In the late 1970s, a meeting between Bob Hall, an expert in Japanese cars and a writer for MotorTrend magazine, and Kenichi Yamamoto and Gai Arai, heads of research and development for Mazda at the time, hatched the idea for the Miata. Yamamoto and Arai asked Hall what was missing from the market, what kind of car Mazda should make next, and in response, Hall discussed the lack of classically styled, open-top sports cars on the market. In the early 1980s, with Hall now working for Mazda and Yamamoto serving as the chairman of Mazda Motors, the two revisited the idea and within a few months, with the green light quickly given to research the idea further. Eventually, the lightweight sports concept turned into a competition be- tween the Tokyo and California design teams—Tokyo favoring a modern, front-engine/front-drive or midengine layout, California preferring the classic formula of a front-engine/rear-drive platform. For various reasons, the California team concept won the developmental green light. With enormous influence by the Lotus Elan roadster of the 1960s, the MX-5, or Miata, began taking shape under the “jinba ittai” philosophy, which translates to rider and horse (jinba) as one body (ittai). It’s this philosophy that has guided the Miata development through all of its iterations, the first being the 1989-1997 Miata NA, like this fine 1990 Mazda Miata Convertible. Showing just over 29,000 miles on the odom- eter, this 1990 Miata is finished in red with a black convertible top and comes with a red removable hardtop. Tucked behind custom polished wheels, power 4-wheel disc brakes offer a yin to the yang of the 1.4L DOHC inline 4-cylinder engine and 5-speed manual transmission. The gray and black interior features cloth upholstery, bucket seats, a center console, air conditioning, power windows, cruise control and an AM/ FM/CD/cassette stereo system.
