhance the look too.
.
After loads of failed ideas, the Black/Yellow theme has stood the test of time & will be the ongoing project for this car.
When it was just black, each time I cleaned it and went out for a drive it seem to attract as much dust as possible, giving it a dull finish on my return.
In frustration I started calling the car 'DU5TY'!
Then as I was following (trying to keep up with) Sachi, going to Japshow Finale 2013, Samantha thought it would be a good idea to call my car "BumbleGnat" because it is black & yellow and she could see it buzzing around behind her in a desparate attempt to keep visual contact with her.
That name seems to have stuck :w00t:
You can follow BumbleGnats adventures on Twitter too...!
It's a nice motor mate! Keep up the good work, and I agree the roof looks good!