XS11E > wrote:

>Zog The Undeniable > wrote in:
>
>> XS11E wrote:
>>
>>> The other day I bought my usual losing lottery ticket and asked myself
>>> what I'd get to replace my 1992 1600 pretty much stock Miata if I
>>> won.....
>>>
>>> The answer I came up with is I'm almost completely satisfied with the
>>> car, it does what I want, seems pretty much trouble free and is always
>>> fun to drive so what would I fix if I were designing cars for Miata?
>>>
>>> The most important would be the top. I once had a 1964 Corvette which
>>> had the easiest to use and best designed top I've ever encountered. It
>>> went up effortlessly, had no rain rails to cause problems and hid
>>> itself under a hard cover when lowered. Why couldn't Mazda design a
>>> similar top mechanism?
>>
>> Because the MX-5/Miata was always meant to be affordable.
>
>Wanna bet the Corvette top is cheaper to build than the Miata?

I would agree the Corvette top must be cheaper than a whole Miata.

Anyway, it is self-evident that Corvette top must have had
major problems with cost, space requirements, or function, or it
would have been used on every car by now.

A top apparently retracting in its own waterproof compartment would
probably have several of those major problems.

I am happy with my 1999 top, though when the AC was overheating the
engine in the deserts, a zip-down rear window would have been nice.

>>> Next, why did nobody except Corvette have those really neat power
>>> windows that went up and down faster than any others?

There is a race? Whichever sports car has the windows that go down
fastest is the best sport scar?

>>> Was there some
>>> kind of patent that won't allow anyone else to adopt the system?

You can pay royalties on patents.

>>> Even
>>> other Chevrolets have never AFAIK used the same system, why?

The reliability was not even up to GM standards?

GM got tired of being sued by people getting limbs, necks,
faces, kids, cut in the lightning-quick windows?

Especially when the lack of build quality meant that these windows
would usually operate erroneously?

Leon
--
Leon van Dommelen Bozo, the White 96 Sebring Miata .)
http://www.dommelen.net/miata
EXIT THE INTERSTATES (Jamie Jensen)