Very soon, I will be making the jaunt from Texas to Arizona, motivated by the goal of being closer to family. Boxes have sprouted up in my living room to go with the bittersweet feeling that I’ll start a new chapter somewhere else. As I look around, I realize I’m about to turn 28, and all the things that encapsulates my life fit in the modest space of my first-floor apartment. It’s a somber thought, and one that lands me in a temporal mental crisis, feeling bummed out.
I’ve already written on these Autopian pages why I think the tenth-generation Honda Accord will be a future classic, and I’ve waxed poetic about the Buick LaCrosse, but not much has been said about my beloved 2021 Mazda MX-5. The first car I ever bought, it is quite simply the best thing I ever did for myself. It’s also my first manual, so not every shift has been perfect. I’m motivated to become a better driver, unlike someone from CNN.
In addition to sporty traits aiding its mission to guarantee smiles per mile, the Miata is just that good at being a car, exercising its talents to be usable as a daily. The trunk is big enough most of the time, the Bilstein suspension is firm without being punishingly uncomfortable, the body light enough (weighing in at around 2,400 lbs in total, with fluids and all) to effectively glide over bumps rather than crash down into the road. And because mine is the Retractable Fastback (RF) model, opting for the hardtop makes the cabin that much quieter at speed for the premium Bose stereo to be enjoyable. Add in the fact it’s been averaging 36 miles per gallon for the last few thousand miles and you have a winner.
I was thinking about how useful the MX-5 actually is. Then my train of thought took me to ponder if I could actually fit everything from my apartment into the Mazda and the Buick (I found out later that is a no). Then my active imagination took over to determine whether a Clown Shoe Miata is possible to pull off. Turns out historically, it’s not that big of a stretch.
In the 1990s, a company called M2 Incorporated existed as a performance subsidiary of Mazda (think AMG to Mercedes-Benz). It was short lived — gone by 1995 — but not before toying with the idea of a fixed-roof MX-5 using the NA platform. This culminated in a yellow coupe previewed at the 1996 New York Auto Show that wasn’t greenlit for production. Revived interest in the 2000s saw Mazda produce NB MX-5 coupes for its home market. Per CarScoops, only 179 units were made, enough to be a Holy Grail.
The Clown Shoe Connection
The origin of what became known as the “Clown Shoe on Wheels” dates back to the same time frame where the yellow Miata concept appeared. After the BMW Z3 debuted as a roadster, one passionate engineer decided he wasn’t finished yet. Herr Burkhard Göschel, along with a small team, worked to bring a coupe sibling that yielded a stiffer structure and handling benefits. Working within the confines of a budget crunch that couldn’t compromise production tooling, the end result was an oddly-styled hunchback that kept the front half of the Z3 from the doors forward that required only minimal tweaks in the rear end for the large greenhouse. Gone was the cowl shake that’s the inevitable consequence of lobbing the roof off of any convertible.
Getting this to fruition was not easy. In a 2016 interview with Motor Trend, he said:
We did [the car] openly with a few prototypes, and made the case for simple production and a low-cost approach. Some love it and others just hate it. It was the same within the board. We had a lot of discussion about if we really needed such a sports car, and debates about if the car was too ugly. Our European sales chief, an Italian, told the board you couldn’t understand the M Coupe with your brain. It was something you had to grasp with your heart.
I bet he’s glad he pulled it off though, as the Z3 Coupe is now a collectible, with late-year M cars fetching big money at auctions. I’m convinced it can be pulled off again in another car.
[Ed Note: I’d strongly recommend you read “Meet The Amazing Lady Who Built Up The Ultimate BMW Clownshoe Collection.” -DT]
Miata ND Is Destined For Greatness
The Mazda MX-5 has always been an epic roadster. If my bias as an owner can come into play here, the ND generation in particular raises the standard for greatness to new heights. This is only the fourth iteration of the world’s bestselling two-seater, having debuted in September 2014, yet it gets only slight updates to keep it fresh for 2024. When it was redesigned, it was a top pick by Jeremy Clarkson in 2016 when it arrived in the UK, and won the World Car Of The Year award in the same year.
