Miata Mailing List: March 1995, Message #74
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   From: EMERSON@midd.middlebury.edu
Subject: Conversations with Rod Byemaster and Tom Matano, MAZDA
   Date: Wed, 1 Mar 1995 17:32:14 -0500

The following is part of a letter (slightly edited) from Bonnie Lutz, President of the 
SAMOA (SanDiego) Chapter of the MCA, and organizer of Gold Rush.   
(Incidentally, Bonnie reports that Mr. Sonaguchi is (as of Monday) no longer 
CEO and President of Mazda.  Too bad, as he seemed to be in touch with 
enthusiasts!) I thought that some on the net might enjoy Bonnie's impressions 
and comments about her trip to Irvine,  California (Mazda Motor of America).  
Warning: A LONG POST!                            Bonnie writes:
********************************************************************

I am back!  Had a great weekend!  Different than I expected, but fun!

The Thursday morning flight to Southern California was cancelled  due to fog.
We had another flight at 3 pm, which put us in Irvine at 4:30, really too
late to do anything at the R&D.  I called Rod Bymaster. He said that we could
do dinner; he would meet us at the hotel not far from Mazda.  He showed up
in his (very dirty) black Miata.  We followed him to Dana Point for a seafood
dinner, overlooking the harbor.  Food was great, wine was supurb, and the
company was heavenly!  Never have done a one-on-one with Rod before. However
we have spoken on the phone numerous times, and we got together at Gold Rush.

He is a just farm boy from Oklahoma who loves cars!  We enjoyed a bottle of
Kendall Jackson Chardonnay, and talked about cars we have had. He races 
Miatas, and talked about that.  He said that the relatively low cost to race a 
Miata is really no different than any other hobby, like golf, or boating. 

The next morning I had an appointment to meet with Tom Matano at 9.  He was
officially on vacation, but his secretary, Cathy, said that he was in and out,
and could meet with me.  I expected his office to be wall to wall with
drawings of Mazdas, and/or other cars he has designed.  I pictured a drawing
table with a waste basket of his wadded up "maybe nots!"  Not true!  Of
course he does his drawing elsewhere in a studio, and probably uses a computer
and not a table.  This was his new office, as of last June. The walls held no
drawings of cars of any kind, but there were a few toy models sitting about,
not all of them Mazdas.  Cathy said that the Mazda Design studio moved in at
the same time as the Miata 5th Birthday, when they had the open house for the 
Miata Club.  It was a big moving mess, and 150 Miatas were there for the 5th
celebration!  His office was still being put together.

Tom arrived at 9 am, dressed to the nines, briefcase in hand, looking very
sharp.  I got a hug, and we sat down to chat.  He asked me if I had seen
pictures of the Miata M-Edition Speedster; he showed me articles in a
magazine, and gave me a press kit with slides. We talked about new upcoming
Miata colors. He is not too keen on my gold; he prefers the blues. His wife
(of 19 years) drives a 1990 Mariner Blue Miata.  

He mentioned that a few years ago, he and his wife were shopping for a new 
house.  He said that his wife would head for the garage to check it out, and 
he for the kitchen.  I asked if he liked to cook.  He said that he does, on 
occasion, cook. He likes to get the ingredients, and start the process, and 
his wife "fine tunes" the meal.  His idea of the perfect house would be a one 
bedroom home with a 10 car garage. The garage would wrap around the house, 
so the cars would be visible from the large kitchen. 

I gave him a copy of his Gold Rush rally results.  Tom navigated for SAMOA
member Virginia Whipple and they  came in number 46.  He remarked 
that Gold Rush is  the "Woodstock"  of Miata events and he enjoys them
very much.  I invited him  to the June Harris Ranch outing. He  said
that attending all the events is a full time job, in additon to
his "real" job!  I painted the visual picture of him sitting by the pool at
Harris Ranch with a Cappacino,  so he wrote it in on his calendar. 

I asked if he would sign my 5th anniversary album, although it was one of the
4000 already  signed by him, Mark Jordan, Rod Bymaster, and Vince
Tidwell.  He  turned to the pages about him, pointing out  his  grin as a
child while riding on his childhood bike, and the grin as an adult on the 
next page in a toy Miata.  He had not changed very much -- same grin!

He described the chore of signing all of the 4000 books. The boxes were
stacked up there in his office, and he would lug several cases home each
evening, all the while wondering how he got talked into that by Barbara Beach.

He had a meeting to go to, so our 45 minute visit came to a close.  My dream
of getting him to take me through the design studio will have to wait til
next time, thanks to the  Sacramento fog. I will try again in June when I go
down there for my nephew's high school graduation.

Bonnie Lutz

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I hope that a few of you out there enjoyed these rather personal impressions
of some good Miata officials as much as I did.  Thanks, Bonnie!

John Emerson  '92 A Yellow
Middlebury, Vermont