Mazda Eunos Roadster

Curse that MGB for being so, er, reliable? I’m sure that if an automotive Doctor Dolittle could be summoned to communicate with my Mazda Eunos, that would pretty much be what it’s thinking right now.

Every time I’ve had an adventure lined up, the Mazda has been there, eagerly waiting in the wings, ready to step in for an Abingdon breakdown that’s never happened. With the notable exception of a dead battery – which, to be honest, was my fault – the ‘B’s been on its best behaviour, so H521 NRX hasn’t had the chance to smugly save the day.

I reckon it’s still smarting from that crisp April morning when the GT fired up faithfully, pointed its chromed nose northward and joined the rest of CCW’s motley crew of classics in the Peak District, for our big Drive-it Day tour. Certainly it won’t have enjoyed missing out on a whole slew of sunny Sunday afternoons spent searching for pubs across the Lincolnshire Fens. It even tried to muscle in on the MG’s thunder when I took it down to the Goodwood Revival, but still the pesky Brit classic refused to break down.

So perhaps it was sulking when, having been enlisted as CCW’s entry on the London to Brighton Classic Car Run’s 30th anniversary event, it decided to develop cooling problems barely ten miles from the finish line. It had behaved impeccably, but the combination of a truly baking summer afternoon and having to sit behind a group of panting cyclists the entire way up a steep bit of the South Downs did it no good.

It still pulled strongly onto Madeira Drive, having made it successfully all the way from the capital, but if a De DionBouton can manage it, a Japanese sports car definitely should be able to.

One new radiator later and it was causing mischief again – this time by inadvertently getting directed into the middle of Lotus’ 70th anniversary party, right in the middle of the Hethel factory. My creative parking might have been a bit rubbish, but the car itself emphatically wasn’t.

In fact, I already know the other thing that the Mazda is thinking – that it hasn’t visited any Highland landscapes or Welsh B-roads this year. Time for some New Year resolutions…