the designer of the Miata

[CARIBOULH@domain.elided]

Will Owen had written in AD# 1216...

<<The guy in charge of the project to create the Miata was an American 
sports-car enthusiast, whose single-minded purpose was to build, in effect, a 
strong, reliable English sports car.>>

Quite true will.. the gentleman you are referring to is a friend of mine, Mr. 
Tom Matano and the "real" love of his life (besides his very, very nice wife) 
is Italian sports cars. Tom was so proud one day when he drove over to my 
building in his DeTomaso Vallelunga. He was spending a ton of time restoring 
it and finally had it back to the point where he could drive it... he must 
have spent an hour showing it off to me. He also owned two beautiful Lancia 
Scorpions (which he considered one of the nicest automotive designs) among 
other "stuff".

I remember once Tom was sitting in my office and a customer called to order 
(of all things) a canvas top for his Mazda Miata! The customer wanted to 
briefly know about the quality of the product and was quite surprised when I 
told him that the designer of his car was a Caribou customer. And then the 
guy was TOTALLY blown away when I put Tom (the designer of the Miata) on the 
phone with him... kind'a like having an Alfa owner call Caribou and find out 
that he's talking to Sergio Pininfarina!

Anyway, Tom is no longer employed by Mazda, but is up in the San Francisco 
area doing a stint teaching automotive design. And yes, it might not be a bad 
idea for Alfa to hire him!

Best Wishes,

Ed at Caribou
Alfa parts at: www.AlfaSpider.cc
Max-Flow converters at: www.SportsCarConverters.com
convertible tops at: www.convertible.top.ms
Renovo top car products at: www.Renovo-USA.com
Fiat parts at: www.caribou.cc
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