Mazda MX-5 Miata

The Book of the World's Favourite Sportscar

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Author:

Takao Kijima

Format: Hardcover, 224 Pages

Item: 145121

ISBN: 9781845840433

Publisher: Veloce

Specs

Illustrations: 592 color photos

Size: 8.0 x 10.0 x 0.625

Weight: 2.5 lb.

Published: February 1st 2007

DC: AE

List Price: $59.95 $44.96

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Description The Authors Reviews Reader Reviews

Now in its second decade of production, Mazda's superb convertible roadster has become by far the world's best-selling sports car. Here, in definitive detail, is the full story of the MX-5 Miata (known as the Eunos Roadster in Japan) from inception in the early 1980s to the current third generation models. Researched in Japan, this book includes exclusive interviews with key people in the MX-5 story. Coverage includes development, launch details, the model’s evolution in all the major markets, motorsport, specials, and much, much more. The book also features a foreword by Takao Kijima, the MX-5 Miata's chief engineer.

Brian Long now has around 40 books to his credit. Coming from an engineering background, he has been an enthusiast for as long as anyone can remember. His passion for sports cars and vintage machinery remains as strong as ever. Born in Coventry, England, he now lives in Chiba City with his wife, Miho, and their two children, Louis and Sophie-Mercedes. He is a member of the RJC in Japan, the Guild of Motoring Writers, and the Society of Automotive Historians.

Takao Kijima is the MX-5 Program Manager for Mazda Motor Corporation in Japan.

Mazda Sport Magazine, April 2007, US

The 800,000th MX-5 Miata just rolled off the assembly line a few weeks ago, so it’s appropriate that there’s a new edition out of the book that chronicles the history of the model. Brian Long’s name on a car book is an absolute guarantee of quality, and his latest epic is no exception. Mazda MX-5 Miata – The Book of the World’s Favourite Sportscar contains everything that a Miata enthusiast could want to know to impress friends and satisfy curiosity. To tell the truth, it contains enough detail to render an obsessive-compulsive Miata freak completely catatonic with information overload.

Long’s books are characterized by access to corporate archives and in-depth interviews with the designers, engineers, and executives who actually dreamed, designed, and built the cars. Long consistently gets the kind of deep background information that most auto writers only dream about. If you want to get the real Miata story from the people who were there, pick up this book.

Long’s books are also known for their wealth of truly beautiful photos, and this book includes almost 600 photographs, including many never-before-published shots from Mazda’s archives. The book has drawings and pictures of the earliest designs of each version of the car, through the clay models, mock-ups, test mules and finally, the production cars. You can watch each generation of Miata take shape before your eyes as Mazda worked to perfect what would become the most popular ragtop sports car of all time. Long also covers the advertising, media reviews, and sporting history of the car. And he covers these topics not only for the American market, but for Japan, the UK, Europe, Australia, and the world market as well. Every edition, every option, every model year. If you like Miatas, you’re going to want this book.

This is the third edition of this particular title – the first came out in 1998 to coincide with the release of the second generation Miata, and the second edition in 2002. This edition covers the design and build of the third-generation MX-5 as well as the Spec Miata phenomenon in North American amateur racing. The book was completed at the end of 2005, so the only feature that isn't in this book is the Power Retractable Hard Top.

The book retails for $39.95 in paperback, and $59.95 in hardback, and it’s worth every penny.

MX-5 club of New South Wales, June 2007
Australia

This is the third edition of the Brian Long’s book, coinciding with the release of the third generation of the MX-5, the NC. And as a bonus, the book includes the content from the first and second editions. That should not put off owners of those editions; rather, it enables the history of this amazing car to be contained in the one edition. For new buyers, here is an opportunity to obtain the complete history of the MX-5, from NA to NC, in the one volume.

Brian Long received full co-operation from Mazda in preparing this fully updated and revised version of the original, definitive work on the MX5. While it covers the American, Japanese and European markets in great detail, it does not forget Australia, variously referencing 'news from the Antipodes' (twice), 'Australian update' and 'update from down under'.

The book contains nearly 600 contemporary color pictures, and reproductions of advertising and sales brochures from around the world.

The author, Brian Long now has around 40 books to his credit. Coming from an engineering background, he has been an enthusiast for as long as anyone can remember. His passion for sports cars and vintage machinery remains as strong as ever. Born in Coventry, England, he now lives in Chiba City. He is a member of the RJC in Japan, the Guild of Motoring Writers, and the Society of Automotive Historians.

Review from hot4s.com.au (Australia), May 2007

And that it is, with an almost uncountable number sold worldwide to either those that enjoy a real driver's car or people that just love to get a bit of mid-ride tanning in.

Regardless, and following the same formula of the VW Golf book, this manual is filled to its spine with press shots, releases, old sales brochures and all kinds of wonderful Mazda-specific info that should keep that light on well into the midnight hours.

There's an interesting forward by Takao Kijimia, and the book goes on to discuss a brief history of Mazda itself, the birth of the MX-5, special-edition models (and there have been a few), the NC model and much, much more. Heck, there's even a healthy tuning section included for mod-mad people like us.

For us, the most enjoyable part was checking out some of the stranger models, and those that never hit our shores, like the M2-1001, electric-powered MX-5, M-speedster and M-coupé among others. Even conversions are covered. In all, it's like a Hyper Rev for MX-5s – only in English. If you love MX-5s, or even if you don't, you'd be wise to make this part of your collection.

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