MAZDA MX-5
IREMEMBER SEEING THE exact car pictured here – a manual-steer 1.6-litre NA MX-5, painted in the glamour launch colour, Mariner Blue – proudly gracing the showroom of our local Mazda dealer like a jewel glittering among swathes of beige.
Only the also-new BG-series 323 Astina with its pop-up headlights looked even vaguely on the same page as the curvaceously petite roadster. Alongside the boxy 626s and 929s of the era, however, not to mention the (also blue) 121 my mum ended up driving home, the MX-5 seemed outrageously, exquisitely exotic.
Yet underneath those Lotus Elan-inspired curves, the NA MX-5 was a relatively simple thing, much like the plethora of vintage roadsters that clearly inspired it. Except that the Japanese take on a British institution – a rear-drive, open-top two-seater – was actually good! Seriously good.
When the MX-5 debuted to a wildly enthusiastic audience in February 1989, the ‘affordable roadster’ hadn’t been dead that long. Both the MGB and Triumph Spitfire had creaked to their graves in 1980, and
