Why am I posting less - or - let the fun begin

.The story starts two weeks ago

I go down to check the mail... second notice from the California Department of Motor Vehicles or in short DMV - the local 'misrad ha'rishuy', I need to re-new the registration of the miata

My miata hasn't been driven on the street for almost half a year now at all and before hasn't been driven anywhere else than the racetrack and back on public roads for almost a year and a half

.Calling the DMV

"Hi I'm calling about the renewal of my registration"

"You need to come with the smog check certificate and proof of insurance"

"laughing) I have neither and want to take my car off the road, it's a race car)"

"oh, than you need to bring the car to the local DMV offices to have it examined"

"?What for"

"We need to verify"

"?Verify what? that's it's a racecar"

"Yes"

"?Huh? are you guys checking registration at the racetrack too"

"No"

"That's what I thought, the car has no smog certificate or insurance"

"We need to give you new license plates of an off-road vehicles and to take your old plates"

"But I paid for my old plates, they are personalized plates, I don't want to give them away"

"Look sir, you need to bring the car to the local DMV"

At this point I'm deciding that even though it doesn't sound like that I'm talking to a recorded voice and not a real person and that the default answer to questions that don't belong in the FAQ is that I need to bring my car to the local DMV

.I give up

My friend Arik comes to help me out the next morning, we're loading the car on the trailer and heading out to the DMV, it's less than a kilometer from where I live but loading and unloading the trailer takes an hour of work... we get to the DMV, buzzing the examination lane buzzer and waiting for someone to come and make sure that the car is a racecar

Ten minutes later a he shows up with a giant mustache a-la Amir Peretz, quick look at the car reveals that our friend Amir (his real name is John) has no idea what we're doing there but he decides to check out the car anyways

.He's looking for the VIN number

.The VIN number is on the Miata's dashboard

.The dashboard is seating on a pile of race tires at home

Amir says he has to go inside to check what to do in this case, then comes back after some long minutes and tell us that everything is fine and I only need to pay $53 fee of non-operational vehicle and that I can do it online and there was no need to come to the DMV at all... thank you

.Needless to say, my two hours of loading / unloading / driving / waiting were done within 2 minutes of online activity

.Two days later, sunday morning, beautiful weather outside, children are playing outside, the birds are singing, the sun is shining, I'm loading the car on the trailer

.Quick call to my friend Arik that has a nicely equipped garage and a big driveway

.I'm on my way

..As I'm pulling next to Arik's house, I see his wife Sharon picking out from the window with a funny look on her face

"?What is Moti doing here with the miata"

"He registered the miata as a racecar"

Sharon, in a spark of wisdom common only between women who are married to grown up children for over ten years mumbles something like "I'll be with the kids at Sigal's house" .. smart wife, no doubt

As she rushes the kids into the car she shoots something quick like "there's coke in the fridge and a some Coronas" and drives away

.I look at the miata

"?She looks back at me asking "what have I done

"It's not what you have done, it's what you didn't do"

"!But I haven't gained any weight"

"!You didn't lose either"

...End of story, the miata gives up, I pull the tools out, Arik comes with the coffee

Few hours later, with half the front end of the car in parts, Arik looks at a power steering hose bracket that doesn't want to come out, he's been working on it for twenty minutes now and getting tired of it

"Hey Moti"

"?What's up"

"?This little bracket.. does it really have to come out"

"?Which one"

"This one, around the hose, it weighs maybe 20 grams"

"And these twenty grams are sitting in front of the front wheels of my car"

"...But"

"No but, this bracket comes out"

End of the day, we're out of beer, out of meat and I have some dirt under my fingernails that look like it wouldn't come out in the next week no matter what

The car has no headlights or emissions related equipment, power steering hoses that were left when I ditched the power steering and a bunch more things, the wiring harness it halfway stripped for the purpose of removing all the wires that aren't required for the car to move... amazing how much shit there's in the car that's not needed, I take almost a full kilogram of wiring off the front

.Sharon is back with the kids, Arik and I are back from the grocery store with steaks and more beers

Later on that week, I pull the hood of the car and fabricate a couple of aluminum sheets to take the place of the headlight doors... stay tuned, this is just the beginning, LOL

.Moti

Maybe the idea wasn't clear, you're right.... the idea was that now that I have registered it as off-the-street vehicle I can remove a lot of stuff off the car that I had to retain for legal street registration in general.... for example, emissions related equipment, headlights, horn and such

.Moti

You're missing the part that it's a story... I doubt drinking 2-3 beers over the course of 14 hours really does much to you

.Moti

10 קילו פחות??? זה בכלל משמעותי?

10Kg in front of the front axle make a difference, yes, but not only that... it's 10Kg this weekend, 10Kg more next weekend, 10kg more the weekend after... it take time and a lot of work but that how you do it... reducing weight off the car make it drive SO MUCH better

.Moti