Miata guru Skip Cannon has passed away

Many of the car enthusiasts here knew, or knew of, Colorado's Skip Cannon. Skip was an authentic legend in the Mazda Miata world, an active car enthusiast in every way, and an all-around interesting, informed, opinionated, and expressive man. He owned more than 400 cars in his life and at least 40 different Miatas (some of them more than once).

With a heavy heart, I share the news that Skip Cannon has passed away of natural causes. Skip, who lived in Erie, CO, was 80 years old. He never married and had no children.

Skip was truly enthusiastic  - not just for driving, but always eager and willing to help others, especially those new to car fandom. Skip was a genuine Renaissance man of cars, had an amazing depth and breadth of knowledge, and lots of experiences and stories (most of them mostly true) involving a huge range of vehicles of all types.

A sample of Miata-related cars he owned included (not in order):
The Sunkist Orange NA Prototype
Yellow 1992 with at least the entire Flyin' Miata catalog, including a 1.9 stroked turbo motor
Blue Caterham7 with high-power turbo Miata drivetrain
Flyin' Miata built V8 Mazda
Orange anniversary edition ND
and the list goes on and on, far beyond the 27 years we were friends.

Let us fondly remember a terrific car enthusiast, great friend, and damn good human being.

Photo of Skip and his Miata at the now-defunct Second Creek Raceway near Denver, Colorado in about 1999.

80 years is a good run. (I can only hope to live as long.)

I'm not familiar with his work, but it sounds like he had a wealth of knowledge that he was all too willing to share.

I'd also like to think he helped make the world a better place.

I used his thread on Locostusa for inspiration on my own Turbo Miata powered Caterham SV clone build. I admired his attention to detail and creativity.

Godspeed Skip

Skip was definitely a character!  He gave me a set of old miata seats for me to rip apart to see if I could fit into a miata if I sat on a seat with no cushion at all.  Yeah, no, still didn't.

Super nice guy, hope he's enjoying building cars somewhere else now.

Talked with Skip a number of times at FM Summer Camp over the years.  A true loss to the Miata community.

Godspeed, Skip.

Skip was the master of the understated. He will most certainly be missed.

As for the picture above, you have to look closely, but there is a Port-a-jon located under the Sunburst yellow miata he is so proudly posing with.

We shall meet again my friend at that great race track in the sky.

Bill S.

Sounds like a great guy!  RIP

He owned 400 cars. 

He owned 40 Miata's. 

He was never married or had kids. 

Is there a correlation here?

Skip broke a lot of our stuff :) But he also came to every single Summer Camp right from the very first. His health caused him to cancel at the last minute this year, and it's a real shame we won't get to see him again. 

We used a picture of his Sunburst on top of the portapotty on the cover of our catalog in the late 90s. 

Since the secret is out, here's the full porta-potty picture!