1992 Mazda Miata - Run Devil Run!

The Mazda Miata has a bad rap in the United States. As an automotive enthusiast, we hope you don’t but we’re sure you easily recognize that. When one thinks of a Miata, nice words don’t tend to follow; even you might not think very nice things—and there’s nothing wrong with that. There has just always been this stigma that’s been associated with the Mazda roadster in our country. To be perfectly frank, it’s rather silly to think that we as Americans are so image-conscious that we would place gender labels on an object with four wheels and an engine. “It’s a girl’s car.” “Only chicks drive Miatas.” Any American feminine stereotype that has been placed on Mazda’s roadster is firmly locked in place, and the keys were thrown out long ago. Truth be told, any compact, two-door convertible could easily be considered a “girly” car. Americans are so concerned about image that it’s not even okay for two guys to sit in a car with the top down without being emasculated by any and everyone around them. The Honda S2000 doesn’t have it quite as rough as the Miata and it’s actually one of the most popular chassis to modify because of immense support from the aftermarket. Even so, you still wouldn’t find two grown men sitting elbow-to-elbow in a S2K with the top down and not let off a slight chuckle under your breath.

These American stereotypes are terrible because it destroys our perceptions of what these compact two-door roadsters were originally designed to be—sports cars. The Mazda Miata is actually a great platform and is one of the last of a dying breed of true roadsters. It’s a sports car and always has been since Mazda originally came up with the notion to create it. Hell, it’s probably more of a true-bred sports car than what you drive. In Japan, and other parts of the world outside of ours, the Miata is quite the popular chassis to build upon. Like the few Miata-lovers stateside, enthusiasts around the world appreciate the Miata because of its lightweight unibody design, rear-wheel drive configuration and perfect 50/50 weight distribution. Miata-enthusiasts aren’t concerned with what people think about them because they know that they are driving one of the best-engineered compact sports cars of the modern era. Real car guys should be less concerned about how they look in their cars and more focused on how to make their project cars as functional and nimble as the “girly” Miata roadster.

When Cody Chan first acquired his 1992 Mazda Miata, he had no idea what he was getting into. He didn’t care what people thought of him owning one; he just wanted something other than the car he had. “I had an AE86 Corolla back then that I just wanted to get rid of,” Cody says. “No specific reason really; it was a good car and I just wanted something different. I posted it up for sale, somebody offered me a trade for a Miata and I took it. I didn’t know anything about them at the time and I never even saw the potential that they had.”

The Miata was foreign to Cody and it took quite a bit of time before he realized what he wanted to do to his roadster. There weren’t many around for him to draw inspiration from so he sat in front of his computer, surfing for as much info as he could find. Cody recalls, “When I first got the car, I really didn’t know what kind of direction I wanted to go. The whole ‘Hellaflush’ movement was starting to become popular during that time so I just threw on random parts that I thought were cool and didn’t bother to visualize how it would all come together in the end. There was a lot of trial and error involved but I’m glad that I was able to learn from it all.”