MX-5/Miata designer Shunji Tanaka dies aged 75

Very sad news - MX-5/Miata Designer Shunji Tanaka Dies aged 75. :frowning:
Thanks for giving us the World’s Best Selling Roadster… R.I.P.

Please attach your favourite photo in his memory…

Rob

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R.I.P. Sir

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so obviously this guy designed the mark1 mx5 but did he do all the mx5s right up to and including the mark 4?

also by design, I presume it means he designed the body look rather than the whole car?

could anyone do a write-up on this, please?

It looks like his contribution was just to the NA model. I’ve found this, taken from an item in Autoblog. Hope it helps.

Rob

An American, Bob Hall, is credited as the man who took the idea of a British-style two-seat roadster to Mazda and worked on the project for years in order to convince Mazda to follow through and put the car into production. Japanese designer Shunji Tanaka (far left, above) is credited as leading the exterior and interior design of the NA Mazda MX-5 Miata that has launched car lovers’ dreams and racing careers for the past 33 years. Tanaka died earlier this month, a Facebook post by a close friend saying, “I’m so sorry to announce that Mr. Tanaka, the Chief Designer of NA MX-5 has passed away on Dec. 12th at the age of 75.” The post says Tanaka’s last words were, “I have no regret in my life.” If that last part is true, it is justified. After doing work on Mazdas like the Miata and Mazda 929, Kawasaki poached Tanaka to design motorcycles. There, he added two-wheelers like the Z1000, ZX6R, ZX10R, and Z750 to his resume.

The first generation Mazda MX-5 (NA) can be said to have had many fathers. Bob Hall, the journalist who became a product designer, was the one who first proposed the idea to Mazda’s -then- boss, Kenichi Yamamoto. Tom Matano and Mark Jordan were the two who designed the lines for the first concepts of the model in Mazda’s studio in California. Toshihiko Hirai, the chief engineer, whom Hall credits as the true patriarch of the model.

However, there are others, including Shunji Tanaka, the Japanese company’s chief designer for the model, who turned his original concepts into the production car we know and love. According to an announcement on Facebook by a close friend Tanaka, the Japanese died on December 12, at the age of 75, with the announcement stating that in his last words Tanaka stated that he had no regrets in his life.

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Thank you Tanaka-san. Always wanted a roadster, since passing my test in 1972. Now, 50 years later, I finally have one. My NB is the perfect no-frills roadster I always promised myself. You made an old man very happy.

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