Is our mk1 MX5 one of the oldest around?

 

This is the oldest UK MX5 about; the first one registered here, and its still on the road (17/01/90)

The beady eyed will spot some very odd things about this car (the spec isn’t 100% UK…). It later became (as shown) the test bed for the BBR turbo, and has somehow survived.

The press cars were:

G176 RKM (red, reregistered) first reg 02/02/90
G175 RKM (blue, still taxed) 02/02/90
G174 RKM (red, RAC lists it as a MX5, but the DVLA list the engine size as 1498cc, still taxed) registered 17/01/90

 

RKM is a Maidstone area plate, local I think to MCL.

 

The stick-on plate is an aftermarket change.

 

My G reg mx-5 was registered on the 20 03 1990.

 Mines registered 12/03/1990 and must be one of the very earliest BBR Turbos sold.

Interestingly, my Electronic Parts Catalogue shows G174RKM as having VIN JMZNA6CE100230…

For those wondering, a UK VIN for that age should be JMZNA1…

The Japan-Partner vin decoder doesn’t appear to work anymore (in that VINs I knew worked on that, no longer work), but if the original VIN of this car was NA6CE100230, that would place it on the first day of Eunos Roadster production in June 1989.

 

Another image from that Dec 1990 Fast Car article:

 

 

Looks like a Japanese market Panasonic radio-cassette is fitted (1.5 DIN high). Plus Jap folding visors, but no aircon.

I suppose this MX5 is still owned by Mazda UK (or Mazda Cars Limited?). Other pictures show an early slam panel, but this was changed I think part way through 1990. Any clear photos of the engine bay of this car? This car might have an interesting history, beyond BBR. I have read, over the years, that the reason why Mk1 Europe MX5s ended up with a foglight “brick” is that originally Mazda Europe wasn’t interested in the car until after the final design had been signed off.

I was mistaken in stating G174RKM was the oldest “UK MX5”, its the oldest surviving one. James Taylor’s “Mazda MX-5 and Miata” has a press photograph of a car G173RKM (blue or red, can’t tell); “Mazda” decal on the front, “Mazda” wheel centres, but no mudflaps (which were a standard fit in the UK, with the small extensions). This car is no longer listed on the database; that might indicate something strange happened to it, or that it has been reregistered with a new plate. Or, most unlikely, MCL made up a plate to match the suffixes it was using at the time. In the same book, there is a press launch photo of the BBR, with a car carrying the registration H123 MCL, which also doesn’t show on the database (and also sounds a bit made up). Generally, when cars are scrapped, their last taxation date will appear on the database, ditto when cars are exported.

“G171RKM” is a probably a 2.2 626 (unless its a gold pickup), and surprisingly still on the road, not bad for a car now worth about £50. “G170RKM” was a black rotary, probably a RX7, which met its end in 2009 (together with a bankrupted owner). G169RKM; 121, scrapped 2004. G171RKM; not matching anything, so might also be a “MX5”.

 

So, if 171, 172, 173, and 174 might have been MX5-ised Eunos Roadsters; I don’t know the colour of 173, except it looked dark, so red or blue. Tempting to think, MCL brought over 4 Roadsters in the 4 launch colours, for photography purposes etc, or maybe they were sacrificed for Type Approval purposes (which I guess, involved crashing the car into a wall at some point). 174 must have gained type approval, hence the JMZ suffix. But usually, these sort of cars don’t have much of a future; there are anecdotes abound that the North Sea is littered with Ford prototypes pushed off a ro-ro, to avoid VAT or something.

Brian Long has the VIN of the first UK MX5 as JMZNA18B200100001. It is kind of strange than G174RKM survived; the Winning Blue NC MX5 that did the rounds of the dealers in 2005 was apparently crushed at the end of its tour? It had hand written VIN numbers, and I managed to break the roof on it…

 

Mystery badge in Japanese:

I have put together a spreadsheet of probable early UK MX5s. Something very odd happened with the registrations at the time.

 

G174 RKM remains the oldest UK MX5 (though it was probably a Eunos Roadster fitted with UK-spec parts), registered 17 January 1990, with the DVLA mistakingly putting the engine size down as 1498cc.

 

Liz Turner’s book includes a photograph of a white 1990 UK car, with a stick on plate, with the photograph being indicated as taken on Greece as part of a press launch. The registration of this car is G215RKM. Can anybody confirm whether this press launch actually took place? If it did, I assumed Mazda probably arranged for a collection of cars, in different colours, to be available to the journalists. Does anyone know if these cars had stick on plates fitted (fitted I would assume, if true, because the UK spec number plate brackets were not available)

 

G215RKM is listed as being registered on 1st February 1990, bizarrely the day before G175RKM. I always thought registration numbers were issued in sequence.

