So this last Saturday I'm on my back to Mississippi from Hollywood, FL (just north of Miami) after picking up my new-to-me '92 Miata Turbo when I had a little "incident". I'm doing 80 on the FL turnpike, and am just getting into Orlando...I'm following a pickup truck when he smoothly changes lanes. Well I'm too close to him to notice that he switched lanes to avoid a HUGE chunk of semi-truck tread that is right in the middle of the lane. I have no time to make an evasive move so I straddle the debris and hope for the best. Let me tell you that my little Miata is pretty low..."KA WHAAAMM!!" Now if this had been a non-lowered, normally aspirated Miata that DIDN"T have intercooler tubing running BELOW the radiator, it probably wouldn't have been that big of a deal....buuut, since mine WAS lowered and DID have intercooler tubing that hung below the radiator, it wasn't so simple. The truck tread ripped the factory air dam off the front and folded it back underneath the car....at the same time it pushed the intercooler tubing into the accessory drive belts, shredding both of them. The car died and I coasted to the side of the freeway. Thank God for cell phones and AAA. Tow truck arrived w/in an hour, but now where to take the car? Since it was a Saturday, I didn't think any Mazda service departments would be open, and at the time, I thought that all I needed was a couple of accessory belts...so I had it towed to the AAA "recommended/authorized" repair place...Goodyear. Now I've never been a huge fan of the "chain" type of repair place, but at this point I don't have much of a choice. Well, from the minute I got there, I am not impressed. It takes them an hour of milling around the car (the whole time getting greasy palm and fingerprints all over the white paint ) trying to figure out why the car won't start....it should start, right? even w/o the alt belt...well it doesn't. One dude sprayed almost a half a can of starting fluid into the manifold trying to start it...it's got spark and fuel (we can smell it), but it won't start. They finally decide (after my suggestion) to put it up on the lift to see if there is any additional damage that we can't see from the top side. The only thing that I see (I'm the one who spotted it...not the Goodyear "mechanics") is that there is remnants of a/c belt behind the the main crankshaft pulley...no other apparent damage. The Goodyear guys are at a loss. At this point, I'm ready for a second opinion....so I go to the yellow pages and call the first Mazda dealer in the book....Classic Mazda East in Orlando, FL. I eventually get through to the Service manager, Francis Hebert. I explain my situation and he is immediately sympathetic...in addition to feeling my pain (brand new car, purchased 4 hours ago, and broken down in a strange town), he tells me exactly what has happened and why it won't start: pieces of the a/c belt wrapped themselves around the the crankshaft nose and got between the timing belt and the drive gear, causing the engine to "jump time"...says he's seen it happen 3 or 4 times. So I thank him profusely for the tech advice and go tell the Goodyear dudes the problem. By this time, its around 4:30pm, and they tell me there is no way they will be able to do a timing belt today..."have to get to it tomorrow", they say. The Lord was taking care of me, cause there is a hotel right across the street and a Denny's next door to the Goodyear...so I'm set for food and lodging. I resign myself to wasting at least 24 extra hours on this "adventure" and check into the hotel. Right before I jump into the shower to get cleaned up from the day, I decide to call Francis back, since he said that he would be there until around 6:00pm. I asked him what my options were tomorrow if the Goodyear guys couldn't handle the job....he asked me what Goodyear was going to charge for the timing belt job ($429) and promptly told me that I was getting ripped off. He said that when they (Mazda) run a timing belt special, they do the whole thing, parts and labor, for $199! I'm thinking to myself, "..thats great, but I can't wait around until Monday to save $200...I gotta be back at work on Monday". It was at this point that Francis TRULY became "The Man". He says to me, "...tell you what, I am planning to be at the shop tomorrow (a Sunday) to do some much needed shop cleaning. If you can get the car towed over here tomorrow, I will call in one of my mechanics to do your timing belt at the "special" price". So to conclude a super long story (sorry), I got my car back from the Goodyear monkeys, had it towed to Classic Mazda East. Raul (Mazda Master Mechanic) did the timing belt for me and replaced the cam and crankshaft oil seals, while I watched....ON A SUNDAY! Francis, Raul and the rest of the Classic Mazda East team are a true class act. If you have a Mazda, live in Orlando (or close), and need service, go see Francis and tell him, "Brian, w/ the white turbo miata says 'Hello'". Not many places offer that kind of service any more. Sorry for the super long post

Brian