Is this the oldest MX5 in the UK?

Lancaster Insurance customer Ellie is the proud owner of a 1989 MX-5 Eunos, the oldest MX-5 believed to be in the UK today! The Japanese Market Spec model came to our shores in 1998 and fast forward five years to 2003, and this is when ‘Suki’ and Ellie’s journey began. Ellie was looking for a fun car for work and had recently come across an MX-5, thanks to a work colleague she visited that owned one. On her return home, Ellie’s search started in earnest when she spotted the red model in Autotrader. She made an appointment to see the car and the rest they say is history!

That same year Ellie and her husband, Jonathan, joined the MX-5 Owners Club to meet other enthusiasts in the area and learn more about the model. After reading in the national club's magazine Soft Top Hardtop, she learnt that a gentleman called Sam took the title for the oldest model in the UK with a chassis number 37. Interested to know what number Suki had, she was surprised to find that it was 33 and that she was now the official owner of the oldest MX-5!

Over the last two decades, Ellie has restored and modified Suki to the beauty she is today. She has had a complete respray, the sills have been replaced and all the rubber seals have been replaced. She also now has chrome mirrors; a special exhaust and it has been lowered. The wheels aren’t original as Ellie prefers the black alloy wheels which are only supplied in Japan. When Suki takes centre stage at any national club events though, the wheels are changed back to the originals.

You could also fill an album with the trips and adventures the pair have had together, alongside Jonathan. Suki took part in Mazda’s 25^th anniversary celebration at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2014 and was positioned right at the front of the stand! Then there’s the Clubs’ national rallies, a jaunt overseas to Holland and exhibiting at the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show with Discovery+ no less than three times. Tom Matano the designer of the original MX-5 saw Suki at one the club events and even signed her!

Nowadays, a Vauxhall Mokka is their daily driver and Suki is enjoyed at weekends and special occasions. Ellie loves nothing more than taking to the open road with the roof down on a wonderful day – a trip to Wales is a particular favourite. Ellie takes control at the wheel and Jonathan is in charge of the navigation, sounds like the perfect match to us!