On PH, the answer’s always MX-5 – even if it’s a music page
Discussion
As this is PH, I won’t insult anyone’s intelligence by telling the story about how Mazda won Le Mans in 1991, or describing the rotary-engined 787B with its orange/green/black/silver colour scheme. You’ll also be familiar with Mazda UK’s decision to produce a special MX-5 to commemorate the event, with a BBR Turbo, special wheels and bodykit, and that same colour scheme. I’m sure you know too that only 24 were made. But you may not be aware that only about 15 still remain, and that a friend of mine (and fellow PH’er) has one. So you can imagine his reaction when I showed up with this!
It started life as an Encore Blaster in white pearl, but over Christmas I stripped and repainted it as you see here. Biggest headache was how to reproduce all the little white dashes. I eventually hit upon the idea of marking them out on the paper side of some white vinyl wrap, then simply cutting out and applying them. 224 of the damn things! (I should have realised I had some white decal sheet, then that could have gone under the clearcoat.)
By the time I’d finished it, I was convinced it didn’t like me. First some of the wiring came apart when I dismantled it so that had to be redone. Then I found the neck (I’d decided to be a bit flash and buy a left-handed one so the head would be upside down) didn’t fit! So, back to the original neck which meant ordering another decal. Then after finishing and assembling the body, I put the new decal on and it disintegrated!
So I ordered another, put it on, clearcoat, polish, attach the machineheads. Another ‘oh, b
ks’ moment when one of the little screws on the back broke off inside while I was tightening them up. Impossible to drill out of course. Then I remembered something I’d done with a Strat years ago – turned them all slightly so that they were aligned vertically instead of perpendicular to the head. Looked a bit odd but at least they were now all on.
In case you can’t quite see it, the head reads, “Mazda MX-5 Le Mans, special edition with BBR turbo, also custom bodykit.”
Something a bit more conventional for the next project, methinks.
It started life as an Encore Blaster in white pearl, but over Christmas I stripped and repainted it as you see here. Biggest headache was how to reproduce all the little white dashes. I eventually hit upon the idea of marking them out on the paper side of some white vinyl wrap, then simply cutting out and applying them. 224 of the damn things! (I should have realised I had some white decal sheet, then that could have gone under the clearcoat.)
By the time I’d finished it, I was convinced it didn’t like me. First some of the wiring came apart when I dismantled it so that had to be redone. Then I found the neck (I’d decided to be a bit flash and buy a left-handed one so the head would be upside down) didn’t fit! So, back to the original neck which meant ordering another decal. Then after finishing and assembling the body, I put the new decal on and it disintegrated!
So I ordered another, put it on, clearcoat, polish, attach the machineheads. Another ‘oh, b
ks’ moment when one of the little screws on the back broke off inside while I was tightening them up. Impossible to drill out of course. Then I remembered something I’d done with a Strat years ago – turned them all slightly so that they were aligned vertically instead of perpendicular to the head. Looked a bit odd but at least they were now all on.In case you can’t quite see it, the head reads, “Mazda MX-5 Le Mans, special edition with BBR turbo, also custom bodykit.”
Something a bit more conventional for the next project, methinks.
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