How did it do that? By bucking the industry trend of new cars getting bigger, heavier, and more powerful than the one that came before it. Mazda decided the NC was too heavy and relied on the “gram strategy” to shave weight off the body wherever possible, resulting in a crash diet of 150 pounds in an already-light car. This was an aggressive-looking ND body that came in lighter than the last two generations of Miatas. Even though the RF’s hardtop added about a hundred pounds, to keep things under 2,500 pounds is a remarkable achievement.
Mazda doesn’t really chase acceleration/power numbers with the Miata. But for 2019, it reworked the engine internals, bumping the horsepower quota from 155 to 181 with a torque figure of who cares? For 2024, it gets a new asymmetrical rear differential (on Club models and up) for better cornering thanks to mindful considerations with trail braking. This is inclined to greater perform on a track without taking away the joy you get from heading to the grocery store. There are also styling tweaks and a new infotainment setup that hopefully won’t be ostracized by Jason.
So although the ND is pushing ten years in existence, it’s hard to fault. Yes, the Miata is small but when it’s supposed to be, what’s the point of critiquing the size every time someone reviews it? Did I mention Jeremy Clarkson loves it?
How The Clown Shoe Can Be Achieved Today
So how can you pull off the same Z3 Clown Shoe trick today in the world’s most popular roadster? Let’s lookat the RF blueprint. From the hypothetical B-pillar (because convertible) back, the lines to the trunk are seamless and unbroken (as Autopian designer Adrian pointed out), making it possible to modify without touching the exterior panels. It wouldn’t take much more than creating a shooting brake-like shell on the RF’s existing dimensions, taking place of that quirky buttressed lid that debuted on the RF.
Like the Z3, only minimal changes behind the seats, like taking out the electric motors for the operable lid to create a cavernous trunk space, would be needed to turn the MX-5 into a Clown Shoe Miata. I can see it. still light, stiffer, even more fuel efficient, eliminating the need for hybrid electrification that’s coming regardless. What you could get in return is a better-handling sports car that’s more practical without losing any of that Mazda greatness. Here, have a look at a drawings from Autopian staffer Peter Vieira:
The Bishop integrated the rear quarter panel with the top instead of having a separate lid that more-or-less plops onto the existing body, but I’d still like to show his rendering, because it looks awesome:
In the world we live in today, there is no shame in expanding what a sports coupe can bring. One can say the Z3 Coupe has made the German-made Supra possible. The 718 Cayman sits in the Porsche arsenal alongside the Boxster roadster that came first. The Toyota GR86/Subaru BRZ twins are the Miata’s biggest rival price-wise. A Clown Shoe makeover would provide a tradeoff to benefit a smaller company like Mazda that would see increased appeal, as long as it didn’t require major tweaks to MX-5 perfection nor factory tooling, circumstances that paved the Z3’s reputation.
That was a fun daydream. In the meantime, a U-haul truck will suffice. I’ll watch for Mazda’s call as I pack.
Photo Credits: Mazda, BMW, unless otherwise captioned
The Peter Vieira drawings look totally bad, because he stuck to the criterion of using the existing quarter panel, making a totally weird shaped side window.
The Bishop drawing looks incredible.
So, hate to break it to you, but retaining the existing quarter panel isn’t (visually) gonna work. I’m glad we have both ways, though, to be able to compare.
I feel exactly the opposite, and the Peter Vieira drawings look much better to me.
The Biers version looks sharp and well defined, the Bishop drawing looks sort of blobby and bulging.
The Vieira drawings
1. Look like a wagon roof tacked onto the existing Miata, cuz it is, and
2. That creates this weird rear window shape where the rear of it makes this kind of “hook” or “beak shape” which IMO fits the design language of the rest of the car much worse than the Bishop’s kicked-up irregular quadrilateral shaped window.
Although I appreciate that the rear pillar is narrower on the Vieira version vs the Bishop version. Many SUV/hatchback type vehicles have excessively huge rear pillars lately, and most of the shooting brake renders and things I have seen online have grossly enormous pillars that would make for some truly awful rear visibility.
