This 1959 Borgward Isabella Coupé, found on eBay in Clarksville, Maryland, USA, is a very unusual vehicle. Although more than 200,000 examples were made between 1954 and 1961, it is very rare to find them outside of Germany. Some Borgward cars were sold at GM dealerships in the States and they reportedly had decent build quality but it was never a sales success in the USA, making them very scarce.
What makes this car even more unusual is the Mazda BP engine and transmission located under the hood. Although the 1.8L motor (from a 1995 Mazda Miata) certainly helps driveability, the non-original engine likely hurts its value and appeal to collectors.
Here is the holy grail of aftermarket headlamps for the NA Mazda Roadster. Body Shop Hayashi made very few of these kits in the 1990s, most likely because they were very expensive when new. Advertisements in old issues of Road&Ster magazine show them costing approximately ¥155,000, which is the equivalent of $2,035 USD in today's money.
What makes these headlamps so unique is the mechanism that lifts the rear and tilts the light forward when turned on. While low profile headlamps are stylish, aerodynamic, and lighter than the factory pop-ups, most all suffer from poor optics due to the spread of the light beam catching the top of the front bumper and creating a shadow right in front of the driver. The Body Shop Hayashi headlamps attempted to solve this problem by lifting the light above the front bumper to eliminate the shadow and increase the amount of light projected onto the roadway.
The beautiful Aston Martin Racing Green NA8C you see here belongs to my friend Greg G. from Manila, Philippines. In September 2009, his beloved Roadster was tragically flooded during Typhoon Ketsana. While many enthusiasts would scrap a flood car, Greg decided to rebuild his car even better than before. The car was entirely disassembled and meticulously restored piece by piece. Greg used this opportunity to add some very rare tuning parts such as these Body Shop Hayashi headlamps.
Stay tuned for a full feature on Greg's car at a later date. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures and the videos at the bottom.
I've never seen this before. Here is a one-off custom NB8C Mazda Miata with Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider inspired coachwork. I don't have any details about who built it but it appears to be an amateur creation. The car just sold on eBay in Cape Coral, FL, United States for $4,975. In a way, it reminds me of the Ducks-Garden Roadster 311. The idea was inspired but the final outcome is not so favorable.
