The Miata design team had a Lotus Elan and a later
Triumph Spitfire in the studio. They sold the
president of Mazda on the concept by taking him
through the mountains in a Spit. There is an
excellent 2 volume encyclopedia on the design put out
by Mazda (I got mine thrown in with the car when I
bought it in 1990 as a booby prize for paying full
sticker) detailing all this complete with pix of the
Elan and the Spit.
--- Gerard Chateauvieux <pixelsmith@gerardsgarage.com>
wrote:
> Probably not news to most of you, but the Miata has
> it roots in the
> (Bugeye) Sprite (along with the Lotus Elan). A
> friend of mine knows one of
> the people involved in it's design, and he told me
> that the Sprite served
> as inspiration for the Miata. Don't knock 'em if you
> haven't driven one.
> They are definately reminiscent of their British
> inspiration.
>
> On the top down issue, if you drove your "toy" every
> single day, and
> everywhere you went, would you always have the top
> down?
>
> Gerard
>
> >
> >There are actually pretty fun to drive and reminded
> me of my sprite (gasp).
> >If I had $20k laying around I might go for one. And
> this one wasn't leaking
> >oil either.
> >
>
> --
> Please visit Four Points Travel -
> Discount Online Hotel Reservations in the U.S.
> http://www.gerardsgarage.com/fourpoints
>
>
> G G Gerard Chateauvieux
> E A
> R R pixelsmith@gerardsgarage.com
> A A
> R G Pixelsmith on Duty
> D E
> S http://www.gerardsgarage.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
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