Mazda Miata set a-Blaze

[Ultra]

Mazda releases special edition MX-5 in Japan



Mazda has launched a special edition of the Roadster, known to us as the Miat...err...MX-5, exclusively for the Japanese market called the Blaze Edition.



The package is a purely cosmetic one. The primary exterior color is a wine-red called Radiant Ebony Mica, though the cars are also available in a dark green called Highland Green Mica that is a recent addition to the list of available colors for the regular Roadster. Other exterior touches include chrome trim pieces, clear corner lights, and a set of BBS wheels. The interior gets a makeover as well. Blaze Edition seats and door trim are upholstered in light beige leather, which contrasts nicely with the aluminum-trimmed black interior.



Soft-top Blaze Editions are already available at Mazda dealers in Japan, while hard-top versions will be going on sale in April. Prices aren't too different from those of regular Roadsters, ranging from 2,870,000 yen to 3,040,00 yen ($24,029 to $26,525), depending on the type transmission and top chosen.

[MG]

The green is purty.   

[Rich]

Miata....Hmph....give me an old MGB any day....oh yeah, already got one.

[Stephen M]

Thank god. It's been almost 17 weeks since the last special edition Mia...MX-5. I was getting nervous.

[motorcar1]

Mazda Miata's,

Does anyone think they are one of the up and coming collector cars.

The 90 thru 98 cars are actually quite hard to find, let alone expect a $3,000 to $5,000 price tag.

Seems they have their own SCCA racing league, followers and clubs all over the world and now Moss Motors is looking at a parts catolog for them.

I purchased a 1992 for my car lot, after driving it, decided to keep it.

Figured out why you hardly ever see the early ones on car lots, the next door neighbor, brother or the guy at work snaps them up before they ever hit the market !!!!!

By the way, also have a 76 TR-6, survivor w/ 18,000 miles and a 63 MGB Roadster and a 69 Interrmechanica Italia Roadster.

In the past I have owned several Pantera's, 330 GT Ferrari, numerous 150 and XKE Jags, Arnolt Bristol, Austin Healeys etcetera.

The Miata in my thoughts, is a modern day collector, especially the pre 1998 models.

John

[Paul Jaray]

When my brother was looking for an instant-classic\modern car, I suggested him an MX-5, now He is really happy with that!
I'm not really a fan of Mazda's in general but they really made a good car. It's like an Opel GT (the new and the last one): great cars but with a badge that is not so exciting.
Do You really have one of the few Intermeccanica Italia Spider? I was reading the story of this car:  'Italia,GFX, Griffith,Torino', there are quite a lot of names for that car!

[motorcar1]

PJ,
Glad you introduced the little Miata's to your brother.
They are really good little cars, I drove one the other day that had 323,000 miles on it.

Had one clutch, one battery, tires, water pump, timing belt and pads & shoes twice.

You might recomend your brother to watch the water pump and would replace the timing belt if over 100,000.

Dynamite little cars, future collector that has allready started its climb.

Yes, have had 3 different Italia's.

Yes, they were called by many different names Paul.
Had to give up Griffith, as it was spoken for, then had to give up Omega because GM owned the name, then had to give up Torino as Ford had the name.
In frustration, Reisner said the hell with it and just named it the Italia !!!!!!!! cool story huh?

They also made a station wagon variable, had a 429 Ford engine.

Guess I am kind of a geru with them, actually did a business deal with Alex Trebec to make some Italia parts, he has one, maybe has sold it by now.
He worked on his own Italia, asked him what happened if he skinned a knuckle, he laughed and said they used makeup to cover them up, pretty cool guy !!!!!

John

[porridgehead]

Trebec is a car guy? 

Who woulda thunk it!

I can honestly say that it has never occurred to me to ever put makeup on skinned knuckles. Ever. I guess the spotlight creates the need for what would otherwise be considered aberrant behavior.

Very cool, John.

[motorcar1]

Porridgehead,

I was surprised myself when Trebec called me, was a neat experience.
As I recall, I think he mentioned that his wife flew airplanes, guess they can do whatever they might please, money would be no object !!

For whatever reason, I have been fortunate in dealings with several publicly known persons, they were all pretty cool, Evil Kneivel was a bit different but was cooool to deal with, he had a 55 Black T-Bird at one time.

My strangest dealings were with the owner of the (then) lost Cobra Coupe, she was truly crazy, guess thats why she burned herself alive with her pet rabbit !!!!!

