GiNA-the-First's Page

GiNA was our first Mazda MX-5. Sadly, she was written off in an accident on the M5 motorway in May 1997 after an argument with a Minibus!

GiNA was a 1990 car and was first registered a week after the MX-5 was launched in the UK. We had owned her for 2 and half years.

Here are some pictures of GiNA before she died:

Gill and GiNA. This was taken not long after we had the stripes put on. (48Kb)	Andy and GiNA. Andy wearing infamous woolly hat somewhere in Yorkshire. (66Kb)
Little GiNA. A 1/10th scale Tamiya radio controlled car. (43Kb)	GiNA (pre-stripes) parked on the banking at the historic Brooklands race track. (54Kb)
A shot from the front and above. This was taken from the top of some step ladders and gives a good view of GiNA's stripes. (26Kb)	GiNA covered in snow on Christmas morning 1995. (53Kb)

Modifications and accessories

We made these modifications to the car but lost them all in the accident!

Twin Racing Stripes: These were the most striking thing about GiNA. They were done with 8 inch wide strips of blue vinyl and were applied by a professional sign writer.
15 x 7 Compomotive Wheels: These wheels were 5 spoke alloys. They look good and were really easy to clean. The large spaces between the spokes also showed off the brake calipers which were painted bright red.
205/55-R15 BF-Goodrich Comp T/A 3 Tyres: These tyres were very good. We did over 15000 miles on them before the accident and they were wearing very well.
Ring Luminator 2 Front driving lights: These were relatively cheap and worked OK. Watch out for the fittings though, they rust really quickly, I recommend a good coating of Hammerite. I was on my second set of lights after managing to break one of the original set trying to remove it to fit the grill (see below). The fittings had rusted and the screw heads disintegrated, while twisting the light to get a better angle on it, the plastic casing gave way... ho hum!
MM Marketing Front Grill: We had only just fitted this. GiNA was seven years old and she had been lucky not to get a rock through the radiator in all that time. Note that the grill fits fine behind the driving lights with no cutting required.
MiaLite Interior lights: A must for older MX-5s.
NGK Spark Plug Wires: No more stumbling engine!
Alpine Component Door Speakers: These were much better than the original speakers (what isn't?).
B&Q Light Reminder Buzzer Thing: You wouldn't think it was possible to leave the lights on when it's pitch black in a garage and you've got two enormous barn doors sticking up at the front of the car - would you Gill??
Microwave Alarm: Sadly a necessity in this country at the moment.

Click on the piccy to see GiNA's replacement, GiNA II.

More MX-5 information can be found via the following links:

MX-5 Owners Club home page.
Miata.net
Keith Tanner's striped MX-5 page.

Andy Whitlow : andy@whitlow.u-net.com
Gill Whitlow : gill@whitlow.u-net.com
Last Update 5th May 1997