Remembering Japanese cars from the past

Tag: mazda miata (Page 1 of 5)

EV charging spot hogging 1990 Mazda Miata – Down on the Street

I already found this electrifying Mazda Miata a few years ago. Back then, the parking garage where I also found the Estima and some other cars converted 8 parking spots on the first floor for electric charging.

The first time I spotted this Mazda Miata NA hogging an EV charging spot
The first time I spotted this Mazda Miata NA hogging an EV charging spot

Almost every other weekend I would spot this Miata hogging one of those spots. It’s quite interesting because I could see the benefits of an electrically powered Miata: lightweight, good balance and high torque would be awesome. However, as this car was never connected to the charging port I reckoned it wasn’t converted. So what was the reason for this person to park his/her Miata in those charging spots? I can think of a few.

The first reason: a wider parking space

The second time I spotted this Mazda Miata NA hogging an EV charging spot
The second time I spotted this Mazda Miata NA hogging an EV charging spot

The first reason would be the convenience of a larger parking space. This parking garage was built in the late 1970s or early 1980s. Back then cars were much smaller than nowadays. According to Andy from Big Car, the average parking spot in the UK has grown. The same applies to this garage: parking spots are quite narrow and also the corners are quite tight. Often when I encounter a large SUV in the opposite direction, we can’t pass each other in the corners and one of us has to wait for the other to pass. I sometimes have to skip a parking spot because someone parked their car up to the line of the spot, making my spot too narrow for my 2013 Honda Civic.

The electric charging sports are much wider as they must be large enough for modern electric cars or plug-in hybrids. These cars tend to be much wider than the 1970s/1980s cars. In this garage, they converted from the usual 3 parking spots between pillars to only 2 spots. Could this have been the reason for the owner to park the Miata in a larger electric charging spot?

Second reason: conveniently close to the exit

The third time I spotted this Mazda Miata NA hogging an EV charging spot
The third time I spotted this Mazda Miata NA hogging an EV charging spot

The second reason I can think of is that these electric charging spots are located conveniently. The spots are located on the first floor, while on Saturday mornings I often have to drive to the third or fourth floor to find a spot. These spots are also located opposite the staircase and lift, so it’s much quicker to exit the building from these spots. Could this then have been the reason for parking the Miata in such a spot?

Conclusion

I think we’ll never know the true reason. I haven’t seen the electrifying Miata over the past three years. Perhaps the owner got scolded by the owner for hogging these spots or perhaps moved on to a true electric vehicle?

And before I forget: this Mazda Miata was originally sold in the US or Canada in 1990. It was imported into the Netherlands in 1997. It still has MOT until September this year, so the owner still hogs EV charging spots wherever he/she can!

Mazda MX5 NB Super Bird [Down on the Street]

Mazda MX5 NB Super Bird

The Mazda MX5 NB is the second generation of the Mazda MX5. Just like the NA it is small, lightweight and nimble and it is just an awesome car! Someone has made this NB just a little bit more awesome…
Down on the street: Mazda MX5 NA Super Bird
At first I thought this was another one of those stickerbombed Mazda MX5s but as I got closer I noticed there was a whole different painting on the fender. I have no idea what it is supposed to be but it looks like someone painted a lot of birds on it.

Continue reading

Down on the Street: Snowy Mazda MX-5 NA

On the very same day that I encountered the snowy Subaru Impreza WRX I also made photos of a snowy Mazda MX-5 NA:
Down on the Street: Snowy Mazda MX-5 NA
This red Mazda MX-5 originates from November 1990 and was imported 14 years ago into the Netherlands.

As you can see a lot of things have changed on this MX-5 in the past 24 years:
Down on the Street: Snowy Mazda MX-5 NA
First if all the double exhaust pipes look brilliant on it. I have no idea if they are functional or not but they don’t look fake or something.

Down on the Street: Snowy Mazda MX-5 NA
Then there is also a boot rack (trunk rack for the US) mounted on the boot/trunk which should increase luggage capacity for long weekend trips.

Down on the Street: Snowy Mazda MX-5 NA
The wheels are dished Rota RB rims (Minilite/Watanabe copies) but I’m unsure about the size as I did not make a clear picture of that.

Down on the Street: Snowy Mazda MX-5 NA
Last but not least: the snowy Mazda MX-5 NA reminded me of the Miatas from Cars in this photo. I tried to add eyes and eyelids but I simply couldn’t post it here, so you will have to do the same by squinting your eyes and see for yourself. 😉

Verdict: I really love to see this Miata every morning when I bring my son to school! It hardly ever moves but I hope the owner just suspended his/her daily commute in it during wintertime.

Count the MX5s!

Can you count the number of MX5s in this picture? It was taken at the MAX-5 2013 event in the Netherlands where they set the Guiness World Record of the largest Mazda parade:
Count the number of MX5s!
It is a pity I did not know about this event before reading it at Jalopnik: would have been nice to hunt down some Miatas. 😉

So now don’t rush over to Jalopnik to find out the answer (if you didn’t know it already because you attended it!) but just think about your answer first. 😉

Via Jalopnik (photos are taken from Jalopnik and they did not give any credits to the rightful owners)

Japanese Autosport Festival: the bombs!

There are lovers and haters of the stickerbomb style and I happen to be somewhere in between. If applied in a good fashion I like it a lot, if done in a wrong way I definitely hate it. Given this phenomenon popped up one and a half to two years ago I think we’re currently at the high of the trend, so there is hope for the haters. 😉

Anyway, here is a selection of cars I found on the Japanese Autosport Festival with stickerbombs!
Stickerbombed Mazda Miata
First of all the Miata of which I posted up a bombed flip up light before. All round this car was applied with various stickers, but the bombs were concentrated around the flip up lights. I love it this way: it is easily reversible and not overdone.

Speaking of flip up lights, this is a closeup of the other light: Continue reading

DOTS: Miata hunting (part nineteen) plus bonus

After two Miataless months I thought it would be and excellent time to post up something I snapshotted half a year ago when I was at the Santa Clara conference hall. A USDM Miata had been parked at the conference parkinglot and while I was searching my bag for my HTC phonecam a white Celica RA42 parked right next to it! Yes, the Celica was indeed driven by a disabled person and it did have an automatic transmission.
USDM Miata and bonus Celica RA42
If you look at the Celica and Miata and compare it against the other two behemoths next to them you realize these two cars are very very un-American. 😉

When I walked around to take a snapshot up front the Miata owner returned left, so all in all I just had about one minute of luck to take the above snapshot. This is how the Celica looks up front: Continue reading

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