John Simister: Giving MX-5s a second lease of life

There are several significant things about this. It means the MX-5 is officially a classic worth restoring. It's officially a car of sufficient auto-cultural importance to merit a factory rebirth programme, just like Jaguar Reborn and Land Rover Reborn and the less obviously-branded efforts of Porsche Classic and Ferrari Classiche, to name just a few. And it means that genuine factory parts, of which there is still an encouragingly large number for early MX-5s, will not only continue to be available but will see their catalogue grow.

But before you get too excited, this is a programme offered – so far – only in Japan. Quite apart from the obvious fact that this is the MX-5's homeland, it's also where values of the little sportscar have been rising the most and so owners will get the best return on their restoration investment. In the UK, where MX-5s have gone rustier sooner (no salt on Japanese winter roads) and values have stayed lower, a thorough restoration and the greater work it's likely to entail, remains a heart-led decision rather than one involving any hint of financial rationality. 

Nevertheless, I checked with Mazda UK to see if there is any likelihood of a similar scheme in Europe one day. So far there isn't, the possibility reduced further by the fact that, to have the right ring of authenticity, the European-domiciled cars would have to be sent expensively back to Japan. The same applies to the US, where the MX-5 was on sale first, although it's usefully nearer to Japan.

The new 'Roadster Restore' scheme is still a great idea, though. Roadster? That's what the Mark 1, or NA-model, MX-5 is called in Japan, the Eunos Roadster. It was launched in September 1989, a few months after the US's Mazda Miata version went on sale in July 1989. Europe didn't get its MX-5-badged cars until early 1990, so original UK-market cars actually have 13 years to wait for Revival acceptance. 

The second of the two Mazdas I have owned would have qualified in 12 years' time, though, because it was – like, nowadays, the majority of NA MX-5s on UK roads – a Eunos Roadster.

It was an October 1989 example in what I think is the best colour, Mariner Blue, which happens to be exactly the same shade as a motorway sign. It was imported at 10 years of age, so rust-wise was about a decade behind where it would have been had it lived here from new, and was misregistered on UK import with an F-registration (it should have been a G), emphasising its earliness.

There was a rush of Eunoses (Eunoi?) during the Noughties, more than filling the gap left by the gradual rust-related demise of the UK-market cars, and some of them, like mine, have since been caught at the right time in their life-cycle to be properly rust-protected before the damage has gone too far.

A trickle of very tidy Eunoi still arrives from Japan but prices are shooting upwards to reflect what is happening back home. Meanwhile cosseted, low-mileage UK-market cars occasionally emerge and sell at remarkable prices, sometimes approaching five figures. The days of finding a sound, tidy example, be it MX-5 or Eunos, for around £1500, or indeed a useable knockabout runner for £500, are fading fast.

There is a notion among some MX-5-fanciers that a UK-market car is better and more proper, but I reckon a Eunos is somehow freer-spirited, more comfortably Japanese, more exotic. It also tends to be better equipped – mine had air-con and a limited-slip differential – and you get the chance, like I did, to have a car from the first year of production and thus the closest to how its creators intended it to be.

I loved my bright blue Eunos, now happily living with a journalist friend. It was much more fun than its predecessor in my garage, a later 1.8-litre, UK-market version in base spec. I bought that one in the mistaken belief that its lack of power steering would make it a yet more involving drive, but all it did was slow the reactions, spoil the sharpness and kill the wrist-flickability. The Eunos was faster too, despite being a 1.6, on account of its revvier, more blippable engine and the undoubted help of a free-flowing aftermarket exhaust system.

MX-5s in their various forms can still be a brilliantly low-cost route to open-air motoring, even allowing for the rising prices, and the engine's enthusiasm, the gearchange's snicketiness and the purity of the rear-drive handling make every drive a bit of an event. Why did I sell it? I don't really know. What I do know is that its buyer got a bargain, given what I'd spent to rescue it from its descent into mid-life chavviness and restore it back to near-standard with light enhancements. And the best time I ever had with it was during a dozen laps of our own Motor Circuit, 7000rpm frequently seen

Mazda's Roadster Restore is accepting cars from late this year, with a view to starting work in early 2018. Behind the project is Nobuhiro Yamamoto, the company's Roadster Ambassador, who sums it up thus: 'Everyone will be happy.' That said, there's no word yet on pricing…