Miata Magic 1993 Mazda Miata

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MIATA
MAGIC

Ricky Silverio's 1993 Mazda Miata

Story: Brandon Leung
Photos: Mike Shin

Trekking up to Nor Cal to cover the formula D event in Sonoma was pretty damn tiring. Luckily we got to stop off at R-Crew, a local tuning shop in Brisbane, CA, where they greeted us with open arms. While there, we were treated to a hearty BBQ and some hot feature vehicles. My favorite of the bunch has to be this gorgeous 1993 Mazda Miata. The word meticulous doesn't even do this car justice. Speaking first hand, this thing is freaking immaculate.

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Ricky Silverio is no newbie to the import scene. He's owned about every single old school car you can think of, which all were modified in one way shape or form. Years of experience led him to his local Mazda dealership back in '93. On that lucky day Ricky became the proud new owner of this red drop-top Miata. You read correctly, Mr. Silverio is the OG owner of this Eunos Roadster. If that's not rare enough, wait until I tell you aout all the nifty items your western eyes have probably never seen.

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Having over 10 years to build this car, Ricky has been very exacting in picking items to install on his beauty. Before the dawn of the internet, one had to scour the ends of the earth to locate parts for their autos. Ricky was no different and has ventured off to Japan on numerous occasions. Most of the items you see on his vehicle have either been hand carrier back or shipped directly from the Empire of the Sun.

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If the sparkling shine of the red exterior has caught your eye, it might be because the paint is as original as the window sticker Ricky has at home. I know what you're thinking "there is no way in hell that's stock paint!" I hate to break it to you but if you actually take care of your prized possessions you can actually preserve its beauty. Now what did I do with all those baseball cards, GI Joe, Star Wars, and Macross toys I had when I was younger?

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A clean Miata R-package front air dam, rear skirt, and rear spoiler give this roadster a sporty demeanor and more aggressive stance. JDM Eunos emblems front and rear let you know exactly what kind of car it really is. Runabout makes some really trick items for the Miata and was chosen for their sick side mirrors and unique fuel filler cap. While not overly excessive, the clean and simple exterior is as functional as it is visually appealing.

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What really caught my eye when i first saw this car was the Watanabe Eight II wheels. The golden hue works in perfect harmony with the red exterior. The wheels were specifically ordered up from Japan and sized for "Tsura-Ichi" which means no fender modifications needed. And with the Tokico Illumina shocks mated to RSM linear rate springs. It's no wonder why Ricky ordered these specific wheels. The stance is absolutely flawless with no rubbing or contact with the fender at all. Racing beat sways are fully adjustable and a J's Mazdaspeed front strut brace keeps the car on track during aggressive driving. Coming up on its 10th anniversary (2003) Ricky decided to swap out the old rubber bushings in favor of some J's Mazdaspeed hard rubber bushings, a GAB lower front brace and expert alignment round out the undercarriage refreshment.

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MODIFICATION SUMMARY

Exterior

R package front spoiler, rear skirt and rear spoiler
Runabout mirrors and fuel lid
Tuckin99 tow hook
JDM front bumper combi-lights
JDM Eunos emblems with Japanese Mazda dealer sticker
Rockers color matched to body

Interior

MAZDASPEED seats
MAZDASPEED 4-point harness
Racing Beat style / harness bar
M2 incorporated Momo steering wheel with MAZDASPEED horn button and boss
WIZ and I.L dash bezel trims
KG Works gauge cluster
KG Works door handles
KG Works rear view mirror
Nielex/ RSM door pulls
MS window cranks
BSP red stitch shift and handbrake boots
JDM Eunos original parts shiftknob
JDM Eunos console box
JDM Eunos tire liner
RSM Eunos floor mats
RSM door panels
BSP trunk mats and pouches
Fully detailed trunk tools and jack
Tom Matano’s (Miata Designer) signature inside trunk lid

Suspension

RSM linear rate springs
Tokico Illumina shocks
Racing Beat sway bars and adjustable end links
MAZDASPEED bushings
MAZDASPEED strut brace
GAB lower brace

