Miata Mailing List: June 1994, Message #205
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   From: msen!edgewd!sgt (Steve Telehowski)
Subject: Re: winter storage ... in
   Date: Thu, 9 Jun 1994 16:00:00 -0400


John Freie says:

>	I applaud those of you who drive you cars through the snow, but
>here in Syracuse we probably get a bit more than you (more than anyone in
>the US I think).  Last year was milder than before and we got over 14 feet. 
>To deal with the mess the city doesn't plow and instead just dumps salt on
>the roads -- makes for a nice slimy, slippery mess and destroys cars (they
>don't call Syracuse the Salt City fer nuthin).

Sorry, John, I can't let this one go, but you haven't seen snow until
you've spent a winter in the Keewenau (sp?) Peninsula in Michigan's Upper
Peninsula. The area, due in part to the surrounding Lake Superior,
averages about 300 inches a season (yes that's 25 ft.).  One winter
we had only 50 inches by early-February when it really started
snowing.  When it finally stopped at the end of April, we had passed
the 300 inch mark.  Despite the torrid winters, there's some great
Miata roads and beautiful scenery up there too.  

I spent four long years at Michigan Tech. Univ. in Houghton located
at the base of the peninsula three of those years with a 2.3L Mustang
shod with Eagle GT tires.  The only times I ever got stuck was trying
to get in or out of my parking space without shoveling the mound the
plows would leave.  The golden rule was to stay off the steep streets
(unless you were going down :').

Anyway they didn't use salt, they plowwed (a lot, some pretty heavy duty
equipment too) and used sand (quite a mess come spring which was around
June :')  The Mustang looked quite good after its tour of duty.  I
attribute this to an undercoat, frequent washes (during winter too), and
lots of wax especially on non-visible surfaces like door openings.  The 
Miata gets the same treatment (if not better like being kept in a garage)
and I expect it to last a looooong time despite the Detroit saltroads,
err, I mean roadsalt.  Four winters and its still looking great.

I say forget the trickle-chargers and jackstands, give me oversteer and
opposite lock.  Let's go have some fun, snow or no snow.

Steve T.     sgt@edgewood.com