Nowadays, each year that passes only seems to make things more complicated in the auto industry. Heck, carmakers can’t even seem to agree on whether an all-electric future should arrive sooner or later. And, in all this frenzy, there’s one 90s sports car that just keeps going and smiling at us. I’m talking about the original NA Mazda MX-5 Miata, which seems to be enjoying a particularly popular week right now.
Over the past three decades, the OG MX-5 has seen it all, both bad and good. On the one hand, countless amateur and professional drivers praise what is the world’s best-selling roadster (all four generations counted here). On the other hand, those who mock the little sports car, often by labeling it as a “hairdresser’s car”, are not that few.
Sure, the reality is that, back in the 90s, the cool novelty that was the MX-5 did do well with fashion-savvy people like hairdressers. However, it’s also true that the core values of the Miata involve its engaging driving experience, easily tunable nature and affordability. That last part is now debatable, as the cult of modern classics has pushed what can be considered an average price for a proper-condition NA MX-5 to over $10,000 these days.
That 90s Show delivers Fez’s blue Miata
Getting back to the awesome week the Mazda sports car is currently enjoying, the roadster recently received some extra pop culture points by being featured in That 90s Show.
Having just landed on Netflix, the fresh sitcom is a spinoff of the legendary That 70s Show. I’m not going into more detail here, but I will mention that all the main characters make a comeback, even though most of them don’t stick around—the one notable exception is Hyde, as he was played by Danny Masterson, who’s in deep legal trouble these days.
As a car guy (I’ll throw a pair of automotive spoilers here!), the 1990s Buick Centuty that has replaced the 1969 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser of Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp) and Red (Kurtwood Smith) for the new show, doesn’t do much for me. However, as you can notice in the Instagram post below, which comes from Wilmer Valderrama, his character, Fez, is back. The former foreign exchange student—this partially explains the name—is now a hairdresser (and more) who drives a blue NA Miata!
Since Valderrama is a gearhead and even purchased the old Vista Cruiser from That 70s Show after production was over, this is simply brilliant.
An RX-7-inspired digital widebody for Fez’s blue Miata?
With that Blue Miata vibe in my mind, I was scrolling through Instagram earlier today and noticed what has to be one of the most accomplished NA MX-5 widebody designs I’ve ever seen. Heck, I’ll also factor in the color of the rendered car and call this a scene from an imaginary That 2020s Show. Yes, at least for the time being, this is a rendering, but if you check out the 50 comments the Instagram post showcasing the virtual kit (at the time of press), you’ll notice a recurring theme: people feel this aero package should be built.
The artist behind the 3D work, who is known as Piston Zero, has graced carvibz pages before. His style is not just eye-catching, but also delivers the kind of details that would allow such transformations to make it to the real world.
As he explains, the NA Miata widebody, which he released less than 24 hours ago, borrows quite a few elements from a CGI widebody he had designed for the FD-generation Mazda RX-7. And that only adds to the eye candy.
Thanks to mature and coherent aero work like the partially open front end, the overfenders and that performance-inspiring posterior, the NA Miata now looks like it means business.
Speaking of which, check out the second YouTube clip below to see Japanese drifting champion Daigo Saito and 13YO pro drifter Hiroya Minowa doing some insanely captivating door-to-door sideways battles in a pair of lightly modded Miatas (black NA and crimson NB).
Update (January 25, 2023): Piston Zero released a second iteration of the project. This time around, the refined widebody work on this NA Miata is even more visible. And we’re not just saying that because the hue has gone from blue to pink, but also thanks to the black front and rear sections now being color-coded.
Oh, and in case you below to team no-wing, you’ll be happy to notice the massive aero device has been replaced by a ducktail spoiler. Happy eye feast!
