Miata Magic March 2017 Volume 28 Number 3 http://www.spacecoastmiataclub.org Thursday, March 2nd, 6pm Hosted by Jim Linhares and Norm LaCroix. Bring a snack to share. Say hello to long-time former members Susi and John Bellotte who are visiting from Germany. Join us for cards and Mexican Train dominos, or bring your favorite game to share (spin the bottle, anyone?). Or come join us for some good conversation. Directions to 1637 De La Vega Street, Palm Bay. Take I-95 to Malabar Rd (SR 514) - Exit 173. Go east about 1/2 mile to Babcock Street (SR 507). Turn right (south) on Babcock for 3 miles to Bolanos Street (just after Espejo Street). Turn right on Bolanos. Make an immediate left onto West Side Ave. Go two blocks. Turn right onto De La Vega. House on the right. Parking available across the street on the vacant lot or on side of road. Trip to the Brevard Zoo and Lunch Friday, March 10th, 9:15am Hosted by Bunnie and Ray Dow. Meet at the Brevard Zoo ticket windows at 9:15 am. Here s lookin at you, kid! Senior ticket price is $15.95. After our visit, we will caravan to a mystery lunch location. Directions: I-95 to Exit 191 (Wickham Rd.). Go East for about 1/8 mile. Entrance is on the right. Fort Christmas Bluegrass Festival and Craft Show Saturday, Mar. 18th, 9am Join your hosts, the Saretskys and McClains, for a day out in the fresh air under shady trees. If you like a nice country drive, FREE admission for some good music and a light craft show as well as good food for purchase, including addictive fresh kettle corn, this is for you. DON'T FORGET TO BRING LAWN CHAIRS! We will meet at Sam's Club in Cocoa, FL on Route 520, just east of I-95. We will gather at the east end of the parking lot near the Townsend Road side at 9:00 am and depart at 9:15 am on a scenic country ride to Fort Christmas. 1
PRESIDENT The Official Newsletter of the Space Coast Miata Club VICE-PRESIDENT TREASURER SECRETARY MEMBERSHIP Brian Turner (321) 704-1299 Rockledge Bill Linhares (401) 835-5638 Palm Bay Bill Grieco (321) 269-0972 Titusville Carol Goyette (321) 724-5701 Palm Bay Norm Goyette (321) 724-5701 Palm Bay ACTIVITIES Steve Saretsky CHAIRMAN (321) 626-9545 Merritt Island INTERNET Art Caira WEBMASTER (603) 799-5969 Melbourne NEWSLETTER Mike McClain EDITOR (321) 652-1253 Melbourne IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT Steve Weintraub (321) 223-5364 Lakemont, GA CLUB FOUNDER Chet Young (321) 446-0472 Ft. Myers, FL WEBSITE ADDRESS: www.spacecoastmiataclub.org. The Space Coast Miata Club assumes no liability for any information contained herein; or injury or damage resulting from the use of this information. The ideas, opinions, maintenance or modification tips expressed are to be used at the reader s discretion. Individual contributors and/or editors express no approval, authentication, or endorsement. All events are uninsured, informal gatherings for which the Space Coast Miata Club assumes no liability. Thanks to our benefactor Boniface-Hiers Mazda in Melbourne has generously supported the Space Coast Miata Club since it was founded in 1989 with discounts to members and door prizes that are awarded at every monthly meeting. They also help to promote our club by displaying and distributing our brochures to those interested. How to enjoy your Miata more! Join the Space Coast Miata Club. Just reading this newsletter tells you how much fun all of us are having. Why not be part of the action? Once each month we have a meeting in Cocoa plus a planned event to somewhere that gets us out on the road in our Miatas. Your membership entitles you to a 20% discount on parts and 10% on service labor at Boniface-Hiers Mazda. You also get an official membership card, which can be picked up at the monthly meetings, a club logo window sticker, this great newsletter, and lots of Miata-loving friends to help you enjoy your Miata more. Annual dues are $20.00 per person, not per family. All past members, no matter when you renew dues are $20.00. New members initial costs: Feb-Apr $20. May-July $15 Aug-Oct $10, Nov-Jan $5. Send a check payable to Space Coast Miata and mail to: Bill Grieco 3440 Muirfield Dr. Titusville, FL 32780 HAPPY SAINT PADDY S DAY. MAY WE HAVE MANY GREEN AND SUNNY DRIVING DAYS THIS MONTH. Next SCMC Monthly Meeting March 21, 2017 Regular meetings (Feb. through November) are held every third Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. Location: Central Brevard Library, 308 Forrest Ave, Cocoa, FL. Next Issue Submission Deadline March 22, 2017 Send to: Mike McClain mlmcclain@hotmail.com 2
