MadaboutMX5s.

Morning All,

Seeing as I have joined here and taking a regular look of the forum thought I would post some photos and background into MX5 Roadsters.

I got my first roadster in 1999/2000 (a MK1 red circa 1990 IIRC). Since then I have had over 50. I am not a dealer or anything like that just over the years gone through MX5s like women go through shoes. As a teenager in the 1990's I had always like the MK1 MX5 but it was only when working as a kid earning some cash picking Japanese imports up from the docks at Southampton, Tilbury, Felixstowe, etc. that my interest in them increased as I realized what a fun car they are to drive.

Over the years my specialist interest has been in the Japanese car scene for roadsters so most of my cars have followed a trend that means they would not look out of place at a Roadster meet in Japan. The term JDM seems to have diluted over the years to the parts you see on cars and I concentrate on dealing with the more specialist boutique tuners.

Right now I own 6 roadsters..

The first is my silver Tuckin 99 FM2 Turbo. I have owned this longest of my roadsters as had it since 2007. The Tuckin99 N2 arches are taken from the moulds Tuckin99 bought from Mazdaspeed back in the day as originally these were design and built by Mazdaspeed for track cars. Alongside the Tuckin99 N2 arches the FM2 Turbo kit I fitted gives it a fair bit of get up and go.

My second longest owning roadster I have owned twice. I bought it back originally in 2009. It is nicknamed the Corns Roadster as it is believed to have been worked in Japan by Carmake Corns, a specialist tuner. When I first bought the car it was pretty ropey and a few friends wondered what I had done. However it was a 2008 import, essentially solid but shagged mechanicals. In my first duration of ownership I changed the diff, gearbox, had it resprayed, added new parts from Japan plus a lot of other mechanical parts. I sold it around 2011 to fund a RX7 habit but bought it back in 2012 as the chap I sold it too kindly stuck to a gentlemans agreement to sell it back to me if he ever wanted to get rid. In the second round of ownership I replaced the worn carb'd engine with a forged engine built by Tomei Racing in Japan mated to a Mazdaspeed supercharger kit. It is essentially a noisy, track car as is stripped out, caged, etc. It is not massive power as only 5psi and just over 200bhp. However the driving experience is great fun and the engine is almost v-tec like with the forged engine.

My third roadster is more marmite then the last two. It is a Pitcrew Roadster I started to build from scratch end of 2012/2013 based from a Eunos Roadster S Limited. It went a little over budget and along the way I fitted it with IRTB's and with the amount of shipments from Japan I had going on at one point I am surprised I didn't get a visit from customs. Likewise my contacts in Japan must have wondered what the crazy Englishman was doing with all those parts!

My fourth roadster I bought start of 2015. It is a R Limited Eunos Roadster. I have had quite a few limited edition models including other R Limited models, a few RS Limited, a couple of VR Limiteds, etc. Before I bought this R Limited I went through 2 others in short succession trying to find the right one to restore. This one was a 1 owner 2006/7 import, all original and very little signs of rust. In my ownership I fully resprayed the car, replaced the dash with one in better condition, fitted newly trimmed seats while I have also carried out various service/maintenance works.

My fifth roadster is a 1990 red roadster that was a impulse buy from Gumtree one Saturday afternoon mid-2015. I saw it for sale and recognized it from a old member on MX5Nutz. It was memorable for the 13' Hayahsi Superstreet wheels. I bought it as spares/repairs from down in Cornwall (unseen) and had it trailered back home as it was a non-runner. Its plus point was the wheels, the fact it was a low mileage (49000 miles) and a 2009 import so solid. However it hadn't been used in over 2 years following mechanical and electrical issues.

When I got it the car looked like this.

A full respray, lots of mechanical and electrical work later plus various parts added and replaced it is my idea of a subtle modified roadster.

My last roadster I purchased late 2015. It was a car I remember from back in the day on MX5Nutz as was imported by Suffolk Mazda in 2007/8 and had lots of nice parts from Japan (work wheels, HKS parts, T-House Clubman front bumper). It looked a cool little roadster. By the time 2015 came round it was looking rather sorry for itself living in Kent with all the nice parts gone apart from the T-House front bumper. Luckily it hadn't been used much so was still solid but missing parts, shabby paint, etc. I carried out mechanical and maintenance work alongside a full respray while have added my own idea for nice parts from Japan to restore this car back to something the old owner in Japan would hopefully not be dismissive of.

Thanks for looking.