1990 MAZDA EUNOS ROADSTER
It was the 2016 Practical Classics Classic Car and Restoration Show and the carcleaning gurus at Meguiar’s were looking for a suitably mucky motor to star in their on-stage demonstrations. I reckoned that my Mazda, which hadn’t had a wash since the previous Christmas, was the perfect candidate – so off it went to Birmingham for its 15 minutes of NEC fame.
Come the big moment, the Mazda crept behind the curtains of the show’s Live Stage, where the Wheeler Dealers have a brew once they’ve finished their show appearances and where all the work on those 48-hour restorations carries on quietly, away from the spotlights.
With just 30 minutes a day to work his cosmetic magic, Dale Masterman from Meguiar’s shifted months of winter grime, revealing smooth and shiny concours-standard paintwork.
Unfortunately, the Mazda, drunk on fame, refused to leave the stage when its immobiliser refused to disarm. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem because I know how to overcome its little foibles, but a mix-up meant that I didn’t have the correct backstage pass to get behind the Live Stage to retrieve it. Just as the security staff were kindly reminding me that it’s their job not to let me in, the earpiercing screech of the Eunos’s car alarm ricocheted off the walls of the NEC.
Seconds later, my mobile rang – it was James Walshe, deputy editor of our sister magazine, Practical Classics, worrying that the crowds were gathering and the misbehaving Mazda was going to prevent the Live Stage’s star turn of a Reliant Supervan weekend restoration from getting back on stage.
With the ante now well and truly raised I was finally allowed back in, and within moments I’d fired the Mazda up and cleared the stage for the show to get back on track. Disaster averted.