Any chance you were a clownshoe fan already? To me, the Vieira drawing looks very very clownshoe, in a bad way.
I am a clown shoe fan and agree with Hugh Crawford, the Vieira drawing much better. Gives it the true wagonback look.
The only thing I don’t like about the Vieira drawing is that the rear pillar doesn’t line up right with the rear fenders. I don’t understand why it sticks out a bit and creates a weird lumpy section. Just move the pillars a couple inches forward, not like it’s sacrificing that much interior volume.
Yes I’m a clownshoe fan, also Volvo 1800es, Jenson GT, Lamborghini Espada, and Volvo 745 fan. I like the Lotus Elite Type 75 , but that’s the exception to my rear pillar preferences.
Ferrari FF vibes. I like it.
Abarth 500 turned, love it. Viva Italy.
Good God I love this so much! However, spending a few days in a RF (and owning a NC PRHT for 5 years), I think it needs a couple more inches of headroom if you are going to be making it a permanent roof. Either that or make it a T-top with storable slots for the panels behind the seats. I’m 5’9″ and it just needs a bit more to not make it feel like a pill box all the time.
You know what would be easier?
Remove the roof and trunk lid from the roadster, and replace with a detachable hardtop and hatch – rather like the 2nd gen Nissan Pulsar NX.
I could TOTALLY see this on the aftermarket…amazing idea!
Congratulations the new Jensen Healey Interceptor looks great. BTW I would love to see an article on the failed relaunch of the Jensen Brand in the early 2000s and in 2015. Great looking concepts. But really you can’t build a good car in England or the UK, union shops and strong lunchtime beers ruined the English car brand.
I dunno if McLaren would agree.
I don’t know that many people would argue McLaren has the best build quality in the world.
I was thinking regular available to everyone not Supercars.
I’ve always felt the 124 beats the MX-5 on looks as a convertible, but the RF and this clown shoe concept are both very nice.
Agreed – The 124 has more classic looks.
The best would have been a Lusso 124 with a Miata engine.
Y’all can love the rendering as much as you’d like, but all I see is a Hyundai Veloster with the extra door removed.
And at 68 you’ll be appalled at how much crap you’ve accumulated and how you’re attached to most of it.
Truly a man is not measured by his pile of crap but of his spirit. Ithink Edison said that. Make a list of what you have and ask do I need it? Then make a list of what you don’t have but what you need and why. It will all fit in a Miata. As a man who has moved 32 times since college the less you have the better. Except of course cars. We all need more cars.
I’m an inveterate purger, but there still is so much stuff. But you’re right, make a list and get rid of stuff.
After decades of living in a studio co-op in Manhattan (where we were amazed at how much stuff we had once the movers packed), we got a little crazy when we moved to a whopping 1100 square foot condo. 😉
To paraphrase Dory, just keep moving, just keep moving. You end up eliminating stuff. My staid parents moved into the last house over 20 years before they passed. We filled a 30yard dumpster with mostly crap they never unpacked from the move.
Three moves equals a fire.
I think the worst for me would be losing my shed and the things in it. If one structure was gonna burn down, house or shed, I’d at least hesitate before setting the fire.
(Look, I know it’s gonna be me doing it. Even a humble spark can ignite steel wool. I distinctly remember thinking “orange is not a color in the shed OH SHIT.” I bought a proper fire extinguisher shortly after.)
Edit to add: not an hour ago I burned all the hair off my right arm. I was outside and wearing welding gloves though!
I don’t mean to burst anyone’s bubble, but the clown shoe Miata has been under discussion in Miata forums for quite some time. That doesn’t make the Bishop’s rendering any less appealing, in fact it’s the best one of the lot that have been floating around.
I’m sure there are many of us Miata fans that would happily buy one, if given the chance.
So you are saying the Miata boards don’t get anything accomplished?
Awesome Idea. I think I’d rather see it on a BRZ because I feel like it would be even more practical starting with the larger 2+2 (More like 2+1.25, amirite?) platform.
