JIM'S BLOG
Italia Classic NA 2.0
When Mazda introduced the Miata NA, it was the birth of perhaps the greatest sports car of all time. That said, some of us tired of the original design, good as it is, and longed for more.
Well, at least I did, and that is how the Italia was born. The inspiration of many other cars crept into the design as it was never intended to be a replica of any one car.
The Italia is pretty much a success story, a proven design at this point. As a result, it can be a little scary to try to improve on it. Since we announced that we were planning to discontinue the Italia for the NA, we’ve had many concerned emails from those who love the car and didn’t want to see it disappear. We’ve been pleased to reassure them that has never been the plan—far from it. We’re in the process of refining the car a bit more, making all new tooling and reintroducing it.
One of the major changes is the new tilt nose, similar to the one on the Italia 2. That change does a couple of good things: it allows for greater access to the engine compartment and it will save 1-2 days of work for anyone building the kit.
You can see where this is heading in the picture of the finished front end ready for mold making at the glass shop.
We anticipate reintroducing the kit in late spring of this year. In the meantime, if you are set on having the original kit, we can still provide that for you as well.
Our objective is to have in our stable sufficient variety of designs, encompassing all three generations of Miata platforms, to please just about anyone.
