All late 1995 Eunos Roadsters, airbag or not, had bent stalks. In the UK, late-non-airbag cars had straight early type stalks.
If it is a 1997 Eunos Roadster (as opposed to an earlier car that has been misregistered), there are a few tell tales:
- The VIN on all late 1995+ cars is NA8C-4xxxxxx. If its got this vin, this is definitive.
- The rear Roadster badge on late cars has the letters picked out in green. On 1993-95 cars, the letters are in red, and on earlier cars, its black.
- The engine cam cover on these late cars uses plain steel bolts not chrome, and the breather pipe from the cam cover is a rubber hose not chromed pipe.
- On the interior, the door grips are the early long types. The 1993-95 cars had a short black grip. The 1995+ seats have a short squab. The carpet is no longer a loop pile, but a moulded “fuzzy” pile. The hazard warning switch is black, not red.
This is the October 1995 brochure:
On the V-Special, the standard steeing wheel was a Nardi, but not the Classico used on the earlier V-Specs. Instead, the Nardi was a modern style, still with a wood rim, but with a rubber crashpad (non-removeable); at first glance, it kind of looks like a airbag wheel.
All models of this age had an optional airbag wheel, and in all cases, it was black leather rimmed, even though the shifter and handbrake handle was wood.
1990-93 1.6 V-Special Interior (this is actually a 1992-93 V-Spec 2 model due to MSSS stereo, and stainless steel speaker covers)
This shows the 1993-1995 1.8 V-spec, note the door grips and pockets
A late 1995 V-Spec, with the late style non-air bag Nardi steering wheel
Note the seat shape, and the bent stalks. Also, no chrome rim to the guages (this came about earlier in 1995). The late cars also had a dummy low-high oil pressure gauge. This car also still has the factory radio, which superficially looks the same as the earlier silver MSSS, but is entirely different (the tombstone radio surround on these later Eunos Roadsters is also different, with a wider radio aperture, not fitted to UK cars.
It sounds like you have an earlier car that has been misregistered when imported. maybe it was imported in 1997, and registered as a 1997 car. I have seen Mk1 imports on 51 plates.
Now, on these later cars there is an issue if you want to replace the steering wheel. All airbagged cars have a steel spacer on the steering column, which I suspect is to do with making sure the airbag deploys in the right direction.
But, Mazda, on the late JDM non-airbag cars, kept this spacer. Consequently, the boss of the steering wheel is off centre. If a centric boss is fitted (ie the hole for the spline is dead centre), then the steering wheel is too low and will rub on the legs. You can safely remove the spacer to restore the correct position. If fitting a factory wheel and boss (ie a Classico off another car), the boss will rub on the plastic stalk shroud, so you have to cut some plastic away. Also, this cover will push up onto the gauge cover if the column spacer is removed.
On the NA Eunos Roadster, there are two possible airbag wheels.
In about 1991, Mazda made a airbag an option, and the wheel appears to be identical to the airbag wheel fitted in the US; 4 spokes with two horn buttons;
Late Eunos Roadster airbag wheel
This photo also shows the black hazard switch.
This is my later 1995 N-reg S-Spec 2, with the standard non-airbag Momo. Note the bent, or dog leg stalks, which should be present on a 1997 V-Spec.
And the stalks in more detail
Steering column spacer
Fitting a shop option Classico, with the spacer fitted
Spacer removed
Dismantled US car showing the spacer in situ
Similarly dismantled early RHD car; no spacer
