The Eunos Roadster didn 't go on sale until September 1989, but production started end June 1989. Someone used the manufacture date not first use to register the car here.
It can be adjusted, if you have a copy of the original Japanese deregistration paperwork.
When I repatriated back to GB from NI, I brought my September 1991 Roadster with me, transferred it from DVLNI to DVLA (they said they received hardly any info from NI on the car. Didn’t really matter to me, but it mattered to the next owner. I had a bit of a fight with the DVLA, as apparently they just throw away all the Japanese documents when a car is registered. The good people in Coleraine don’t though. They retain everything, forever, and sent me an official letter transcribing the contents, and confirming the first use date. Of course, they were not allowed to pass that letter to the DVLA. I had to do that (joined up government, eh?) . It took 3 months for them to issue a new plate. 12 months later, the new owner found he couldn’t tax the car, as the DVLA hadn’t properly “released” it. And the car is down as an August 2000 import (it was imported in November 1997, I purchased in April 2000, rereg in England in 2003, so random date they used)
I see Mk1 imports with messed up plates all the time, including cars on 03 plates. Also back in the day, many imports were coming in via Ireland. Fitted with ZZ irish export plates and driven here, or, quite commonly, driven up to Northern Ireland, registered there, then “exported” to GB. At the time, NI used photo driving licences and GB was still on paper licences. There was scam to somehow get the cars out of the docks on effectively fake ZZ plates, drive north, sell the car, take the car back south, and register it in the buyers name, but flashing the Gard your photo bit of the licence. It was to get around the then restrictions on personal imports, and they were running out of grannies and aunties to use. That’s what happened with my first, but the system failed because I was on a GB licence, so they had to use the Apprentice’s licence instead, and I was the second owner for a car fresh off the docks.
As you can expect, VAT wasn’t paid on all cars. One owner was surprised when the Irish police turned up on Londonderry to take away his MR2. The importers never paid the VAT in Ireland, and somehow the Irish police worked with the RUC to track down the car. The owner lost his car, buyer beware. Happens in GB; a US spec early Miata turned up in Nottingham. It was in a fairly bad state, but a Spanish owner wanted it (LHD). That’s when it was discovered that VAT and duty had never been paid on the car 10 years earlier, and that was due based on the original near new value… It came over with a US serviceman, who sold it on, and subsequent owners had no idea until it came to be exported. I think it was “scrapped” and the scrap shipped to Spain. The Nottingham MX5 dealer has long gone.