Just came across this one; Mitsuoka, a Japanese car builder transforming the ND in an (uggly, my opinion) Morgan-esque desaster. It is only available with the 1.5 and weights 140 kg more… making it even slower…I remember a similar realisation on the NC whick looked a lot beter . Sorry but the article is in Dutch…
https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=6e49282ac51fa6dfJmltdHM9MTY4OTg5NzYwMCZpZ3VpZD0wMmRhNmIyZS1jNzBiLTY2ZjctMjkwYy03ODE5YzYzYzY3ZGYmaW5zaWQ9NTE3OQ&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=02da6b2e-c70b-66f7-290c-7819c63c67df&psq=mitsuoka+mx-5&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYXV0b3Zpc2llLm5sL25pZXV3cy9taXRzdW9rYS12ZXJhbmRlcnQtZGUtbWF6ZGEtbXgtNS1pbi1lZW4tc29vcnQtbW9yZ2FuLw&ntb=1.
The Mitsuoka Himiko
I like it. It will be plenty fast enough.
Was it Jeremy Clarkson, or one of his two hit men, who drove one of these in a recent show?
Kind of old news.
TW White (oldest UK Mazda dealer) is a distributor:
Mitsuoka also did a Stingray MX5, strictly limited though
Spanish coachbuilder Hurtan, did this:
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In the 90s, you could get a Jag Mk2 lookalike based on a Micra K11.
It was Clarksons vehicle
Just discovered Mitsuoka still make the Jag Mk2 lookalike, but the latest ones are Yaris-based.
Probably a bit strong to say the Viewt is a Jag Mk2 Lookalike
Mitsuoka Buddy, based on the current Rav-4. Clearly inspired by a Chevrolet, but I wouldn’t call it a Silverado etc look alike
Mitsuoka Zero 1, which was NA Roadster based
They have an actual factory
Used car listings:
As with all of their vehicles, very well finished but you wonder why they ever started.
Indeed, these creations have two things in common; solid and deicated craftmanship and an uggly result.
Sure that for the money customers spend (car and conversion) you would be able to buy a nice unmolested car.
These are sold as brand new cars, with a warranty.
No different really from the UK’s Panther, who produced these gems in response to customer demand:
(doors off an Austin Land Crab)
(modified dolomite)
Sheer Rover, when Wood and Pickett decided grafting on Rover lighting badly would look really good on a Range Rover:
Or Rapport, who thought a Ford Granada treatment looked better
Rapport Ritz, a worked over Honda Accord with silly lighting. 19 were sold
Crayford Mini with power bulge?
Radford Mini
Someone at Tickford thought this Mini looked good
Then what Zagato did with the Toyota MRS
Then the Aussie AMX07; these were offered as turnkey cars, not kit cars
Some UK outfit got inspired by this, and ruined some more NAs with the Aspire
More hideous turnkey efforts not from Japan. The Healy Enigma. Indeed an enigma, why?
As to why, ultimately people like these sort of things, always have.
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The last one looks like a Mini got too friendly with a Z3. I suppose all sorts of things can happen in a BMW warehouse at night.
What happens when a bloke in a shed believes his design acumen is better than a factory design studio team who are the cream of the crop.
You have a bigger shed than me
I’d call these factories.
Longbridge Flight Shed, part of Austin Cars.
That factory design team also designs compromises, compromises that keep the Japanese, Americans, British, Germans, French etc all happy.
Other designers, when freed of corporate shackles, can be less compromised.
This is what the finest minds at Mazda could come up with when readying the MX5 for Europe.
It still is four walls and a roof isn’t it? pretty much all of these cars were useless to keep the rain out so I thought it was a fair comparison… 
Never questioned the engineering side of things making stuff in a shed. (fun fact the Airbus A350 MLG springs - two of these are fitted on each side stay - are made in the UK in a shed in someone’s back garden)
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