A bit of poking around reveals a series of Mazda 1597cc cars, all being registered on 01/02/90, from G201RKM to G216RKM, 4 blue cars, 4 red cars, 3 white cars and 4 silver cars. G200RKM is a 1597cc Mazda of some sort but its in black, and G218RKM is a 1597cc Mazda in yellow. In principle, these cars might have been 323s with the same B6 engine, but many of these cars are still taxed, which would conspire against them being 323 (the vast majority of these 20 year old Japanese hatchbacks will be in cubes by now). The yellow car is now toast, but I do recall an early UK car that came from Mazda France in yellow (but left the factory in red); I couldn’t find a trace of red on that car, and the story was that Mazda might have used it for photography purposes (it had an odd mix of UK and Japan-specific features). The black “MX5” is still about. One of the series apparently had a very short life; being last taxed in August 1990; I suppose its possible that it was put on a private plate, but it would be pretty remarkable for a 21 year old car still to retain a private mark (when the marks are transferred, I though the original issued plate is reissued to the car). The cars have been registered in blocks of colour, so the vVINs might be in order (ie. G201RKM is an older car than G216RKM, by about 3 hours).

The contender for the oldest “proper” UK MX5 surviving is between G175RKM, a mariner blue car, registered on 02/02/90, G201RKM, also in Gods own colour, registered on 01/02/90. The mystery black car, G200RKM was registered 02/02/90 (yes, strange that). Both of these cars are still listed as being taxed. The 01/02/90 cars were registered in the following order (first to last): blue, white, red, silver. I suppose it might be possible that other MX5s were registered on the same day in different areas (“KM” indicates a Maidstone/Kent registration, which coincides with MCL’s address). Need someone to confirm from the chassis numbers, and also if the odd painted cars were MX5s, delivered in those colours, or later repaints, or some other small engined Mazda. Out of 17 01/02/90 registrants, 9 are still taxed.

The oldest car in the UK badged as a MX5 from the factory though is a very early 1989 Australian car that surfaced in Northern Ireland (imported in 1991). It looks more or less the same as a Roadster, with a small opening for the rear plate.

 

G177RKM, the Autocar cover car, was last taxed (and presumably scrapped) in 2004 Sad. RIP.

 

I have also collected together other registrations of MX5s appearing in the national literature, into a spreadsheet that I’m happy to share, if anyone wants to find out if their car was once the “star”. I won’t publish the list here, as although it includes some of the Mazda press cars (used in promotional literature, or loaned to magazines), it also includes cars provided by owners for magazine articles, and these owners, for whatever reason, might not want this broadcast. But, it included 2 cars well known to me, but not seen for about 10 years, that have survived. The list isn’t comprehensive, as its just based on the literature I have, listing 69 MX5s and Roadsters.

 I have very recently become the proud owner of JMZNA18B200100376, according to those who know better than I this is one of the oldest ? Not that it makes any difference to me either way. I’m happy with my MX in classic red and full un modified uk spec.

I’ve just bought a G-reg Eunos. It was  register in 1989.  and is in need of a lot of TLC.

 

Built December 18th 1989

 

What do you need confirming from VIN AT? In simple list format…

Have a look at:

http://www.mx5oc.co.uk/forum/forums/t/321.aspx

 

The Japan Partner site doesn’t work so well, in that it no longer seems to give a build date for any car, but the spread sheet will give you a very approximate Japanese registration date; this was based on data supplied by one of the importers. I don’t know if anyone has located a working Japan VIN checker elsewhere.

I have access to the Japanese parts catalogue at work which lists a production date for any given Roadster VIN. I can get a production date and other build information for any UK VIN (and reg number if not a private plate) from the UK parts catalogue which I have on my computer at home. No problem checking UK VIN’s Japanese VIN’s is a bit more awkward due to having to use someone elses computer.

VIN of G201 RKM, G175 RKM (ie. which one of these was the older car)

G200 RKM; was this actually a MX5, and if so, what was the delivery colour and VIN.

G218 RKM; again was this actually a MX5, and if so, what colour was it delivered in, and the VIN.

 

Oh, and G173RKM; was that actually a real car? I have a photograph of a car with this mark from Liz Turner’s book.

Ditto, H123 MCL, which was used in BBR promotional material; it seems like a made up plate.

 

There’s a spreadsheet attached to this post as well (hopefully)

 

Of course, the registration marks might not correspond with VIN, but we see how we get on.

 

Typically, none of those registration marks are in the data base of the parts catalogue except G173 RKM, this brings up a VIN of JMZNA18B200100003 but there are no other details for it… I have another system I can check them on at work tomorrow.

I’ll run through the spread sheet when I get time and fill in some stuff there.

Have a look at G527YBA, see what that throws up, its a Eunos i think.

I think it was registered Jan-Feb 1990.

 

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For a Roadster, you need to give the full VIN. DVLA won’t record the build date on imports, and they will, at best, only have an approximate date of first use. And at times, this can go desperately wrong. At the recent National Rally, there was a Mk1 Roadster on a “03” plate.

 

DVLA lists your car as being first UK registered in Sept 1998.

 

Wasn’t there a thread about that car on here a number of months back as it was on eBay at the time and many members were questioning it’s legitamacy… 

 

My classic red G reg MX5 was registered on the 20.03.1990 and still gleams like new! Never been welded or had a respray, not bad for a 21 year old car that has lived all of it’s life in the UK! It had both the original dealer number plates when I bought it, sadly the front was cracked and has now been replaced. Will soon be up for sale too :frowning:

 

Still no joy on Mazda’s systems with any of those reg numbers, they all come up as “No Such Vehicle”. G173 RKM is the only one that has any history. It has a service and MOT recorded at around 61000 miles in 2002. But with a serial number of 100003 it changes everything doesn’t it?