Miata Mailing List: August 1993, Message #119
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   From: steve@laforge.ksc.nasa.gov (Steve Davis)
Subject: Roll bars, roll-overs, and gasoline
   Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1993 16:21:23 -0400



The recent discussion of roll bars and such has reminded me of something:

When I first test-drove a Miata, the salesman claimed that the windshield
frame would support three times the weight of the car.  I took that with a
rock of salt  and ignored it, as it wasn't really important to my purchase
decision.

Now I'm wondering if there's anything to what he said.  My initial gut
feeling, as now, was that it was total B.S.  Even if you could turn your
Miata upside down and stack two more on top of it without the windshield
frame collapsing, would that really buy you anything in a rollover?  (I
assume that the 3x claim is a static measurement, if it was ever actually
measured at all.)

While we're on the subject of bogus (or suspect) dealer claims, the same
salesman also told me never to use _higher_ than 87 octane gasoline in the
Miata-- that the engine would stall otherwise.  Fact or fantasy?

Regards,

Steve
'93 Classic Red "A"