It needs to be a clown shoe with a decently long roof, not just a liftback.
So a Pinto?
I would buy a modern Toyota Pinto. They could even call it the Pinto and it wouldn’t deter me as long as they offered a manual transmission. I am that frustrated with the present offerings.
They did a concept car a while ago. I would buy this.
You got me thinking about how much more I’d love an rx8 “wagon” vs the rx8 “4 door sedan” we got, but I doubt I would have chosen that option back when they came out unfortunately.
The regular car will still be available. I think this allows more people who want a sports car but can’t fully ignore practicality to actually consider it. In places with limited parking, this makes sports car ownership possible
Dang, that Bishop rendering…that needs to happen.
In case anyone at Mazda is reading this I just want them to know I would demand they take my money for this.
This would be a Miata I would consider. Never been a fan of roofless vehicles. I want something between my head and the ground when I’m sliding upside down down the road (cause I’m dumb.)
I apologize in advance. Something between your head and the road? That would be your ass. When I’m sliding upside-down down the road? Well flipping a Miata? That would still be your ass. It takes a certain kind of person to flip a Miata, is it even possible? Even if possible they have their head firmly protected uptheir ass. JK.
It is my completely irrational opinion of convertible cars. My son asked me “when have you ever flipped a car?” Never, and it’s a stupid take my brain can’t flush out of itself. It’s part of the reason why a clownshoe Miata sounds so awesome. I never got why they couldn’t add a roof until this last model. I know, I know, aftermarket. It’s a car I should own at least once in my life, but I haven’t yet gotten one.
Oh I get. And remember roll bars protect better than tin can roofs. But that joke came to me while reading and I was so funny to me i had to post it. Hence the apology up front.
While I wouldn’t be opposed to it, I think I’m only going to buy convertibles, roadsters, etc. in the future.
I wonder how much weight Mazda could save by giving a Miata the Jeep Treatment (no doors, no roof, etc.)
Check an Atom?
It would be a similar and likely better option, but still the idea of a factory further lightened Miata Roadster interests me (purely as an idea though).
Exocet.
Imaginative ideas like the Miata Clownshoe are why I come here. Many people have no idea what is possible.
Imagine that clownshoe design from this article, with a front end from a Miata Italia body kit. You could possibly have a Cd value in the upper 0.2X range without doing a whole lot. You could have a gorgeous Miata 250GTO Breadvan lookalike that also looks vaguely like a mashup of Bizzarrini, Zagato and Abarth masterpeices from the 60s, and offer them at an affordable price for the masses.
Sculpt that thing in a wind tunnel and make the necessary compromises to the shape to get a Cd value around 0.20(it will look a bit less clownshoe and more salt flats streamliner, but would be a kammtail fastback that is somewhere between the two and reminicient of a 1st gen Saab Sonnet but with a functional hatchback), then adjust the final drive ratio to accommodate the new top speed possible on stock horsepower with such low drag, and watch that highway MPG climb into the upper 40s or low 50s with the stock engine. Do so, and then you also have a basis for an EV that only needs a 35 kWh battery pack to have acceptable range(200+ miles at 70 mph), a pack which is of sufficient lightness that using cells with a specific capacity of over 250 Wh/kg would allow the car to be kept under 2,500 lbs, as a Miata should be.
That rear end already looks pretty close, I wonder if you could keep the hatchback profile and the Cd if the “spoiler” was actually directing air down the back window.
I bet a 48v mild hybrid would work very well, without much of a weight penalty.
Yes to all of this!
Once again, Bishop for the win.
Real talk:
I love long doors.
I love cargo space.
Put it together and what do you get: shooting brake.
I want a shooting brake of so many cars:
Miata
BRZ
F82 M4
R35 GTR
Giulia
Supra
Mustang
Jaguar F-type
etc.
With modern tech, is it easier to 3D scan and… something something… make a shooting brake?
Cmon nerds let’s do this.
