Luggage Rack

[Gumball]

I recently bought a Miata... yeah, yeah, I know - at least it's a '92 and sort of a vintage car. Anyway, I bought a removeable luggage rack for it and realized that with a very small amount of effort, it would also fit on my FFR. It's made of stainless steel and comes with two band-type straps that hook to the front and rear of the trunk lid on the Miata. But, with those off, the main part of the rack has four mounting points that are internally threaded. I'm thinking about making it a semi-permanent fixture on my car by mounting it to my original Mk3 trunk lid (not the aftermarket one shown in the picture) - then I have both trunk lids painted and swap back and forth when I wanted to have the rack for longer trips. All I'd need to do is fabricate four short stand-offs and then run bolts up from the inside of the trunk lid using some fender washers as backup.

Best of all, it was only $150 bucks on-line (not from a vendor here, though, so PM me if you want info).

Here are a couple of pics - one on the Miata and one on the FFR.

http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab15/CCRsAC/LuggageRack_zps685f98a3.jpg (http://s845.photobucket.com/user/CCRsAC/media/LuggageRack_zps685f98a3.jpg.html)

http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab15/CCRsAC/LuggageRackon7074_zpsfee607d2.jpg (http://s845.photobucket.com/user/CCRsAC/media/LuggageRackon7074_zpsfee607d2.jpg.html)

[CraigS]

that looks like a pretty good fit. My only caution is what hinges do you have since I can't remember when FFR went to the internal hinges. The external ones are made from what we used to call pot metal and are a weak link.

[Gumball]

that looks like a pretty good fit. My only caution is what hinges do you have since I can't remember when FFR went to the internal hinges. The external ones are made from what we used to call pot metal and are a weak link.

I have the Breeze internal hinges - yeah, wouldn't recomment it with the stock FFR external ones.

[WIS89]

Chris-

I think it is an awesome idea! I had a similar rack on my MGB, and it worked great. It was super convenient, and useful for smaller items.

I also think your idea to simply swap-out the entire trunk lid is terrific. In fact, I think I am going to hijack the idea for a different application.

Thank you for giving me an idea I never would have thought of on my own! I also think the rack is a great addition.

Thanks and best of luck!

Regards,

Steve

[carlewms]

Chris,

Great idea and was thinking the same thing on having two trunk lids.

Whitby's does carry a luggage rack for the FFR roadster but the cost is pretty steep. Here is a photo:

21636

Traveller has a rack for his FFR, took it one step further and found a vintage leather suitcase to use on the rack. It looks really cool.

I will PM you for the other source.

Carl.

[riptide motorsport]

I like em' think they look Uber cool!

[MARIAH]

When I designed the Luggage Rack for Mariah, it was important to have it removable.
To clean up the trunk when it was removed, I polished four Stainless Steel Carriage Bolts and used those to close the holes.
But it looks so good and is so useful it has not been off in 8-9 years!

I have the external hinges and ten years of luggage rack use have not harmed them.
Just returned from the NC Outerbanks yesterday with yet another successful luggage rack trip.
We run Whitby's Hardtop and bungee the windows on top of the suitcase for most trips.

Congratulations. The Miata rack looks great and will give you many miles of convenience.
Check out the local Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc for suitcases.
I had a set of leather straps made for me by a horse tack friend. I modified them with bungee to give me a more secure belting.

I will caution about VISIBILITY if you have only the dash mirror. A windshield mounted mirror is most useful with the Rack loaded.