Brakes

RSM pads

Wheel / Tire

Falken Azenis 205-50-15
R.S Watanabe Eight II 15x7.5

Engine

Jackson Racing header
ARC intake tube with M’s panel filter
Tuckin99 Rom tune
Trust BL exhaust system
Mazdaspeed oil cap and RP radiator shroud
FD RX7 in-tank fuel pump

Special Thanks

Tito @ RedStar
My Wife for all her support

Source Jtuned.com (2003) http://www.jtuned.com/

Some better photos

http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/imag...al16_lg_01.jpg
http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/imag...al16_lg_02.jpg
http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/imag...al16_lg_03.jpg
http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/imag...al16_lg_04.jpg
http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/imag...al16_lg_05.jpg
http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/imag...al16_lg_06.jpg
http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/imag...al16_lg_07.jpg
http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/imag...al16_lg_08.jpg

Quote:

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I know what you're thinking "there is no way in hell that's stock paint!"

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Red rockers?

It seems he got rid of all the rubberized under-body protector down there too.

Thanks for the better quality photos Garrett :bow: , ours are pretty grainy from the old 2003 printed version of the story. :shock: Is there a link online to this story we can add a backlink too?

Love everything about this....................except the style bar!! :|

Quote:

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Originally Posted by atank

Love everything about this....................except the style bar!! :|

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Well this article was 2003, (pulling out some old stuff to archive) but pretty sure he has removed that style bar since then and redone the entire interior with custom door panels and seats IIRC Maybe he will chime in later. :whistle:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Phatmiata

Thanks for the better quality photos Garrett :bow: , ours are pretty grainy from the old 2003 printed version of the story. :shock: Is there a link online to this story we can add a backlink too?

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I don't know about a JTuned story, my source is (was) a MazdaUSA story. If you click the photos from MazdaUSA they no longer work, but I found another source for those.

http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/stat...Profile16.html

I believe this was the JTuned article, but that entire website is going through a redesign.

http://www.jtuned.com/content/templa...id=65&zoneid=1

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fwdtamiya

I don't know about a JTuned story, my source is (was) a MazdaUSA story. If you click the photos from MazdaUSA they no longer work, but I found another source for those.

http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/stat...Profile16.html

I believe this was the JTuned article, but that entire website is going through a redesign.

http://www.jtuned.com/content/templa...id=65&zoneid=1

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Thanks, I updates the specs and added the Jtuned link!! :bow:

Hello Randy!

Wow!! J-Tuned Article!! Maaaann....takes me back. J-Tuned was a very groundbreaking site (2002) and only featured J's Or JDM Styled cars that really followed the tuning style to the letter. To be featured was quite an honor especially since my Roadster was away from the public eye for many years. This site became the template for all car blogs and feature sites used to this day. Unfortunately once all these other sites came on line, J-Tuned faded away. The creator of J-Tuned, Brandon Leung went on to create the life's testable and apparel store Bowls LA and has been involved in the automotive industry creating many project cars for Scion & Others. Mike Shin is also involved in the industry and since he was also doing work for several companies, a lot of his Mazda Articles For J-Tuned were submitted to Mazda Performance as well. Hence the Miata being found at the Mazda Site.

I Remember that day very well, that was the day I stopped using film and got into the digital age. When Mike put out all his Camera Gear It seemed so out of this world. He even had suction cup mounts for his SLR which he used for the running shots and with me and him in the cockpit. Sadly those shots were never used and I'll have to look at my old drives for that. Those were pretty damn cool shots and those are the kind of shots we take for granted today, especially if you have a go pro...

To Answer some of the questions, my car is indeed still all original paint, (But for full disclosure I have 2 hoods, the original one I drilled out for hood pins so I bought a new one and had it painted. that's the hood that's been on since 2002) my hood with the hood pin holes are in the rafters in my storage Still Sporting The White Stripes From The 1999-2000 Miata Magazine Cover Photo Shoot.

