Miata Mailing List: June 1993, Message #81
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   From: buck@granite.ma30.bull.com (Kenneth J. Buck)
Subject: Miatas in the Rain
   Date: Fri, 25 Jun 1993 07:08:43 -0400


> I love driving in the rain with the top down - you get so many strange
> looks from people.

i know what you mean.  they all figure you must be crazy, but i figure
i'm only crazy if i'm doing something that's really uncomfortable.
most of the time, driving in the rain is just as good as driving in
the sun, as long as you aren't getting soaked.  it doesn't work
for arouynd-town errands, but it's fine on the highway.

> I've had the rain hit me at speeds <40 mph. Last weekend,
> when I was just getting to Western Illinois Univ., I left the top down
> and it sprinkled in the car (no big deal). Since there was a severe
> T-storm warning I decided to put the top up while I was unpacking.
> The only problem was that I left the windows down!

oops...

> There was so much water in my car - about 1/2 inch in the slot of the
> inner door handle/pull and even water in the ashtray (which was closed) and
> the cassette deck. After closing the windows I tried to clean up the mess.
> Fortunately, the next three days were beautifully sunny and in the upper 80's.
> It took two days for the interior to dry out. I think I learned my lesson
> about leaving the top down when there's a chance of rain!

uh, let's hope so :-)
i'd really like to leave the top down while parked more often,
since the car looks so good like that, but i rarely do, for
several reasons:
- thieves: just being able to *see* the inside makes it all the more
tempting, and it's already tempting enough for my taste...
- rain: you never know when it might rain, although usually you have
a pretty good idea if this is going to be an issue
- birds: this is particularly an issue when parking in a parking lot
with light towers, or when parking near or under trees.
it's bad enough cleaning off the outside of the car when they blast
you, but i don't want to have to do that to the inside... :-(
so far, i've been lucky, but i want to keep it that way.

so far, i haven't filled the car up like a bathtub, the closest i've
come was a trip home on some secondary roads with an approaching
thunderstorm.  driving along, you could see the sky getting ominously
dark, with some pretty good lightning bursts nearby.  it kept getting
darker.  we were only a couple miles from our destination when the
first *big* raindrops hit the windshield.  i dove for the first side
street (which was right there when i needed it, fortunately!), stopped,
and put the top up as fast as i've ever done.  by now, it was raining
pretty good.  within a minute, it was pouring so hard, you couldn't
see to drive.  that's about as close as i want to cut it!

Ken

p.s. i'm forwarding this to the list too, since i figure they
might want to hear stories about Miatas in the Rain...