Miata Mailing List: August 1997, Message #11
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From: 	"Werner Cassel" <Cassel@post.med.uni-marburg.de>

Subject: The  visitors

Date: 	Fri, 1 Aug 1997 06:23:22 +0000



Here is a short report about a visit of Tom Matano, one of the Miata 

designers.



The visitors:



In 1994, Petra and I met Tom Matano at Gold Rush.

Through some shared friends, we kept in somewhat loose 

contact. This July, Tom and his wife traveled some European

countries, and they decided to accept our offer to

visit us on the last day of their trip. Plans were

to show them the old town of Marburg in the

afternoon and to have a relaxed dinner at our place

later on.



It did not start out very well though.



I went home frome work a bit earlier because Tom and his

wife intended to be at our home sometime between 3

and 5 PM. There I was, waiting.

After 5 PM, I got a bit nervous and checked out the

news, videotext and traffic reports for potential

problems. Yep, the Autobahn close to Wuerzburg was

blocked ....

They arrived at around 7.30 PM after more than 4

hours in a huge traffic jam. So, the guided tour to

the old town and the castle was skipped, and we

went on to the BBQ. But, at first they took some

pictures of us and them (most in front of Brua (our Miata), who

was dirty inside and outside). Tom said he liked

the German afternmarket wheels I have fitted and

that they looked nice on a Miata.

I started the fire, and then I offered Tom a short

ride in our Miata. He did not want to drive, but

was eager to take a short spin as a passenger. We

drove for around 20 Minutes mainly on twisty

backroads, and he seemed to enjoy it - I did :-).

He said that Brua felt pretty tight for

a 97k miles car.

When we came back, we had a BBQ for dinner and

talked a lot for the rest of the evening. Some

Miataese, some other stuff. Tom had lived in

Germany and worked with BMW 13 years ago, and so he

was interested in the changes that took place in

Germany. He asked me about the modifications on

Brua (he seemed to like them), asked us how and why

we got our US Miata, told us about his first Miata

and the Mods he had done, and talked about their

current Miata (96 M Edition) and the changes he had

done (stiffer springs, lowered) and would do (grey

leather interior). We showed them our favorite Miata photos, and we 

also discussed inter-cultural differences in Miata enthusiasm. 

We also talked a lot about design of furniture and houses, 

our jobs, gardening and many many other things.

.....

As I said, it was areally nice evening, and it

seemed to Petra and I like we had known those

people for some longer time - it was really like

talking to friends. We all went to bed around

midnight, had breakfast at 7 AM next mornig, and

they left for Frankfurt at around 8 AM - after he

signed Brua s trunk lid - I felt a bit foolish asking :-)



They promised to come back to see the old town next

time they are in Germany - hopefully it does not

take 13 years again.





Werner