West Penn Miata ClubDues Reminder

by Joe Zimliki

he deadline for 2007 dues is March 1, 2007. As youcan see by the schedule, we have another great yearplanned. Make sure you’re a part of it! If you’ve

not yet paid your dues, please fill out the enclosedapplication and write a check for $30 to West Penn MiataClub, Inc. Mail to:

WEST PENN MIATA CLUBC/O Joe Zimliki

3929 Highlands CircleMurrysville, PA 15668

Sat-SunFeb 10-18

SatMarch 3

10:00 AM

SatMar 31

SatApr 28

SatMay 26

SatJun 2

SatJun 9

Sat-SunJul 14-15

SatJul 28

SatAug 4

SatAug 25

Sat-MonSep 1-3

SatSep 8

Pittsburgh Auto Show

Monthly Meeting at Smail Mazda

Tech Session at Kenjitsu AutoRepair and Monthly Meeting

Start-Up This Way, That Way,Cruise

Runway Cruise

Monthly Meeting at Smail Mazdaand Flight 93 Cruise

Meadowcroft Village and SarrisCruise

Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix

Moraine State Park Cruise

Monthly Meeting

WPMC Picnic

Topless in the Mountains

Monthly Meeting

Thu-SunSep 20-23

SatOct 6

Sat-SunOct 13-14

SatDec 1

SunDec 2

Buggies & Bridges ‘07http://www.miata.pace.net/event/

Monthly Meeting and Tech Sessionat Billco Motors

Sixth Annual Train Cruise

Christmas Party

Holiday Open House - NationalityRooms

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Volume 17 #1February, 2007

Upcoming Events

2007 CRUISIN & ZOOMINSEASON

BY RICH LOWDEN & LINDAZIMLIKI

he 2007 season will be rolling around in a coupleof months. This year is already shaping up to bequite a fun filled cruising year. We have several

cruises lined up but there are plenty of open weekends foranyone who wants to lead a cruise. If you would like tolead a cruise, please contact us. If you need ideas for acruise, Rich and I can help you.

We will have 2 Tech sessions. The first is at KenjitsuAuto Repair in Greensburg on March 31st. Details tofollow. We need input as to what you would like for thissession. What do you want to know about your Roadster?Please contact us ASAP. The second session will be atBillco Motors the second weekend of October and willshow you what needs to be done to prepare your car forwinter storage. Again please let us know what you wantfor the first session. Thank you.

There will be no planning meeting this year so if youwant to lead a cruise please contact Linda Zimlikilzimliki@westpennmiataclub.com or Rich Lowdenrlowden@westpennmiataclub.com.

Driving Schoolby Linda Zimliki

e have a club member that will hold an AARPdriving school for our members 50 & over. At thecompletion of the school you will receive a

certification which when presented to your automobileinsurance company and can save you 5% to 20% on yourinsurance premium. The school will be on two differentSaturdays with about 4 hours each day. The cost is $10per person. In order to offer the driving school we needa minimum of 10 people. I need to know who is interested. I hope to have the details completed so we can have thedriving school in March. If not, then we would have it inApril before cruising season starts. This all depends ongetting the minimum number of people. Please contactRich or myself by Feb 9 & let me know if you are interested.

Contact: Linda Zimliki - lzimliki@westpennmiataclub.comor 724-327-1762.

Maintaining your car’svalue

by John WhitmireWPMC Members, I’ve come across an excellent resourcefor information on how to keep your favorite car lookinggreat. It’s a newsletter called Tender Rubbing Care andyou can subscribe to it by going to the following link:

http://internetmailmanager.com/s/reg.asp?a=47F9NJBJY V 4 G K B 8 P N 8 J L K C 4 & b = V R B 8 8 8 L B P E W 8

Many thanks to Bryan Bond for providing this informationto the club.

2007 WPMC OFFICERS& CONTACTS:

President: John WhitmireVice-President: Bernadine LeachSecretary: Sherry SwarmerTreasurer: Joe ZimlikiEvents Chair: Rich Lowden & Linda ZimlikiEditor-In-Chief: Steve LappWeb Master: Steve LappPast President: Bryan Bond

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WPMC STOREby Linda Zimliki

he WPMC Store has two new items for sale.Descriptions are below. If you have any questionsor wish to purchase either item, please contact Linda

Zimliki at lzimliki@westpewnnmiataclub.com.

