The California Automobile Museum will host Tom Matano--known as the father of the Miata--at their museum in Sacramento on November 2. There will also be an informal cruise-in featuring Miatas in front of the museum beforehand, culminating in Matano discussing his journey in the automotive…
Where did you dig up that photo? That's a pre-production car, probably the one that was in R&T back in the day. Is it one of the Chicago cars?
In reply to Keith Tanner :
It's from our archives; we actually have quite a few from this shoot. I'll ask David tomorrow if he knows where we got the photos from.
Tom Matano Miata has a certain ring to it. Tom's Miata. Which tom? Tom Matano. Tom Matano's Miata? Yeah! Matano's Miata might miss Messerschmitts.
Jordan Rimpela said:In reply to Keith Tanner :
It's from our archives; we actually have quite a few from this shoot. I'll ask David tomorrow if he knows where we got the photos from.
I was just in my Miata archive for other reasons, and I think that's the car from Dennis Simantis' pre-release drive for R&T that was published in early 1989. Looks like it's actually from the same photo shoot.
Yes, I am a terrible Miata nerd.
dculberson said:Tom Matano Miata has a certain ring to it. Tom's Miata. Which tom? Tom Matano. Tom Matano's Miata? Yeah! Matano's Miata might miss Messerschmitts.
IIRC, Tom Matano's Miata is Montego Blue. Seriously.
Here he is at the Miata thing at Laguna Seca from 2014
Tom does not miss a Miata meet if he can help it. He loves the community and has a great memory for faces. He truly gets joy out of it.
I last saw him at Laguna Seca about two weeks ago. Turns out he loves Lancias and the Martini livery on the Targa Miata. So you know he's a good guy.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
I remember reading,re-reading and salivating (and re-salivating) over that article. At the time I was 19 and had a 72 MGB (First and only car at that point) and the idea of one that actually WORKED!
Mind.
Blown.
My mom's first car was a first-year MGB. She once accused me of showing off when I put the top up on my Miata in front of her.
Here's the article in question. For some reason, I didn't snap a picture of the next page which has a shot that is clearly from the same photo session as the one used by GRM. I've never seen this car anywhere else that I can recall, those wheels are distinctive.
Looks familiar.
the centercaps on those wheels completely change the way the daisies look, for the ohsomuchbetter. keith, are those caps available anywhere?
In reply to stylngle2003 :
Wow, what an improvement! I don't care for daisy wheels, but this changes things!
Best way to improve the daisies are simply to remove the center caps :)
I've not seen those particular ones anywhere else - although I was just flipping through one of the Tajima photo books and there are a bunch more pictures of this blue car. I'll bet someone with a lathe would be able to make a set.
I don't really like the daisies with the center caps either. I do like them without them though. I have bought a Miata and had the center caps off before it left the PO's driveway
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