Edit1: Lots of great designs by XTomi http://xtomi.blogspot.com/search/label/shooting_brake
Edit 2: more inspiration https://carstyling.ru/en/blog/etag/shooting+brake/
After having 4 doors for so long, I forgot how much I liked having the large 2 doors. Yeah, parking, whatever, I like the B pillar being farther back and the looks.
Love this idea, since I don’t really enjoy convertibles. I’d totally buy a hardtop Miata coupe, that would be so rad. This post also reminded me that I should work harder so I can afford to buy a Z3 M-Coupe in the future, man I love those cars so much.
My 2000 M coupe died when a tree fell on it. I would 100% put a deposit down on that design. The big advantage is that total weight would be well under that of the BMW. ( which was a blast) It would be a perfect car.
What your 2000 M Coupe died when a tree fell on it? I bet it was after the warranty expired? You just can’t trust those Germans to build a car that will be reliable after the warranty.
That render is fantastic: 10/10 —would happily hoon
Someone really needs to build one, too much potential to waste here!
Super cool! Btw Torch was wrong about the infotainment then, and remains so now. I daily a 2022 Mazda3 and it’s the most ergonomic infotainment I’ve ever used (yes even when using Android auto).
Would buy the rendering! Looks-wise, it sits more on the MGB GT side of the shooting brake scale than the more awkward-looking clown shoe. As much as I prefer the clown shoe to roadster for the practicality, aero, and weatherproof aspects, a looker is not something I consider it to be (which doesn’t mean it isn’t cool). I’ve never bought a Miata because they’ve always been cramped roadsters, which makes them toys with limited opportunity to use (I live in New England and I build things, so I also need some interior space), which I have no use for. Other thing is that the seat can’t recline due to the top needing to be stowed somewhere and I find it uncomfortable. When the Japan-market only coupe came out, I was ready to buy if it made it Stateside, but it, of course, did not. In the past, I often pondered building a permanent coupe top for one using a hardtop as a template, but it always seemed more trouble than it was worth to me as I liked the idea of what the Miata was/could be (small, light, fuel efficient vehicle that’s fun to drive with a reliable and simple drivetrain) more than the actual car itself. This solution is more practical than a fastback coupe, if probably not as good aerodynamically. Of course, at this point I have a GR86 with a longer wheelbase (preferable to me), emergency seating, and a surprising amount of space with the fold down seat (when you can fit things through the trunk opening—a hatch would have been a lot better, if not quite as stiff), so I’m good.
I don’t know I am 5:6 300lbs. I test drove the Fiata and it fit me great. If it wasn’t white with an automatic I would have bought it. You want cramped try a Vette.
In spite of the larger sizes of vehicles, cramped is easy to find nowadays thanks to battleship-armor thick doors and center consoles from Hummer H1s in everything. The stilt vehicles that mount the seat higher up avoid some of this (and I don’t wonder if this is part reason for their popularity), but I don’t like those kinds of vehicles for a multitude of reasons. I’m 5’11” with long limbs and sitting upright for long, as required in the Miata or a single cab PU or the Econolines with dividers that I used to have to drive for work, aggravates my back and neck (thanks to injuries). I haven’t sat in the current Miata, but it hasn’t gotten larger and the last one had upright seating unless I pushed the seat forward and jammed my knees into the dash and console. The ’86 is much more comfortable (and even has more knee room than bigger cars I’ve been in, though it would be better if the damn start button was higher up) and I just like it better all around. That said, a Miata like the rendering would have my attention next and would have gotten my money were it out before the new GRZs came out.
300 pounds dude. It fits comfortably
And I’m 175. I’m talking about the seat reclining—that’s a verticality problem not a width problem and I sat in the little toy and found it uncomfortable even for a few minutes.
Good point. The Fuata reclined to almost flat. Did you try one of those? I preferred the Fiat Miata style.
No, but I did like the looks and apparent decent trunk space better. I’m just not a roadster person, though, and I need more space for stuff in a daily driver, plus I would think the seat problem for me would be the same. There’s an attractive older woman (or maybe at this point, she’s my age) with an Abarth version that I’ve seen around Cape Ann a few times and she always notices my car and we give each other a fellow sports car nod (we’re damn rare these days whatever the model except maybe for Porsche as those things are everywhere).