Weirdest fluke, scraping the mud off my feet on the very early Ferrari TR race car engine and chassis that was at David Biggs where the Harris car was, boy was I a dumbie, the super special Alfa was their too at that time, Oh well, could have had each for $400. a piece.

The one that really surprised me, Ralph Lauren, he has an absolute killer car collection, my buddy  knows the guy that services his cars, told me that Ralph dresses himself to color coordinate himself with the car of the day or week he is driving, >>>

People think Jay Leno is outlandish, Ralph tops him I think,
Bernard blew me away with a few things he told me about Jay.
As I recall, I think the Duesenburgs are Jay's favorites>>>

Sure Glad that I am a car guy and found Autopuzzles !!!!!

John

[Ultra]

Sure Glad that I am a car guy and found Autopuzzles !!!!!

John

And the carguys at AP are glad you found us.

[Otto Puzzell]

Ditto!

[motorcar1]

Thank you so much gentleman !!

Will do my best to chime in.

Been working on the Harris story to submit , hope it will not be to much hassle to arrange properly.

The one thing that foremost amazes me about the whole story, is how one man decisevly sat down to build his own creation and somehow inovated, styled and incorporated many things that are still around in todays street cars and race cars in some fashion or another.

Thanks again guys,
John

[Paul Jaray]

Thank You to bring such a story  back to the light!

[knightfan26917]

Trebec is a car guy? 

Who woulda thunk it!

NO kidding.  He doesn't "look" like he is the "car guy" type .



Cort | 35swm | "Mr Monte Carlo"."Mr Road Trip" | pig valve.pacemaker ...RT 66 = Sept 5-16, '09
WRMNshowcase.legos.HO.models.MCs.RTs.CHD = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort
"Those windshield wipers slappin out a tempo" ... Eddie Rabbit ... 'Driving My Life Away'

[Bezor]

I miss my 1st Gen. Miatas.  Best cars I've owned.

[motorcar1]

Bezor,
It is never too late to buy another to romp and play in.

The last one I sold went to a farmer and his wife, in their late 60's.

They have lots of neat play things, very expensive, funny how she will let anybody drive their 50K car or truck, won't let anybody touch her $3500. Miata>>>>>> make any sense???

I Just sent an ad into Hemmings, offering 6 for sale at this time.
Dealing in first generation cars, 1990-1993.
The rarest>> a black one with red interior.

Check out Miata.net, over 1.6 million hits and over 53,000 worldwide followers.

Yes, I am sure you see that I like them myself, have many other play toys, BUT, do so love these dam liitle Miata's.

till the next time,
John

[Bezor]

Bezor,
It is never too late to buy another to romp and play in.

I Just sent an ad into Hemmings, offering 6 for sale at this time.
Dealing in first generation cars, 1990-1993.
The rarest>> a black one with red interior.
John

The first "LE" limited edition on with the 14" BBS wheels.  There is one for sale locally.  It's an automatic.  Even more rare you could argue, but not a Miata I'd want to have.  A Miata has to have a manual plain and simple.

I had a Silver '91.  Kinda rare @ 15K made.  Of course the true limited edtion of that vintage was the  BRG with hard top and leather.

I had a '95M Edition.  1500 made.  I added "R" spoilers (rare to be able to get the rear bumper valence even a few years ago.  I even located a "R" deck lid spoiler in it's box, never installed.)  I sold the 15" BBS (larger than the '93 LE BBS rims) wheels with no curb rash, sans tires for $1K.  The guy who bought them drove 2 hours to my house to pick them up.  And yes, he was a true car guy.  He had a Ferrari Dino, and 914-6.

Both my Miatas had polished Hard Dog Duece roll bars I installed.  I had the soft tonneau cover modified to fit with the roll bars. 

Like I said, I miss my 1st gen NA Miatas.

Thanks for the post, good memories. 

[motorcar1]

Bezor,
My understanding, could be wrong, was that a black one with red interior is the rarest of all the early first generation Miata's.

My further understanding was that the yellow cars were next in line for desirability, then the grabber blue ones, the silver, then the british racing green ones??

I think that the brg ones were the first special editions made?

Just learning about these dynamite little cars, do so hope that I am getting my facts straight?
The 6 that I have now are learning tools for me, have been doing small repairs and learning the ins and outs about them.
Miata.net has fascinated me, never would have thought that they would capture such a worldwide audience of collectors and racing enthusiast's.

