Oh, look at that, it's been over 4 years since this thread was updated. Believe it or not, the little Miata is still in my possession. But the last time it was driven was
back in January of 2012, when the GT3 was in the shop and the WRX flooded. After that many years of "nothing", I'm assuming every fluid and every rubber-ish anything in it is bad.
But today... Today I put it on a trailer and haul it to a Miata shop in the area. Today starts the process of bringing the Miata back from the neglected, forgotten past it has. I pulled it out of the garage a few weekends ago, in part to look it over, see just what condition it was in, and in part to wash off some of the accumulated dust. It was pretty bad:
That layer was on the inside, too, along with spiderwebs and some dead bugs. I didn't give it any proper treatments, just a de-dusting, and the leather seats definitely need some care. But it looks much better now:
Some friends are coming over to help me with the towing (I plan to back the trailer into the driveway at the old house, and with that narrow driveway, a spotter is needed). Hopefully one of them will manage to catch some "fun" in the loading process.