*** MX-5 Miata Of the Month ***
March 2007Rey Reyes
Congratulations to Rey Reyes on the selection of his Miata as the MCP's Miata of the Month for March |
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March 2007Rey Reyes
Congratulations to Rey Reyes on the selection of his Miata as the MCP's Miata of the Month for March |
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When the Miata was first introduced in the local market in 1996, my dream of owning a convertible sports car seemed to be approaching reality. Although the P760,000 tag price seemed affordable at that time, other priorities in life were blurring the realization of my dream. But in September of 1997, Mazda started selling their Miatas at a discount and the price went down to P599,000! It was like buying a brand-new car for the price of a second hand! I wasted no time in rushing to Mazda Autocenter in Pasong Tamo and placed an order for a red Miata. For me, there is only one color for a sports car ? Red.
I did not inform my wife of this major purchase since I wanted to surprise her. “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind”, I kept on reassuring myself, “since after all, I’ve been working hard all these years and this is just my reward for my blood, sweat and tears.” And so on that bright , sunny Saturday morning in September of 1997, I picked up my Miata at the dealership and drove home with it. As I pulled up on the driveway, my sons started rushing out and shouted, “Hey Mom, it’s Dad in a new car!” My wife could not believe what she heard, so she went out to take a look herself. And lo and behold, it was I behind the steering wheel of a brand-new RED MAZDA MIATA! “Whose car is that? ”, she asked, and I replied, “It’s mine”, with a wide grin on my face. Well, those were the last words I heard from her for the next two days. She could not accept the fact that I made a major purchase without informing her. In 1998, my business started feeling the effects of the Asian crisis, and whenever I would talk to my wife about our financial bind, she would always tell me, “Sell your sports car and you will solve your problems”. And so, one year after I bought my dream sports car, and with barely 1,000 km on the odometer, I turned over the keys of my dream car to its new owner, a swinging lady in her 40s. A few months after, cash started flowing in and my eye was again on ? what else ? a Miata! However, there were no more brand-new units for sale and so I had to settle for a pre-owned black supercharged Miata with Panasports mags. The seller was a friend of my wife and I, and having full knowledge this time of my intent to buy this car, my wife no longer objected to this purchase. Although this black Miata had the right stuff in it, my desire to have a red sports car kept on hounding me. And when someone got interested in this Black Beauty, I priced it above market. Little did I know that the buyer really wanted the car and the price was no object. I was out of a Miata again and life did not seem right. I felt that I was living but didn’t have a life! So I searched the pre-owned market again, but there was no RED for sale. I settled for a silver one with only 2,500 km on the clock. I once again had a life. While I had SILVER, a red Miata came my way, but already had 7,000 km. For me, at that time, 7,000 km was already high compared to my 2,500. But I still bought RED Miata #4 and decide later which to sell. The lower-mileaged car seemed to appeal to me more at that time and so I kept SILVER Miata #3 and sold #4 to Chito Santiago. Chito and I bumped into each other at Megamall and started talking about our passion ? cars. At that time was retired and had his fat retirement fund intact. After telling him about the fun and affordability of a Miata, he asked me where he could get one. “This is your lucky day”, I said. “I have an extra one in my garage”. I eventually sold SILVER after another financial setback, bought GREEN #5 when things got better, sold GREEN to search for my desirable red, could not find one and settled for BLUE #6 to again have a life, sold BLUE #6 to Juny Binamira since I needed to raise funds, and between my Skyline, Grand Prix and Miata, the Miata got sold first. Today, I have RED MIATA #7 which has the recipe of a convertible sports car to be enjoyed. It has 41,000 km, has the imperfections of dings and scratches, is pure stock and in very good condition including the original stereo. It definitely is not a candidate for being a Garage Queen. I drive it without minding the racking up of the mileage and without being OC with getting dings. And as a stickler for being “original”, the only thing I added is a set of original US Miata banana mags. I have never had so much fun in driving a Miata as I have with Red #7. I have also come to realize that if one is OC about his car, it takes away 60% of the fun of ownership. Rey Reyes |
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