By Andy Lindberg –
I guess for most of you it was the no-sportscar season. You were out there braving those plowed freeways in your all-wheel-drive crossover barges. Toasting your buns in a minivan’s heated seats. Testing your anti-lock brakes and traction control on the black ice. Hoping that you pay off your 6-year loan before your rocker panels rust off.
Well, I was doing the same thing. Only in my 2012 Miata. It’s got the heated seats, the anti-lock brakes, the traction control, and the rocker panels to worry about. Of course it’s rear-wheel drive and still wearing summer tires but that only meant I got to feel the anti-locks fighting for traction more often than in Linda’s Blizzak-equipped Mazda3.
When our vintage cars were new, they most often saw wintertime usage also. One of my favorite Triumph pictures appeared in the March 1958 issue of Sports Car Illustrated. It shows a TR3 in the snow with a side-mounted ski rack. The author of the review praised the heater and said he only did one 360 — and that on a racetrack’s ice patch. He did, however, complain about the side curtains’ sealing. Something that we current TR3 owners also complain about in the rain.
The Miata seals up much more securely than any TR3 ever dreamt of doing. As a matter of fact, the Miata with the top down is as warm as the TR3 with its up. So I’ve driven it sans top to Elsie’s on more than a few Saturday mornings in February and March. Neither the Miata nor I (nor the TR3) are going to last forever and driving them top-down when I can is good for my soul. Better than driving a hermetically sealed Escalade umpteen freeway miles so I can stand on the shore of Lake Superior and take a selfie of myself “roughing it.” Your mileage may vary.