Thursday, Mar. 30th, 12:15pm Where s Lunch?? Hosted by Chris and Steve Saretsky. Sleep in and eat a late breakfast so you can enjoy a nice drive and late lunch. Meet at Target on the corner of SR 3 and Crockett Blvd. on Merritt Island at 12:15 at the south end of the parking lot. Depart at 12:30. Super Bowl LI Party Wow, what a great game with a perfect ending if you re a Pats fan. We greatly appreciate Peggy & Matt Bretz for their continued hospitality in hosting their XIVth Super Bowl party, which this year was held on Sunday, February V, MMXVII. XVI people enjoyed great food, the game, halftime show, and the commercials. Linda and Bill Grieco won the football jackpot. Rumor has it they may use the winnings to go on a world cruise, or spend the money at the Dairy Queen; it s a tough call. It was also rumored that Clark Kent got the call at halftime to do Superman things. Thanks a M Peggy and Matt. Breakfast at the Old Spanish Sugar Mill Restaurant Hosted by Chris and Steve Saretsky. Nineteen members in eight Miatas and two OTMs met at the Titusville Cracker Barrel at 0815 to caravan to the Old Spanish Sugar Mill Restaurant at the DeLeon Springs State Park. Patsy Daniels and Lyn and Mike Doyle met us at the gate ready to join us for the cook-your-own-then-eat-all-you-can pancake breakfast. We were seated upon arrival and the wait staff was excellent in keeping the fixings topped up. The pancakes were incredibly light (no calories were ingested unless you ate five!) and fun to cook. This was truly a unique experience which added to the enjoyment of our members. After the hearty meal, some folks enjoyed walking the grounds with huge live oaks and flowering azaleas. Thanks to the Saretskys for another great outing. They find great places to visit! 3
Mystery Brunch at Umpa s Diner Hosted by Bunnie and Ray Dow. Twenty members in 8 Miatas and 3 OTMs met on Friday, Feb. 24, at 9:45am in Melbourne at the Cumberland Farms ready to depart for our mystery brunch location. The mystery soon became: where are the Saretskys? But that is another story, which I m sure they won t want to re-live, so ask Bunnie. The destination turned out to be Umpa s Diner in Merritt Island which had a breakfast buffet and menu items. Great food, staff, and conversations. We finally saw the Saretskys heading N on SR-3 near Pineda on our way home at 1230. Thank you Ray and Bunnie. Host Needed for Mystery Weekend 2017 Volunteer(s) wanted to host this year's Mystery Weekend. The organizer can be assisted by another couple with previous experience doing this event. Like any other drive out, the organizer sets a meeting point on Saturday for the participants, followed by a drive to a secret destination. The weekend may include the cost of lunch as well as an activity in the afternoon, or Saturday night as well as the cost of the hotel, breakfast and sometimes a planned activity Sunday after breakfast. If there is enough money, there may be a keepsake included, for example, T-shirts, etc. Past mystery weekends include a hayride/barbeque and rodeo, dinner theatre/train ride, and a trip to Key West. Typically, the organizer tries to keep the overall price between $250 to $300 per couple. The club will provide financial assistance to the organizer to help with the cost of a dry run to check out their plan. Contact Steve Saretsky at: flsaretskyduo@hotmail.com for more information. ******************************************************************* LOOKING DOWN THE ROAD April 15 Saturday, Mystery Breakfast April 30 Sunday, Annual Linda Young picnic at Fort Christmas May 7 13 Sunday thru Saturday, Deal s Gap / Tail of the Dragon area Drives May 10 Wednesday, Dinner at Petrillo s in Indialantic, Full moon drive with Ice Cream stop Any other events coming up? Need hosts and ideas for the good ol summer time. October 7 Saturday, Oktoberfest 4