Bezor, it's never to late to grab another and have fun>>>>>
I do so agree, they should all be sticks, even though women seem to want the automatics, >>venus and mars?
John

[Bezor]

^^Motorcar1^^

Mazda had some odd naming nomenclature with their heavily optioned Miatas as you've learned from Miata.net.  They used SE for Special Edition, LE for Limited Edition, as well as M-Edition all in successive years.  What makes a NA Miata desirable is the color, then the option package.  Option packages were A, B, C, and "R", then depending on the year, LE, SE or M-Edition.  Only one color was available in both regular and M-Edition packages....in the spirit of Autopuzzle.com, I'll let you guys figure out what color that was!

Some colors are more rare than others, Sunburst Yellow being an excellent example built in '91-'92.  The Special Edition for that year was BRG, however, the market might be more pricey for the Sunburst color.  Sunburst after all was a color option, not a package option.  Silver was also built between '91-'92, but it was never offered with leather, though power windows/mirrors were available if the car had a "C" package.  Silver by the way was the first metallic paint Mazda offered in the Miata and so has a clear coat.  As a result, the paint is more durable.  Red for example is very prone to paint fade as it's a single-stage paint.  Crystal White is notorious for shedding its paint.

The next heavily optioned NA 1st Gen. Miata was the black/red combo with the 14" BBS mesh (BMW mesh style, in fact, the BMW version will fit the NA) in '93.   This is a gorgeous car and featured some "R" package options also which included LSD, front, rear, and deck lid spoilers which really should have been on all Miata's.  This in a way, the black/red was a unique combination of Sport and Luxury.

Some "rare" colors and combos are very desirable but weren't LE's SE's or M-Edition.  One example is the stunning combo of Laguna Blue with Tan leather. That combo wasn't a special edition model, though it certainly looks the part.

Difficult to find in unmodified condition is the "R" package.  "R" sport models are also rare, but the colors aren't, as "R" package cars came in the "regular" colors of red, white and black. 

If I could find a Laguna Blue with Tan in excellent condition, I'd have a really hard time passing it up.

Miata.net is such a great resource!

Post some pictures of your Miatas, I'd love to see them.

[motorcar1]

Bezor,

Do so appreciate the guidance on the mIata's.
You must have really enjoyed your miata's as you mentioned.

I am going to print what you wrote and add it to my miata literature, excellent quick reference material, thanks>>
You amazed me with knowledge, you must have really been into them.
I talked with a guy yesterday thats trying to off a 66 Shelby he races in the SCCA, he said that the MIata's were like bee's on the track, always right there, surprised him>>

I will keep my eyes peeled for a blue and tan combo, who knows>>>>
I was in correspondence with a guy from St Louis today, has a multitude of miata parts from the first generation, cut a deal so I can set pieces aside.

He said he had many miata's, up to an 06, his preference was a 94 Model even though he said he would like to set aside 91 BRG one.

He has a set of the 14 and 15 inch BBS wheels, won't sell>>
I am kind of confused there, he said that one year had 14's and another had 15,s
He also made mention that the very early cars built around June  of 89, had a five spoke aluminum wheels, long spyder like spokes he said.
He said he had seen two sets in his life.
Don't know if he was feeding me stories or not..

He talked about the R Models, said his friend has one, rides rough but brings it to a truer racing mode, vast improvement.

I was surprised to see the large bolt in center frame that follows the driveshaft tunnel for the first time, looks like part of a truck frame.
__________________________________________________________________
Quoting Bezor>>
Only one color was available in both regular and M-Edition packages....
"in the spirit of Autopuzzle.com", I'll let you guys figure out what color that was!

You got me Bezor, still learning>>> guys, what color
____________________________________________________________________


They are truely cheap thrills for the price one has to pay for one.
That is of course, >>unless one wants a blue one with saddle and leather>>> ha ha ha

Do appreciate our topic conversation Bezor,
John

[Bezor]

Hi John.

Yep, the BBS rims (mesh style) came in 15" version which was one of the defining additions to the '95 M-Edition.  The only time that rim style was available was on the '93 SE Black/Red combo.  Those rims are 14" however.

Very pricey for perfect condition BBS 15" wheels.  I knew what I had when I sold them seperately as I also had a '95 M-Edition.   Other really hard to find U.S. parts are the "R" package spoilers.  Also for the collector are the "gifts" that came with the different LE, SE and M-Edition cars.  These included keychains, etc.  Japanese market options JDM, is a huge hobbie for collectors here in the states.

The ladder brace that runs the length of the driveshaft is a unique structural piece, pretty cool looking in it's own right.

I caught a big error on my above post.  The "R" model was also available in Laguna Blue, along with white, red and black.