COOL BREEZE SCOOP

There is now an alternative to driving your Miata withthe top down and still being hot and uncomfortable. Theissue with the Miata is that there is plenty of air, but itcannot get into the foot wells and you end up hot. Withthe Cool Breeze Scoop(TM) you will have fresh outside airbeing forced in over the console and into the foot wells andcooling you below the waist. This solution was designedfor the Miata by a Miata owner who got tired of stickinghis hand over the windshield or out the window trying tokeep cool by scooping air into the car and wanted to shareit with you. Over 700 + of them have been sold and arebeing enjoyed by Miata Owners since it's became availablein June, 2006. If you drive a Miata with the top down andstill feel hot, this is the product for you. You'll begin to feelthe air flow at 10 MPH. The Scoop includes a Bug ScreenRetaining Rod. The Cool Breeze Scoop(TM) does notrequire permanent installation ( On / Off in 10 seconds ).The retaining rod slides into the groove in the gasket ofthe windshield header. There are three different Scoops - one for each generation Miata. It also works in conjunctionwith air conditioning.

User's comment: "Does everything advertised. It's wellover 90 mid-day today and my feet were not roasting."

Cost is $ 35.00.

ANTENNA HOLDER

The antenna holder attaches to the metal strip on thetrunk of your Miata. You remove one of the screws &replace it with the antenna holder. It elevates the antennaoff your Miata so it doesn't scratch your car.

Cost is $15.00

Christmas PartyReport

By Shar and John Whitmiret was a dark and stormy Dec. 2nd, well maybe notso stormy but damn cold, no wait, that was last year,when the hardy members of the Western Pennsylvania

Miata Club gathered for our annual Christmas Party.This year, as in the past couple of years, the event was heldin the Seasons Ballroom of the Comfort Inn on Rodi Road. The party began with a variety of hors d'oeuvres, whichwere excellent and consumed rapidly while everyonewatched the slide show of the years’ events prepared byBill Stenger. Bill's efforts are truly appreciated by themembership as he did a great job of capturing the fun weall had participating in the various cruises, the VintageGrand Prix, and Miata Mountain Mania. The slide showwas complemented by the music played by our DJ, whocontinued to play a wide variety of Oldies and Goodiesthroughout the entire evening.

Next the representatives of our various sponsors wereintroduced. We truly appreciate their support as theycontribute greatly to our club's success. Following the

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sponsors introductions, Bernadine Leach, our upcomingVP, introduced the new slate of officers, past cruise leaders,new board members, and thanked those who had put somuch time and effort into MMM, especially Linda Zimlikiwho chaired the event. Having dispensed with theformalities, we moved right in to the distribution of prizes- clearly the highlight of the evening!! Our sponsors, thedealers, mechanics, and suppliers, as in the past, provideda wonderful array of goods and services all designed toput more Zoom in the Zoom-Zoom!

All to soon, it was time to head home, but everyone whoattended had a great time, and we departed looking forwardto a great upcoming season of cruisin' and socializn'!

Zimliki 5th AnnualFall Foliage Train Ride

By Shar Whitmireithin minutes of leaving our Uniontown meetingplace, our group of steam train aficionados was in"Miata territory". Led by Linda and Joe Zimliki,

we zoomed up and down spectacular roads with gorgeousvistas. The weather favored us and there was still plentyof beautiful fall colors to view. While not everyone startedout top down, we were all au natural by the afternoon. Ithink everyone would agree that West Virginia has someof the best Miata roads to be had and the views are bestenjoyed without a "roof". That afternoon we visitedBlackwater Falls State Park and took a short hike to theboardwalk overlook that provided a wonderful view ofthese beautiful falls. Lunch was at Blackwater Falls Lodge,which also afforded the shoppers in the group access tosome early Christmas shopping in the unique gift store.

Back on the road after lunch, we drove up mountain sidesand down through beautiful valleys. Eventually thesecountry roads led us to Seneca Rocks, one of the bestknown landmarks in West Virginia. While there are over375 major mapped climbing routes that lead to the top ofthis 900 foot magnificent rock formation, time did notpermit any of our hearty drivers to "have a go." We hadan early dinner at the Seneca Rock Caverns Restaurant,where the homemade beef stew gave those of us that hadn'tordered it, "order envy". After dinner we were back in

our Miatas and on to our destination for the evening, theHermitage Inn in Bartow. Linda and Joe graciously hostedour group to yummy snacks and drinks in their "suite",where we recapped the day. I don't think anyone in thegroup had trouble sleeping that night.

