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Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
Somewhat long tale, to make a very small point. But funny.
So, many of you know that my daily driver is a '96 Miata. It is stock, and well used. This car has been my only car since I got it in the spring of 1999-I drive it everywhere, all weathers. It has been peerlessly reliable-it has failed to start on exactly two occasions.
Till today-I was going out to go do some rail photography, and I stopped at 7-11 for a Coke. It cranked over for a minute and stopped-traffic noise kept me from hearing anything untoward. Try again-and I get no reaction at all. No lights, no buzzers, no nuttin'. So I called my Dad who came out to help.
Our first thought was maybe I blew out a fuse-it stopped working very suddenly. Pulled a few likely candidates, everything checks out. By now the car has sat for 45 minutes or so, and Dad suggests trying again. We get some warning lights and a couple loud clicks, then nothing. Which means the battery has some juice, and what's there is getting to the ignition system-so we jump it. Took two tries-the battery was so far gone-but it caught and I drove it back home without incident. Car singularly fails to start once it's back home.
So I need a new battery, and am digging around in the trunk trying to find out what kind I have (I'm likely getting a WestCo., for those of us who know these things). It's a Panasonic-the original one. Original to the car....let me reiterate that this car is a 1996. That would be 12 years ago, or 144 months. What's the average? Thirty six months?
I'd totally say I got my money's worth out of it!
-Wm.
So, many of you know that my daily driver is a '96 Miata. It is stock, and well used. This car has been my only car since I got it in the spring of 1999-I drive it everywhere, all weathers. It has been peerlessly reliable-it has failed to start on exactly two occasions.
Till today-I was going out to go do some rail photography, and I stopped at 7-11 for a Coke. It cranked over for a minute and stopped-traffic noise kept me from hearing anything untoward. Try again-and I get no reaction at all. No lights, no buzzers, no nuttin'. So I called my Dad who came out to help.
Our first thought was maybe I blew out a fuse-it stopped working very suddenly. Pulled a few likely candidates, everything checks out. By now the car has sat for 45 minutes or so, and Dad suggests trying again. We get some warning lights and a couple loud clicks, then nothing. Which means the battery has some juice, and what's there is getting to the ignition system-so we jump it. Took two tries-the battery was so far gone-but it caught and I drove it back home without incident. Car singularly fails to start once it's back home.
So I need a new battery, and am digging around in the trunk trying to find out what kind I have (I'm likely getting a WestCo., for those of us who know these things). It's a Panasonic-the original one. Original to the car....let me reiterate that this car is a 1996. That would be 12 years ago, or 144 months. What's the average? Thirty six months?
I'd totally say I got my money's worth out of it!
-Wm.
