The car that played a leading role in the revival of the small open sports car

Mazda’s first NA model, the Roadster, launched in September 1989, was an instant hit. Its birth revitalized the two-seat, compact, open sports car genre, which had been on the wane in terms of popularity, and was the catalyst for competitors to launch similar models. Many of these roadsters participated in the “RETRA JAM (Retractable Car Jamboree) Vol. 2. We interviewed “Mirei”, the owner of one of these roadsters, whose beautiful marina blue color is particularly impressive, and her sister “Makoto” about their episodes with their beloved car. 

My mother’s beloved blue Roadster

The “RETRA JAM (Retractable Car Jamboree) Vol. 2” was held on May 4, 2024, at Hibiki Sea Park in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture, and the Eunos “Roadster” was the most popular car in attendance. The main reasons for this may be that the car was a huge hit when it was launched, and there are still many existing used cars in the market, as well as the fact that the car is still available in the market at a price range that is affordable among retrace cars.

The reason why we approached sisters “Mirei” and “Makoto” from among the many participants was because we could expect that the owners would be younger than their car.

“I (“Mirei”) am 19 years old and my sister (“Makoto”) is 20. The Eunos Roadster is 31 now, so she is older than me. It has been exactly one year since I got my license, and this is my first car in my life.

The owner of this Eunos Roadster is his sister, Mirei. She got it about a year ago before she and her sister were born, so she has no way of knowing how popular this car was. However, it was her mother who inspired her to choose this as her first car in life.

“My mother drove this blue roadster when she was young. We don’t remember it, but she would show us pictures of those days, and seeing my mother get excited every time she saw a roadster in town, I knew she must have loved it very much. I had heard about this car from a very young age, and before I knew it, I wanted one myself.”</p

Of all the sisters, it was the younger sister, Mirei, who was excited about her mother’s beloved Eunos Roadster. I’ll drive it! She desperately searched for a car to realize her wish and found one for sale in Kanagawa Prefecture on Mercari. She had never seen a car of the same model year and color as her mother’s car, so she decided to buy it immediately without even looking at the actual car. The license plate number was the number that his mother had been wearing at that time.

translated by DeepL