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License Plate Frame

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vfx

Well-Known Member
Aug 18, 2006
14,790
52
CA CA
Here is a Roadster frame.

Lic-Roadster.gif
 
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The car always had the designation of MX-5. However, MX-5 became the primary name in all markets when the 3rd generation body style came out (that's right, they dropped the name Miata in the US, though eventually brought it back). But for the original body style (so called NA or Mk1), the car was called Miata in the US and Roadster in Japan.



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I went to the Tokyo motor show in 1993... Back when they were first launching the Eunos name. They had the new Twin Turbo Rx7 and Eunos Cosmo 3-rotor.
They also had the MX-5 and weren't (as far as I recall) using the Roadster or Miata name at all back then in Japan (Miata was USA only). I gather things changed over the years since then.
 
I went to the Tokyo motor show in 1993... Back when they were first launching the Eunos name. They had the new Twin Turbo Rx7 and Eunos Cosmo 3-rotor.
They also had the MX-5 and weren't (as far as I recall) using the Roadster or Miata name at all back then in Japan (Miata was USA only). I gather things changed over the years since then.
Not that I particularly care to discus Miata trivia on a Tesla forum, but the MX-5 was introduced in Japan as the Eunos Roadster in 1989. The Eunos brand died in the mid '90s.

The car is still basically known as "Roadster" in Japan. Thus the plate frames on a Miata swag site.

For a touch of relevance, the car's styling was most directly influenced by the Lotus Elan. :smile:
 
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Hmm...
Eunos cars - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
...In the late 1980s, Mazda diversified in the Japan market with the launch of three new marques. The company created Autozam, Eunos, and Efini, in addition to the Mazda and Ford brands already marketed there. This experiment was ended in the mid-1990s. The Eunos marque, which was the luxury, upscale brand compared to Autozam and Efini, was named for the ancient Greek "eu" meaning "good" and "nos", an abbreviation of "numbers" in English. The Marque was launched in Japan with the Eunos 500 in January, 1992...
Mazda - EUNOS 800
...In 1992 it had launched the Eunos brand, upmarket cars built in a specially constructed plant at Hofu, Japan...
Anyways, being from here I was only familiar with Mazda at the time so when I went to the motor show all I saw was "new Eunos this" and "new Efini that" and "new Autozam other thing"... Also I was only familiar with Miata as Miata, so when I saw them sporting MX-5 badges, I assumed it was a Japan market thing. Oh and the new (at that time) twin turbo Rx7 was being marketed as an Efini.

The early 90s were an interesting time for Japanese cars with Lexus, Acura, Infinit and all those Mazda brands showing up for the first time. The other odd thing was seeing the NSX as a Honda instead of Acura.

I think maybe Mazda was experimenting with Eunos as a sub brand for a couple years before they officially launched it as a full fledged brand. In 1992/1993 they were actually starting to have Eunos branded dealerships not just a couple of models with Eunos badges.

Perhaps I saw so many "Roadsters" branded as MX-5 there because the "international" motor show was showing off world branded models to dealers from Europe that had come to Japan for the show.
 
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What a dumb plate frame - it doesn't even make sense to put it on an electric car.
My Roadster rear frame says "Real Cars Are Electric" which would be better for Tesla to sell because you could put it on anything.
My front says "No Gas. No Emissions. No Compromises." which I stole from somebody else.