After breakfast the next morning, our cruise leaders tookus on a 2-hour trip through more spectacularly beautifulWest Virginia countryside. Around switchbacks andmountain ridges we sailed until we met a pickup truckloaded with firewood so high that it defied the laws ofgravity and physics. Cautiously passing one another, Joediscovered a short time later that not all of the cordwoodhad remained on the truck. No major harm being done,we continued on only to discover that cows in those partsconsider the road to be an extension of their grazing area. Not having time for a Miata/cow rodeo, we gave the cowsthe right away and continued toward our train destination,passing the Cass Steam Train (from last year's train cruise)on the way.

By late morning we had arrived at Durbin, located atthe base of the mighty Cheat Mountain, and home to theDurbin Rocket. Departing from the historic and beautifullyrestored C&O Railway depot in the heart of Durbin, wehad the opportunity to ride & experience the sights andsounds of one of the rarest steam locomotives left inexistence. The Durbin Rocket is powered by Old No.3, oneof only three remaining operating Climax geared logginglocomotives on earth. This 55-ton antique was built in 1910for the Moore-Keppel Lumber Company in nearbyRandolph County and worked there through the 1950shauling timber and coal from the mountainside, until No.3was moved to a transportation museum in Connecticut.Fittingly returned to its native state in 2001 and placed inoperation during 2002, this locomotive has beenmeticulously restored to every day operation.

As we began our journey on the Durbin Rocket, No.3pushed its train of vintage cars down the Greenbrier Rivervalley at a rocketing speed of 8 or so miles per hour. Wehad the opportunity to ride in any one of three nostalgic1920 era cabooses formerly used in service on the Baltimore& Ohio Railroad, or take in the experience of PocahontasCounty's fresh mountain air from the open air "blue" car.After a 45 minute southward trip covering 5 miles, thetrain stopped at the Heavener picnic area at Piney Island,where we had a layover of approximately 60 minutes whilethe train re-coupled two "rental" cabooses that had beenoutfitted like motor homes and rented by families for a

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March DeadlineThe deadline for articles for theMarch newsletter is March 5, 2006

Journeys with Johnby President John Whitmire

ear Fellow Miata'ns,Or I guess for those of you with an '06 or '07, it is"fellow MX-5ers! This is my first column as your

new President. Thanks to the hard work of our club'sleadership and members, 2006 will always be rememberedfor our "first" Miata Mountain Mania.

As first timers running a major event that brought Miatasfrom across the nation and Canada, we put on quit a showwith minimal hiccups. All involved had a great time andmaybe we can do it again in a couple of years. Last yearwas truly exciting and I hope this year will be even moreso!

We have a new slate of leaders this year and our focuswill be a little different, as we are very much hoping to getmore club members involved in the activities of ourorganization. Bernadine Leach will be the VP, SherrySwarmer will be Secretary, and Joe Zimliki will beTreasurer. Linda Zimliki and Rich Lowden have takenon the task of being Co-Events Chairpersons. They havealready begun to develop a large schedule of Cruises, Tech.Sessions, and maybe even a Rally for the upcoming season. There are still many slots open for cruises, so anyoneinterested in hosting an event should contact Rich or Linda.

Many of you have never led a cruise. I would encourageyou to give it a try! I remember when Shar and I did ourfirst cruise, we were very concerned that it would not goas planned. It seemed like an awesome responsibility.What if we got lost? What if we turned down a wrongroad? We worried and fretted and ran the route severaltimes and still had doubts. In the end, it came off fine,and everyone had a great time! In thinking back on theevent, we probably over planned it, but had a great timedoing it. There are lots of folks in the club who have ledcruises, who can provide assistance if needed, and are morethan willing to help. I encourage you to give it a try; itreally is lots of fun!