Interesting a women I used to consider older but now consider younger we gave each other the nod over grocery store carts. We both drove them well and steering and parking so as not to block other shoppers. Why don’t people consider other people when driving and shopping?
They’re selfish and what bothers me most are the majority who are completely unaware that they aren’t considering others because the thoughts for others never crosses their little minds, so they go around completely unaware, thinking they’re decent people and get very defensive and in denial if confronted—they will rarely take responsibility or even acknowledge their fault to themselves. Those kinds of people can’t be reasoned with and can seldom be made to see anothers’ POV and IMO, the most dangerously dishonest people are those who primarily lie to themselves as their very identities are built upon those lies and facing the lies would require the dissolution of their self as they know it. I’ll take an intentional, aware asshole over the typical thoughtlessly selfish “decent” person every time as at least the intentional asshole is capable of choosing to be considerate and there’s an honesty to their behavior, which makes them more predictable and simpler to understand, if frustrating (plus, IME, many of those “assholes” are inherently decent people who adopted their behavior in response to too much interaction with the regular “decent” people). So, what were we talking about, shopping carts?! Sorry about that.
Shout out for mentioning the lack of a hatch on the BRZ. I have owned many little 2/4 seat coupes, and it is amazing how practical an MGB/GT, or RX7 or Porsche 924 can be as long as you don’t have a need to haul more than you or a significant other/buddy along. I test drive a BRZ when they first came out. It hasn’t even occured to me that they would build a car like that without a hatch. I mean, it is not a track toy like a Porsche GT3 or whatever, where the owner will likely have other cars to fill the “put stuff in” role.
The trunk opening is also odd-shaped, though at least it doesn’t have intrusive gooseneck hinges. I built 18′ of cabinets and shelving and carried all supplies in it, but there would have been a hell of a lot less Tetris skills needed to do so with a hatch (larger pieces of 3/4 ply had to be loaded through the passenger door). It can fit 10′ boards inside and I fit a full set of mounted wheels and new snow tires inside (though, that last tire meant it was a very short drive solution only), so it has the space. Plus, with a hatch, I could fit taller things by strapping it open.
the MGB-GT was an underappreciated mini grand tourer – a great weekend getaway car with enough space for what you really needed for two
I live in New England (apparently pretty darn close to you – not far from the Pink House) and I have transported a decent amount of lumber in my NB. I should say ‘with’ instead of ‘in.’ Remember, convertibles have infinite headroom. Stick the lumber into the passenger foot well and tie it to the roll bar.
When we moved to this house, we had a Miata and an FR-S. Made a lot of unconventional Home Depot runs, often as a caravan. The FR-S was better for hauling bags of soil or mulch, but the Miata was better for 2x4s.
I’ve seen people move tall objects by sticking them out the top (kayaks, even, though white water or something as they were pretty short), but I prefer something more secure and that I can utilize in all weather. Even so, I love anytime I see someone run what they’ve brung.
I fit a yard of soil in the back of my Focus ST and had plenty more room. Not much for weight carrying capacity, though, but the funny thing is, doing the math, a pickup with an 8′ bed couldn’t carry much more (at least not volume-wise). Also, I learned that if you need a decent amount of soil or gravel or similar, pay to have it delivered—it’s almost always going to be cheaper, too.
I think we aren’t that far apart. I’m not far from the overstyled abandoned mansion nobody wants to buy that I believe was in some Larry David movie.
That rendering is stunning!
Yeah, the kick up on the rear window reminds be a bit of a Scimitar GTE, which is not a bad thing at all.
Didn’t one of the writers here own a Scimitar at one point? Wouldn’t it be great if we could post photos on this site?
I think Torch still has one, but it’s SORN
SORN? Please explain, last list I saw of Torchs junkyard no Scimitar.
Statutory off road notification, non-US term, but, basically registered but not on the road
Thanks buti am still as perplexed.
He sold it a bit ago to someone who had more time to restore it