Beschreibung
Originally purchased in Japan late 1992 by Hiroko Sugiyama, then imported to the U. K. via Dublin by Dr. Maria Orr in 1998. After giving birth to her child, Maria then sold it to Sarah. Sarah enjoyed the car for 11 years before it sat on the driveway for 7 years. I purchased the vehicle from Sarah and her husband with the promise to rebuild the car to it's original condition.
2 years later and the car is finished! Before knowing the history above, I had very little intention of keeping it original, but Sarah told me the history of the vehicle and since then I have kept all the previous owners up-to-date with the restoration. This has been a labour of love, and anyone who purchases it will fall in love with it instantly.
This isn't your average 1993 Eunos Roadster V-Special. It's had a huge amount of money and love lavished on it. It has full service history until 2014, at this point it sat unused on the driveway. It has only ever had one rust issue on a previous MOT which the previous owner showed me the pictures and it was evident that the garage was after a quick buck, as it was only surface rust on the exterior and a patch weld was carried out.
During my 2 year ownership I have completely stripped the car down to a bare shell, addressed surface rust and had the car undersealed properly. The inner and outer sills were examined with an endoscope and luckily there was no rust forming on the inside. The sills were properly sealed during the respray! The car has been resprayed as the paint had peeled from the driver's door and there was odd scuffs and dings. I have included a 3 part YouTube video to the car being painted (including the hardtop) and undersealed, this was carried out by Passion4Paint. If anyone knows anything about Tony's work, then you know how execptional the quality of the respray is. The paint is an exact replica of the paint Mazda used (colour and clear combination).
All suspension bushes were replaced during the first lockdown, and the suspension control arms were vapour blasted and repainted. The original shock absorbers' seals had failed and 3 snapped springs, called for new suspension. New coil-over, adjustable dampening suspension was fitted. A complete corner weight setup was carried out along with the wheel-alignment.
New stopping power provided by the new Brembo discs and pads all-around the car. The calipers where stripped down, vapour blasted, repainted and rebuilt using OEM parts.
The engine went through a full rebuild with genuine Mazda parts. New cambelt, water pump, thermostat, engine coolant temperature sensors, spark plugs, HT leads, rocker cover gaskets, CAS gaskets, manifold gaskets, K&N performance air filter, and the timing was advanced to 14 degrees. The gearbox and differential was removed from the vehicle, rebuilt, re-sealed and fresh fluids put in.
The A/ C system had a complete overhaul too. A new condensor was ordered from the USA, with a new receiver/ dryer and A/ C pipes. The A/ C compressor was reconditioned and fitted with new o-rings throughout the system. A new schrader valve to accept R134a gas was fitted, giving the next owner peace of mind. The A/ C blows ice cold and doesn't leak!
Interior in the car wasn't the best, with the stitching failing on the original tan leather seats. The seats, door panels and dash crash-pads were sent to J. R. Smith Motor Trimmers in Swansea. Again, if you know of the company, you would know that the quality of workmanship is second to none.
Whilst the interior was in Swansea, being reuphostered, I had gone through the entire wiring loom. Unfortunetly the vehicle went to a company on arrival in the U. K. to have a fog light wired up, as well as an alarm system. The alarm system didn't work and the solering was questionable. I set out to remove the entire wiring loom within the cabin and rebuild the wiring loom. I removed the reduntant alarm system as there was no way of saving it.
The original OEM CD/ Tape player/ radio has remained in the vehicle, an additional FM amplifier was added to the vehicle to receive U. K. radio frequencies. The door speakers have been upgraded with Pioneer speakers. Although the car does come with 2 keys, and the original key was kept, despite it getting damaged during a cold winter when the door locks froze. Since then, the car has been fitted with a central locking kit, which is easily accessable.
The wheels on this Eunos Roadster were an optional extra from factory, albeit a limited amount of wheels were made. Having contacted Enkei Japan, the information on the wheels are as followed. These are Enkei Map Seven wheels, only 400 sets were made and it is unknown how many are still around, and Enkei have offered an amount to buy them back. I declined this offer as it keeps the cars originality. The centre caps were custom made by Enkei on request (and a small fortune spent).
As I am sure you have already noticed the Japanese plates on the car, yes these are the original number plates that were on the car from factory. Having spoken to the original owner, Hiroko, and Mazda Japan, I was able to purchase the number plates. Given that they are illegal in the U. K. it is just another thing I wanted the new owner to enjoy at the next cars and coffee they attend.
Category C, November 28th, 2007
Unfortunetly the car was written off by the insurance on November 28th, 2007. The damage report from A&M Motors Ltd, accident repair specialists, was as follows. Bonnet damaged, front wing, N/ S sidelight and N/ S headlamp. The impact of the accident wasn't signficant, and didn't damage or crumple any of the structure of the vehicle. I guess adding that the previous damage report that mentioned the O/ S mirror back scratched, O/ S rear bumper scratched, Boot lid scratched, N/ S rear lamp scratched, N/ S rear wing scratched, N/ S Door edge chipped and N/ S wing key scratched, was enough to write the vehicle off.
Thanks to Sarah and her husband Hadley, their love for the car, and £1, 588. The car was fixed! October 27th, 2008 the car passed it's Vehicle Identity Check (VIC) test by VOSA. Don't be put off by the Catagory C, the photographs I have been shown by Sarah that the insurance company's inspector sent her, kept my mind at ease to rebuild this classic
