"charlie" > wrote in message
m...
> On 2/18/2012 9:56 AM, Chris D'Agnolo wrote:
>>
>
> The "Z" reference is to what happened to the Datsun/Nissan "sports car".
> It was decent to begin with (other than some carb/manifold problems).
> Then, the size, price, and whistles and bells made it into a "luxury
> sports car". The original name for the car in Japanese translates to
> English as "Fair Lady".


Gottcha! Well, I would strongly suggest that Mazda has not done anything as
horrible to the current Miata as Nissan (Datsun) did when they converted the
'Z' to the 'ZX' (1979). That was a total abomination. I think, more
accurately, the Miata has followed the path of the 240Z's transition to the
last of the 280Z's (1978). While the Visual changes are much more radical on
the Miata, it is still pretty much true to it's original intent imho. I'm
looking forward to Mazda's next move but they've been pretty conservative
lately.

With all of this talk about the new BRZ / Scion 86 (or whatever it'll be
called), maybe Mazda will be inspired to take a little risk.

Chris
99BBB

Interesting note: spell checker didn't recognize 'Datsun' ! lol