The Spotlight Falls on New Members: the Landis and Ed Helmrich Dick and Carol Landis attend the same church as Ed and Vicki Hill, who shared their love of Miatas and suggested they join the club. So they joined in November 2016 and have attended a few events since. Dick has always loved sports cars so they bought a red 1991 Miata in 2005 after Dick wrecked his beloved Nissan 300ZX. They have replaced most of the parts one at a time to maintain it and had a paint job done and new top. They've driven it everywhere so it has 190,000 miles on it. The Miata is now Carol s daily driver since Dick bought a Porsche Cayman, but they both still love the Miata because it is a convertible. They are originally from PA where Dick had his own residential construction business. He fell 30 feet in 2010 and had to retire. He also played semi-pro football for 10 years and is in two semi-pro football Hall of Fames. Carol worked as a seamstress, a veterinary tech, a Humane Society Police Officer, and a warehouse worker. They were snowbirds for four years in Lady Lake, FL living with Carol's cousin, who is a widow. The three recently moved to Titusville and enjoy the Florida lifestyle. Ed Helmrich joined the club in January 2017 after searching on the web for a local Miata club. He is concerned the car is not getting enough use so wants to make new friends and find the right next owner who will enjoy the car the way it was intended. Ed is a retired software development manager from California where he worked in Silicon Valley for a few communication-based startups for ten years. Before that, he worked in Northern Virginia for 16 years for voice network manufacturers. In 1997, he was visiting his parents who lived in Palm Bay when he and his wife bought a house nearby which they rented out for 12 years. In 2009 they retired, left CA, and moved into the home. Ed submitted his Why a Miata? story which is told below. My Miata ownership was inherited from my Dad, literally. In 2003, at the age of 82, my Dad became the second owner of a 2000 Miata. Living in Florida, he kept the top down 99% of the time and referred to it as his "toy". His favorite trips were in the evenings when he would take my Mom out to the ice cream parlor (with the top down of course). Two years later he died and left me his Miata with just 19K miles on it. One year later my mother passed away too. In the last 12 years I have only added 20K miles to the Miata, but on every trip I take or errand I run, I think of my parents and how much enjoyment they had driving their Miata. 5
Why I gotta Miata (True Confessions of SCMC members) *************************************************************** Submitted by: Norm LaCroix My first car was a 1962 black Mercedes Benz 190 SL roadster with a red leather interior. I didn t know what I had when I owned it back as a high school senior in '69. We had seen the Miata when it was introduced in '89-'90 and it reminded me of my old Benz. Fast forward to 1993 when the Miata came out with a Limited Edition of 1,500 black with red leather interior with ALL the bells and whistles...guess what? Jim Linhares and I bought one. Then two...the rest is history! ZOOM...ZOOM... *************************************************************** Submitted by: Bunnie Dow,,^..^,, As I drove by the Gators used car Outlet on Palm Bay Road on a fall day in 2010 I saw a light blue convertible looking quite forlorn off to the side. "Hmmm" I thought "that is one Sexy looking car." I went home and dragged the hubs down to see it. When the sales person offered us the keys to take it for a test drive, Ray informed him he wasn't interested in buying anything. 20 minutes later, as we returned from our test drive, a grin was spread across his face. Two hours later, after much haggling between the sales manager and my retiredcareer-car-salesman-husband, the Crystal Blue 2001 Miata was ours. It stands out. There are many red, silver, black, and white Miatas, but not the eye catcher like "Baby Girl" Today, nearly seven years later, we debate getting a new Miata with automatic shift and more creature comforts, but then I remind Ray that the blase colors offered won't be the eye catching color we have now. For a long time we were the only ones with that color in the club. Now there are two more. Perhaps I didn't answer the question "Why a Miata?" but more, Why this particular Miata? It is a true chick magnet. Even if I am with Ray. Guarantee, at a stop light some lady will pull up next to us and croon "I love your car". Yes, Baby Girl is here is to stay as long as we can crawl in to it. *************************************************************** See how easy that was? Please submit your story (and picture) to: mlmcclain@hotmail.com so we can smile with you. 6