Saz,
As part of a “retirement” project, I’m building up a database of historic photos of general 5-ness, with the intention of building a wee website.
It may or may not have been you, but I seem to recall someone posted photos of the limited run of hand crafted Mk2 fast-back in production at Hiroshima?
Any help or even pointers you can give wouldbe appreciated.
Great idea, but be wary of copyright infringement if the site goes live…
Quite.
I’ll be very careful.
Quite a bit of panel damage had to be fixed on that one.
Built by Mazda ET&T
Garage Vary NA Coupe built using Mazda panels
Good Lord Saz…what are you like?
Brilliant…again.
Was this just a pilot production run or were they actually sold to the .public in small numbers
Under a 100 sold. Image below indicates the 2 trim levels and pricing. Mazda ET&T is effectively Mazda’s coachbuilding arm, producing special commercial vehicles, buses and those elaborate Japanese hearses. Sold only in Japan.
Getting lots of support in this quest.
Just to say…it’s truly appreciated.
You can see where they got inspiration for the RF. What a horrible back end. On the other hand, as has been discussed in another thread, what Mazda really needs is a true special edition for the MX5 so maybe they should get ET&T working on something…
I guess they are Marmite…opinions do differ.
Personally, I’d give my back teeth to own one.
Then get it done in this:
What is worse, for me, the RF is the best looking ND out.
Sorry…but there we have it!
That yellow Type A is lovely. The production line shows all yellow cars. Shame they didn’t make more .
Which only goes to show that there is a definite need for a proper coupe! The 30AE was a missed opportunity to acknowledge the original soft top and have a coupe instead of the RF as the alternative, and I know which one I’d plump for!
Mazda spent a lot of time thinking about coupe versions. You only need to see how Toyota GT86/ Subaru BRZ sales have fallen off a cliff to understand how there isn’t the demand for a 2 seat couple at this price point (around 5000 and dropping Toyota coupes are sold globally, and one eighth of the MX5/124 production. Fiat have just canned the “coupe” version of the 124).
Right from the get go, Mazda’s design centres in Yokohama and Irvine were working on coupe versions.
Mazda Irvine’s early attempt:
Not a lot of info on this car, or where it is now. It was a 1992 model. Note the side window treatment, with the fake window. Tom Matano reported that the car was sent over to Japan, but that’s the last anyone had heard of it.
Later on, the Irvine team produced the 1996 M-Coupe. The officuial line was this was intended as a show car only, at a time when the FD RX7 had been withdrawn from the US market, and they needed something to liven up an otherwise dull show stand.
Note the side window, now its real glass.
But there is a fly in the ointment of Matano’s account (that corporate had no interest at all in a Coupe), and that is the F010 concept.
Note the clay still on the wheels. Note its a lift back, unlike all the other coupes; the glass I think came from a MX3. Also, the left side is different from the right side, and they were trying out different window treatments; ultimately, this is similar to the eventual NB Coupe. The wheels on the left side I am lead to believe have come from one of the pro-production cars. This read car could in fact be one of the pilot production cars.
The eagle eyed will notice this is a LHD car, its a Miata (no wing indicator), but is badged as a “Mazda Roadster”, not Eunos Roadster.
A look inside. A bit dusty, but check the mileage.
Now, if you know your MX5 Miatas, you can figure out this car. No wing indicators, so destined for North American market. Non-airbag wheel, with straight indicators, its not a US market. 220kph speedo, windup windows; this is a 1989 base spec Canadian car.
A glance in the rear; there is some attempt to tidy things up
Note the missing hardtop catch; quite possibly a hardtop was chopped up to form the main part of the roof. In other photos, there is evidence that this roof wasn’t metal.
Bodged battery location:
Now, why the non-Panasonic battery? Mystery. Possibly this is an uprated battery because something else is going on.
But this isn’t the last of the NA Coupe story. A NA coupe nearly made it into production; the 1994 M2-1008 from M2-Inc, with a Kamm tail. It was cancelled, but not before a brochure was produced. Unfortunately, the original car has been destroyed, so Mazda recreated it.
I think Mazda reached the conclusion that building a coupe version of the MX5 was somewhat of an indulgence, and would never sell. The pathetic sales of the Toyota shows that thinking to be correct. And I expect there would have been complaints about a coupe not being a liftback. But it it was, then rapidly the costs escalate, as more changes are made to relocate the fuel tank, strengthen the body after the bulkhead was cut out, in order to give a flat load area.
Mazda ultimately is in the business of trying to make money. In fact, all their stupid little indulgence projects in the 1990s was part of the reason why they nearly went under and needed a Ford bailout. For example, Mazda produced the M2-1002 version of the MX5. A gorgeous little car, but what planet were they on when they listed it for the same price as a RX7. No surprise that Japanese customers balked at the idea, and only 100 were sold out of the planned 200. They followed that up with the M2-1006, the wide body version of the MX5, sporting the V6 lifted out of the 929. That was still born, as soon as someone figured out that it would need to sell for more than the top line RX7. Mazda had lost control.
Thanks saz, that’s a real eye-opener!
It seems the F010 was a serious attempt to commercialise a coupe variant of the Roadster. The team was lead by Shigeto Fu-k-uda, following the 1992 US concept. The project was abandoned due to the costs, as I expected, of relocating the fuel tank, and the additional reinforcement needed.
In respect of putting together photos of early MX5s, I hope OC members have noticed the article in the current issue of STHT on the role of IAD in the development of the MX5. That article includes a number of statements I’d consider world exclusives, and deserving of further examination.
I can see where some of the photos have come from; the first mule car being assembled, the prototype hood frame on a jig, as these are the same as what is on the facebook account of one of IAD’s former engineers. But the origin of the photos of one of the mule cars undergoing testing in the UK is unknown (this appears to be NOT V705, which had a single cam engine, but appears to be one of the 5 engineering mules which were used for chassis development). Intriguing is the statement that IAD were exhibiting a full finished MX5 at shows ahead of Mazda’s 1989 reveal; there is an accompanying photo of a UK-spec mariner blue with, bizarrely, a blue police light fitted.
More photos and details are needed of this period, complicated by the fact that IAD was acquired by Daewoo, then went broke, and everyone scattered to the winds.
Amazing stuff - thanks saz.
Totally amazing history and facts Saz as always. Loving seeing all the stuff you rarely get to see/hear about, those pics are amazing, especially seeing them on the production line. Love it!
