Project Speedster

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2

 Almost a year ago I purchased a Damaged Silver Mk1, the previous owner had damaged the rear wing, I ran the car around during the winter till the MOT ran out, then I parked it on my drive, and that is where it sat for the next 6 months or so, during that time I have been thinking about what to do with it, there was a few possibilities.

  1. Break it
    2) repair the damage and sell it
    3) put it back on the road for the winter
    4) something else

I kept thinking about doing option 1 or 2, but then when I was bored one day I was reminded of the M2 Speedster, and all of a sudden item 4 started to seem like a good idea, so now this poor neglected silver Mk1 is going to become something special.

here are some pictures of the M2 speedster, this was made in 1995, and it was the only one ever made, I will not be copying it, but using it for my inspiration.

and here is the car that is going to be transformed, lookng very sorry for itself

Yesterday I stripped off the roof, emptied the doors of all the glass and window winders because these wont be needed, the masking tape shows roughly where the windscreen will be cut down to, although I will be keeping the top part of the screen frame, unlike the M2 version, I’ve got a set of S2 elise seats coming which will allow me to determine where the seating position will be, I need it to be as low as possible, the M2 version appears to keep the seating position more or less standard, I will be getting it as low as I can, I want to be sitting under the screen.

Today I created the curve in the bottom rear corner of the door, its not as big as the one on the M2 version, but its exactly how I want it to be

I think this is a great modification, it looks like it should have been that shape from mazda

I then created a bulge in the sill, the welding isn’t quite finished here, I ran out of welding gas

That is as far as I have got so far :slight_smile:

3

The M-Speedster was a one off for a show. Mazda North America took a car that had been built for the Monterey Historic Race Festival, the Miari.

 

 

The M-Speedster had a couple of paint jobs:

 

 

There’s a P-reg UK car around, in BRG, which also has a cutdown screen.

The MX5 Superlight allegedly came about because a red 1.8 NC fell off a transport:

 

4

 I’ve not seen pictures of that classic red one before, thank you for showing me them, I don’t believe that is the M2 car though, so its good to see another one

5

 

According to the people who worked on the project it was. Important to realise this car was the creation of MNAO (actually MRA, Mazda’s American reesearch operation), not M2-Inc. It was not called the M2 Speedster, but the M-Speedster, inline with the M-Edition. Jack Yamaguchi, in his well known book, interviewed Tom Matano about this car. The Miari was only really displayed to a select bunch at MRA and Mazda North America, before being sacrificed for the M-Speedster project. Matano noted that only the headrest piece survived, and ended up hanging on a MRA office wall. MRA reused the RX7esque door line idea in the M-Coupe show car.

 

http://realbig.com/miata/1996-05/2345.html




















 
6

 ahhhh I see, so it started life as the classic red car, and then got turned into the M-speedster, excellent information, and thank you so much for those extra pictures, they are very informative, if you have anymore information or pictures I would love to see them.

Thank you

Garath

7

 just a small update,

I decided to take the curved door idea onto the bootlid, the chrome pieces where the hardtop secures are going, so there is no need for the boot to have a square corner there, here is a photo of the modification in its early stages, still plenty to do to finish it off, but you get the idea

you will also notice that the the aerial hole has been made ready for welding up

I’ve also welded up the fuel filler flap, its got 3/4 of a tank, that will last ages  hahaha, no I’m moving the fuel filler to inside the boot.

I have also test fitted a door popping solenoid, there will be no handles on this car either :slight_smile:

8

 Looking Good so far Garath !! Keep the updates coming {#emotions_dlg.thumb}

9

It is great to see that there are people out there with the time & talent to make something truly unique. Have you set yourself a budget or time frame to complete it? Will you be bringing it to any of the national events next year if it is done in time?<o:p></o:p>

10

 Hi,

I don’t have a budget, but I have an idea of what it is likely to cost me, the deadline I have set myself is the 2013 show season, but I am hoping to get it done before that, I won’t rush it though.

11

 It will be great to see. What an interesting project. Look forward to further updates.

12

 I’ve managed to get some more done this afternoon,

the aerial hole is now welded up

as is the passenger side chrome hardtop fixing thingy

the seats also arrived today, I have been waiting for these so I could establish how low I can get the seating position, which would in turn determine the height of the screen, I have changed my mind about keeping the top part of the window frame, I decided that after looking at pictures of E-types, they have nothing above the glass, and I think it looks great.

so the first step was to place the seat in the car, then put some bloke in the seat, hahaha, then mark out where to cut the seat, you will also notice the passenger side door handle has been welded up in these pictures

then out came the angle grinder, and off came the top of the window frame, and the front door posts, I have placed the screen back in the frame and marked where it will be cut with masking tape to check the height

Lots still to do, but some big steps taken today, and I couldn’t be happier with the seating position and screen height.

13

Awesome project!!! I asm very excited about following the progress of this, some of the pictures further up the thread are pointing in the direction of a beautiful end product.

14

 Obviuosly your talent out ways mine, however have been working on my own speedster for about a year now, hoping to have it ready for bromley pagent 2012, I have removed the full windscreen and made a perspex deflector, and used a moss mx5 speedster tonneau cover with adapted brackets to tidy up the rear (a much more budget driven version).

good luck, I will post some pics when I’ve fathemed how to do it.

 

15

 Hey Garath, Where did you get that life like crash test dummy ??? {#emotions_dlg.bigsmile} {#emotions_dlg.wink}

 

Looks a tad like Mark !!! {#emotions_dlg.bigsmile}

16

 Hi Dean,

I see you are in west sussex, not to far away, I would be interested to have a look at your car if you don’t mind?

17

 I went online earlier and see you are fairly local, I have no objections to you having a look, I don’t know if you’ve read the post I put on earlier that shows where I am at so far, if you reply on my post hopefully it should notify me via email so I can respond a little qiucker. also I may pick youre brains in regards to seating in mine.

18

 I’ve had a look at your thread, it looks great, seeing as we are so close I do think it would be good for us to have a look at each others project, :slight_smile:

19

 I sent an email with my contact on to your work email (from your website) call me so we can discuss

20

What a cracking project, good work so far Thumbs up

But please dont put those lights in the front bumper, they ruin it in my eyes Sad