The MX-5 celebrates its 30th birthday but like the rest of us, the world’s most popular roadster just keeps getting better with age, writes Geraldine Herbert
It is now forty years since an American motoring journalist named Bob Hall suggested to Kenichi Yamamoto, Mazda’s head of research and development that what Mazda needed was an affordable two-seater roadster. A fan of British Sports cars of the 1950s and 1960s Hall had long dreamed of a car that would combine basic sports car fun with Japanese reliability. In 1981, Hall became a product planner at Mazda and Yamamoto gave the green light for the new roadster -the MX-5 was born and was launched in 1989. Mazda had re-invented the roadster at a time when the affordable, open-top sports car had all but disappeared from showrooms.
The Appeal of this lightweight roadster
Thirty years on why does the appeal of this lightweight roadster endure? For Matteo Licata an Italian Car designer and the founder of roadster-life.com the lure is simple “it expresses my optimism and openness to life, the joy of travelling immersed in the environment, not just looking at it from an air-conditioned cocoon”. Over the past few years Matteo has owned all four generations of the Mazda MX5 and for good reason, “It’s fun at every speed, distinctive yet without any image issues: as it doesn’t wear a luxury badge and doesn’t cost much, it doesn’t generate envy. Those who notice it on the road are mostly fellow enthusiasts”
Since the MX-5 first launch, it has turned heads and become an object of desire. But it not only looks good the MX-5 has also stayed remarkably true to its original concept.
Affordability a key selling point
Brendan McGarry, a self-confessed petrol-head and past proud owner of a first generation MX-5 believe that while the affordability of is one its selling points, what really separates the MX-5 from the competition is the driving dynamics. “It’s a car that teaches you to really drive, it is fast enough to challenge you but never so fast as to be dangerous,” says Brendan.
“The rear-wheel drive and nimble chassis encourage you to push a little harder through a corner, learn how to apex properly, hang the back out a little but then when you go too far it’s utterly forgiving as you collect it up and go on your way. And it makes your rag-top motoring dreams come true on a shoestring.”
Link to the past
But for others like Jessica Pender, the cheeky two-seat roadster is a link to her past. “In 2000, as my Dad was inching nearer to his 40s he traded in his old black Rover for a 1992 shiny green convertible sports car, a special edition British Racing Green MK1 MX-5”.
“He loved that car” recalls Jessica, “and I thought it was something straight out of a James Bond movie”.
Built simply for two, over the next few years the MX-5 became a big part of their lives.
“For the next few years, some of my favourite memories are of the two of us just sitting in it in the driveway in rainstorms. Listening to the drops hitting the vinyl roof allowed us to pretend we were camping in a tent somewhere exciting.”
But after Jessica’s Dad passed away in 2003, the car was stowed away and shortly after it was sold.
“For years later whenever I saw a green, first generation MX-5 on the road I wondered was it the same car that I had formed so many great childhood memories in” recalls Jessie.
When it came time to learn to drive and buy her own first car Jessie decided to try and find her Dad’s beloved MX-5. An online motor history check revealed a recent NCT and tax records for the car so armed with little more than hope Jesse posted details of the car on the MX-5 Ireland forum. Finally, the current owner made contact to say that the car was in good condition and he was willing to part with it.
“It was sitting in his driveway, not looking any the worse for wear. Instantly the smell of the leather interior brought back so many memories” recalls Jessica.
Since buying the car in 2013, Jessica has forged new memories in the car including an occasion with an open boot full of champagne, rose petals and a “Will you marry me” sign along with her finance Derek on bended knee.
Lorraine Higgins’ love of the MX-5 also stems from her Dad and her 1992 first generation roadster was a gift from him. “ I think wanted to buy it for himself but wasn’t brave enough to be seen in a tiny two-seater soft top on a permanent basis” recalls Lorraine, “That said he was never shy in borrowing it when the sun was shining.”
And there is no denying the incredible appeal of this car, it not only looked exotic with the soft-top, pop up lights and a retro steering wheel but there is a sense of happiness that only comes when you are driving it.
“It just hugged the road which appealed to the girl racer in me,” says Lorraine, “it had a low centre of gravity with everything perfectly designed to fit neatly around you.”
30th anniversary
Now celebrating its 30th anniversary, the Mazda MX-5 has remained fundamentally unchanged and had never strayed from the formula that turned the first-generation car into a success. Today, at a time when cars are getting bigger, heavier and are crammed with technology, the new MX-5 is back-to-basics motoring at its very best. Mazda may have borrowed the concept of a two-seater sports car from the British but it was the Japanese who perfected it.
Driving an MX-5 is one of the few remaining great motoring thrills and it is a car that spawned a host of imitators by numerous car makers from BMW to Porsche and all from a casual conversation between Hall and Yamamoto 40 years ago.
Hall once remarked that “The reason the MX-5 was and is successful is that it relies on something that is uncommon in the car industry: common sense. Most companies looked at what they had and asked how it could be adapted to create another product. At Mazda, we looked at people’s desires.”
And in the case of the MX-5, they have stayed true to that winning formula ever since.
Geraldine Herbert
24 April 2019