Currently, we are in the process of getting organized forthe coming season. Following is a list of Committees andtheir Chairpersons. As you can see, some are still vacant.• Newsletter: Steve Lapp• Internet: Steve Lapp & Linda Zimliki• Membership:• Events: Linda Zimliki & Rich Lowden• By laws:• Nominations: Joe Zimliki• Christmas Party:• WPMC Store: Linda Zimliki• Dealership Liaison:

In order for our club to continue to be one of the premierMiata Clubs in the country, we need to have all thecommittees up and running. If you have any interest inleading one of theses committees, please contact me or oneof the other officers. Again, I would point out that thereare plenty of folks out there who have done these tasksbefore who will be more than happy to provide advice andsupport should you wish to participate.

I and the other officers are looking forward to an excitingyear of cruisin', socializin', and ice cream eatin'. A funseason is in the process of being planned and I hope to seeyou at many events this coming year!

weekend in the remote mountain area. Reboarding thetrain, No.3 then pulled the Rocket back to Durbin whilewe enjoyed spiced cider that Linda had managed to bringand keep warm during our trip.

After a quick goodbye to the "Rocket", we departed fromDurbin and began heading toward home. On our way wehad lunch in Elkins WV at the (now famous to us) RiverCar Restaurant, where we ate in a restored train diningcar. The food was delicious and ready upon our arrival(as were all the pre-ordered meals on our trip). The RiverCar Restaurant is a culinary dining experience wheredesserts are a "must." This was a wonderful weekendthat we hated to see come to an end. Linda and Joe dida fabulous job of planning and selecting the roads. Theweather cooperated and the scenery was spectacular. TheZimliki Annual Fall Foliage Train Ride is undeniably oneof the best events of the West Penn Miata Club.

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Address goes here

leave room for mail bar code to go here

WEST PENN MIATA CLUB

c/o Sherry Swarmer1022 Arborwood DriveGibsonia, PA 15044

e-mail: wpmc@westpennmiataclub.comweb site: http://www.westpennmiataclub.com

West Penn

Club

West Penn

Club

Editor - In - Chief:Steve Lapp

Send alleditorial contributions to:WEST PENN MIATA CLUBc/o Steve Lapp105 Gadshill PlacePittsburgh, PA 15237e-mail: slapp@westpennmiataclub.com

Founder:Paul Fronko

President:John Whitmire

Vice President:Bernadine Leach

Treasurer:Joe Zimliki

Secretary:Sherry Swarmer

Events Chair:Lowden/Zimliki

Past President:Bryan Bond

(412) 262-1813

(412) 781-1232

( 7 2 4 ) 327-1762

(724) 443-0834

(412)672-1689(724)327-1762

(724) 439-4001

The FUN ‘N’ THE SUN TIMESis published as a service by theWest Penn Miata Club, Inc. –a non-profit corporation.

The WEST PENN MIATA CLUBassumes no liability for any infor-mation contained herein; or injury ordamage resulting from the use of thisinformation. The ideas, maintenance,opinions, or modification tipsexpressed are to be used at the readers’discretion. Individual contributorsand/or editors express no approval,authentication, or endorsement.

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big thanks to billco motors formailing this newsletter!!

Officers

Legalese

T h e N e w s l e t t e r o f t h e W E S T P E N N C L U B

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION /MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL

MEMBER INFORMATION CHECK HERE IF RENEWAL

NAME:_______________________________________________________________STREET ADDRESS:________________________________________________________CITY:_____________________________STATE:_______ ZIP:_____________________PHONE NO: RES: (_____)_____________ FAX: (_____)____________________________

CELL: (_____)___________________________________________________ E MAIL ____________________________________________________

NEWSLETTERS AVAILABLE FROM THE CLUB’S WEBSITE. IF THIS IS A PROBLEM, PLEASE CONTACT ONEOF THE OFFICERS OR CHECK HERE _______ FOR AN OFFICER TO CONTACT YOU.

SIGNATURESOWNER_________________________________________________________________ DATE___________CO-OWNER_____________________________________________________________ DATE___________

VEHICLE INFORMATIONYEAR:__________ PLATE NO:_________________________________________________COLOR:_________________________PACKAGE:_________________________________

REMIT A CHECK IN THE AMOUNT OF $30.00, PAYABLE TO“WEST PENN MIATA CLUB, INC.” MAIL TO:

WEST PENN MIATA CLUB C/O JOE ZIMLIKI

3929 HIGHLANDS CIRCLEMURRYSVILLE, PA 15668

RENEWAL DUES ARE COLLECTED YEARLY AND MUST BE REMITTED PRIOR TOMARCH 1st

How did you hear about us?

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Club