top of page

The End of an Era, the Final Eight...er, Thirteen

 
Many Miata enthusiasts are aware of the plant fire that supposedly ended production of the NB Miatas (and the MSM in particular) in December 2004. However, further research indicates that is not the complete story.
 
There are eight cars (6 MSMs and 2 SEs) with a build date of December 20, 2004, several days after  the December 15th fire. There are two possibilities here, One is that these cars were free of the paint shop where the fire occurred and were then completed afterwards within Plant 1 or two, they were actually completed in Plant 2 similar to other affected vehicles. Further research has proven that NB production did actually continue in the Ujina No. 2 Plant for several months after the fire. In fact, there were over 400 units produced between January and April 2005 before the model changeover to the NC in May.
So let's take a look at the Final 8 in VIN sequence as we now know MSMs were NOT produced in Build # sequence.list.
 
The 6 USA model MSMs: 

Chassis #               VIN                   Build Date      Build #       Color         Model      Notes

  414646   JM1NB354650414646   2004-12-20    1426    Velocity Red    GT         IL  - last known location

  414649   JM1NB354150414649   2004-12-20    1423    Black Mica       STD      WA - last known location 

  414650   JM1NB354850414650   2004-12-20    1428    Velocity Red     GT        UT - last known location

  414651   JM1NB354X50414651  2004-12-20     1422    Titanium Grey  STD      VA - last known location

  414653   JM1NB354350414653   2004-12-20    1424    Titanium Grey  STD       CA - last known location 

  414654   JM1NB354550414654   2004-12-20    1425    Black Mica        GT        CA - last known location 

 
The 2 Australia model SEs: 

Chassis #               VIN                   Build Date      Build #       Color         Model      Notes

  400771   JM0NB30P400400771  2004-12-20       N/A     Titanium Grey  GT        Initial registration - Victoria

  400772   JM0NB30P400400772  2004-12-20       N/A     Black Mica       GT        Initial registration - Queensland

 

414654.JPG
Chassis # 414654   The last MSM
OZ BM generic_edited.jpg
Chassis # 400772   The last SE
BUT THERE'S MORE......

Interestingly enough this was NOT the final production of these vehicles worldwide as there were
5 Japanese Roadster Turbos produced
near the end of NB production later in March 2005.
 
This 2005 Pure White model with black cloth interior was the last Roadster Turbo produced on March 16, 2005 signalling an end of an era. A Turbo Miata/MX-5 has not been factory produced by Mazda since.
400819.jpg
Chassis # 400819  The last Roadster Turbo
bottom of page