The Textured Stone Guard Finish is still there, so I believe there may be some digital trickery involved or it really doesn't show in the photos. In 1996 the place I worked at the time (Autoplus)was racing the 5 Zigen N-1 Civic In The Philippines and we were to promote the 5 Zigen Line in the US. One of the products they asked us to promote was the 5 Zigen front spoiler for the NA & EG. Up until then nobody heard or even bought that front spoiler in Japan (except snippets from hyper rev) and the powers that be at Dijon cars gave use the mold for it and told us to do anything we wanted with it together with the mold for the EG Civic. To promote the lip I made the conscientious decision to paint the lower rockers body color for it to flow better and I ordered two sets of JDM rear body color mudguards to round off the look. (I did both my 90 & 93 at the time) although my car has gone through literally hundreds of iterations over the years I always make it a point to make every modification reversible. So the decision was made to mask it at the very ridge line and spray alight coat of red. If you look closely at the images especially behind the drivers side front, you can see the parting line. Also I carefully masked the jacking point / pinch welds black with the intention of returning it back to black. 7 years Later and 4 days after the photo shoot, I spent a week masking and carefully sanded off the thin red coat and returned it to black. I have still yet to do it to my 1990 which has been in hibernation inside the current owners garage in Oregon for the past 14 years.....

On a side note when the 5Zigen Spoiler Molds reached the Philippines and we made quite a run of both the NA and EG spoilers. Andy & Joe R-Speed at Brainstorm (Joe worked at Brainstorm For A Brief Period) saw them on my cars and ordered quite a few..... This became the Brainstorm F-1 Spoiler which sold pretty well me thinks.........

The Style Bar is pretty interesting, first of all it was literally the very first production Style Bar From Racing Beat (the test shot one that preceded it is still on Racing Beat's Demo NA) and was a gift.... So sentimentality prevailed and I remember installing it exactly a week after picking up my NA together with some other racing beat Stuff (The sway bars are still on to this day) also it also reminded me of the bubble era of tuning, which is my favorite time in Japanese Automotive History. About 2 Years Ago, I carefully removed it and the precious stickers stuck on it and now resides next to my hood in the rafters...

I Redid the Interior In 2007 and Antonio Shot It in Hibernation In 2008.... he only wrote the article a year later lol...
http://www.speedhunters.com/2009/01/..._in_the_world/

And I wheeled it out for the RS Watanabe website:

http://www.rs-watanabe.co.jp/userspage/ricky-na.htm

And For Motm:

http://mazdaroadster.net/showthread....e-Month)/page2

Whew......... And apologies for the looong post!!

Ricky

More Pictures On The Way.......


Disclosure... I am not responsible for your reaction to seeing me in 90s period dress haha!!

My 90 in 1994 (thats a eunos v neck sweater inside my ax jacket haha)

Real 1001 mirrors, 1001 center caps on fs panasports, custom emblems (M2 RS3) and momo monza wood wheel with M2 momo red arrow button) wood wheel is same as pivot NA demo car (red with italian stripes) from hyper rev1

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/06/meza2eve.jpg

My 1993 10 days after i got it, sporting racing beat style bar and swaybars. Im waiting for the lower rear skirt which was on backorder lol. I have a metal mazda plate that i got from autoshow and HKS exhaust. Im at an autocross racing a toyota corolla. The guy with the stock miata (he too still owns it today) took the pics.

The wheels are German ATS but procured from HKS Kansai (same wheels on their pink demo car and pivot demo car) they were used to promote the dunlop tires:

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Haha.. Oh on my 1990, jdm rear body color mudguards and kg works gas lid

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And here are some current pics to please the style bar police:


To promote the Reissue of Enkei J Speed (i chose the 7 inch for bubble era effect)

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/06/eze4usah.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/06/aqujuga5.jpg


Center caps by R2 Limited.

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As an aside, 1996...

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Im hungover and just got a haircut lol

And... After the j speed promo i finally put on my old f1s:

As she is now...

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/06/tu2egavu.jpg

Momo Neo Prototipo With M2 type B Arrow Button (the arrows are classic red)

And old stock momo gritti accessory ring from my stash:

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/06/emetu3yn.jpg

Damn Ricky... Your car really is awesome, man. Even with all the looks it just captures the roadster look so perfectly, like it's in a period correct time capsule or something.

I also reallllllly dig the way the RPF1's look on there ^_^

rock on!

I also remember the article that Antonio Alvienda wrote up on speed hunters on your car. lol

http://www.speedhunters.com/wp-conte..._5668_copy.jpg
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Looks great!!!!!!!! Are you still rockin' that eunos v neck sweater?? Bahahahaha!!!!!!:mrgreen: