Up there with some of the most important designers for enthusiast cars, Tom Matano has passed away at the age of 77, but leaves behind one of the most timeless designs ever, the NA Mazda MX-5.
Born in Nagasaki, Japan, on October 7, 1947, Tsutomu "Tom" Matano studied Analysis Engineering at Tokyo University. Immediately after graduating in 1969, he began planning to pack up his life and move to the United States aboard his uncle’s container ship.
While canvassing for work, Matano headed back to university in the States before landing his very first job at General Motors in Detroit. While nothing from his time in at GM in the States ended up in his portfolio, they decided to ship the young Japanese man off to Australia.
Tom Matano's Holden Years
The nature of Matano’s work visa and the mass exodus of auto jobs from the oil crisis meant that he had to pack up his life once again. He found a new home in Melbourne, Australia, where he worked alongside one of the most prolific Holden designers ever, Phillip Zmood, and played a part in designing the iconic LH/LX Holden Torana.
Matano worked on the iconic Holden Dealership Team Marlboro livery during Peter Brock's championship years, not just for the Torana, but for the entire HDT support fleet too, later describing the legendary racer, as well as Leo Pruneau (designer of the Monaro), as his 'mentors' at Holden.
In his pursuit of greatness, Matano once again packed up his life in 1977 and headed off to Munich, Germany, where he rubbed elbows with Paul Bracq, Giorgetto Giugiaro and Marcello Gandini, who were all working with BMW developing some of the most beautiful cars to come out of Europe ever.
Again, by clearly impressing the right people, Matano was called back to North America by ex-journalist and then product planner Bob Hall to serve as the Chief Designer for Mazda in America. The Japanese designer later worked his way up to become the Vice President of Design and eventually the Executive Vice President of Western Operations for Mazda Research and Development.
This is where Matano would finally have a chance to have something to call his own, a design to be remembered by, and what a stunning design it was.
The birth of the Mazda MX-5
The idea of a small Japanese sports-car had been in the back of Bob Hall’s head since 1976, when, while a journalist at Motor Trend magazine, he had met with Kenichi Yamamoto and Gai Arai, heads of Research and Development at Mazda.
“I babbled how the simple, bugs-in-the-teeth, wind-in-the-hair, classically-British sports car doesn't exist any more. I told Mr. Yamamoto that somebody should build one, [an] inexpensive roadster,” said Hall in an interview with Motor Trend in 2005.
That statement Hall made stuck with him when he joined Mazda in 1981, building a team to develop a “light-weight sportcar”, calling on Mark Jordan and, of course, Tom Matano to develop his new vision.
North America pushed forward with a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, but Japan countered with a more compact package: either front-engine, front-wheel-drive or rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive.
Thank god for noise, vibration, and harshness requirements; the MX-5 never would’ve met them in any other layout other than front-engine rear wheel drive and surely would've met the same fate of all forgettable front-wheel drive sports cars of the 90s.
The concept was entered into a design competition under the codename “Duo 101”, where it won thanks to recalling the golden era of design, with features inspired by cars such as the beautiful Lotus Elan.
Matano hussled on his design, and by 1986, the final model was approved and ready to enter its final stages of production. In 1989, the MX-5 (Miata in North America and Roadster in Japan) hit the showrooms, and boy, did it hit hard.
Sure, it only produced 116 horsepower, but it also weighed only 940kg and had a 50/50 front-to-rear weight distribution, making it one of the best-handling cars you could buy at the time.
The real winner? It was under $30,000 when it was released, offering a convertible two-seater sports car while undercutting European competitors. Matano went on to design part of the FD RX-7, another one of Mazda’s gorgeous cars, and stayed with the company until 2002 before teaching industrial design in the United States.
His design portfolio wasn’t packed with timeless designs, after timeless designs of unattainable cars by Giorgetto Giugiaro and Marcello Gandini. Still, he had one advantage over them – his designs sold in the hundreds of thousands.
As a true man of the people, Matano managed to design a gorgeous car that everyone could enjoy without laying out a fortune or incurring an expensive maintenance schedule, and he kept that title until his final rest. Always happy to talk to the media, always kind to his fans and just stoked to be around cars.
Having owned several MX-5s now, I can wholeheartedly say that this car has attracted more young people to cars than any other model I can think of. To this day, the NA MX-5 remains a budget-friendly, easy-to-maintain, and cool-looking car that anyone can enjoy driving.
“I wouldn’t consider myself a car enthusiast, but I would love one of the MX-5s with the pop-up headlights”, is a quote I hear far too often. The design was so good that it remains hip 36 years later.
I adored these cute little cars, and I applaud Matano’s hand in it. I’m certainly glad he could see how much he was loved for his design.
Thank you for your service to the car community Tsutomu Matano.
Zane Dobie comes from a background of motorcycle journalism, working for notable titles such as Australian Motorcycle News Magazine, Just Bikes and BikeReview. Despite his fresh age, Zane brings a lifetime of racing and hands-on experience. His passion now resides on four wheels as an avid car collector, restorer, drift car pilot and weekend go-kart racer.
