British Invasion

[JustPassinThru_imp]

Honda actually made an MG/Triumph beater in 1964 or 65 if memory serves me. called an S600 or something. I'd look it up but my reference books are packed away while we are having interior painting done. It had the looks, ran better, stopped better, faster, less expensive than the Triumphs and MGs it was mimicking. Strangely it had chain final drive. Testers were amazed what a fine roadster it was.

Yeah, I remember reading about that...but that seemed to be getting too deep in the weeds.

Unfortunately, the British roadsters - which were great cars for their times - didn't keep up WITH the times. They were as reliable, or nearly as reliable, as any other car of the late 1940s - we tend to forget the needs of cars in those days, or their shorter lives - but technology passed them by, while in their case quality of assembly took a dive.

I have no idea what the quality of the first Honda cars were...probably not that great; there's always a learning curve. Datsun and Toyota had real problems, too, in those years - Toyotas were so bad they retreated from the US for five years in the early 1960s.

But by the 1980s, time of the Miata...Mazda was always a niche manufacturer. Someone must have said, it's a shame someone can't make a traditional British-style roadster with Japanese quality...and sha-ZAMM! Mazda had the Next Big Thing, since their rotary-engine business was cratering.