Austin A55 Cambridge
David’s Mazda has clearly spent too much time in the sun – it’s starting to peel
1990 MAZDA EUNOS ROADSTER
It’s been a funny few months for the Mazda. Ever since its Easter Bank Holiday outing in deepest Wales ( CCW, 17 May) it won’t have known whether it was coming or going, spending days at a time barely moving an inch and then being dragged out of its hidey-hole for yet another adventure.
Time, then, to give H521 NRX some proper love. With a particularly big adventure on the horizon – more on which in next week’s issue – I rang Gareth Jackson of Merseyside-based Parkhill Garage, who normally rescues my classics when anything more involved than a spanner is required. He’s previously been tempted by the Mazda Eunos’ charms and has gone on to buy his own MX-5 since it last paid him a visit – an NB-generation car, which he’s lowered and fitted with stiffer suspension. And no, he wouldn’t lend it to me as a courtesy car!
The Eunos emerged from the menders a week later with a sumpful of fresh oil, fettled brakes and a newly tweaked differential that’d also been treated to some new oil – although the unsightly peeling lacquer at the top of the driver’s door will have to fight on – I’ll get it cleaned up properly some other time. That’s a promise.
More importantly, Gareth traced the source of the annoying rear-end rattle that’s accompanied every outing for the past few months. Part of the exhaust heat shield had rusted over time and come away slightly, which was quickly remedied with a spot of tack welding. The car now drives better than ever and the only noise it makes when I put my foot down is the hum of its 1.6-litre twin-cam engine.
I subsequently treated the fettled Eunos to a visit to Oulton Park for the Gold Cup weekend, then Ormskirk for the MotorFest (see our 6 September issue for both event reports). For the latter, Aintree Circuit Club was kind enough to wave the Eunos into its classic car displays, though most of the show’s visitors seemed more interested in the ex-Stirling Moss Vanwall F1 racer!
At least one showgoer was cruel enough to ask why I hadn’t bothered to polish the Eunos, but then the Mazda’s always been more about driving than showing.
Speaking of which, I’ve got just the adventure in mind for it...
’The only noise it makes now is the hum of its 1.6-litre twin-cam engine’