Tom Matano, chief designer of original Mazda MX-5, dies age 77

Tsutomu ‘Tom’ Matano, the man in charge of the design of the first-generation Mazda MX-5 or Miata, passed away over the weekend aged 77.

Born in Nagasaki, Japan in 1947, Matano-san graduated with an analysis engineering degree in 1969. A year later he boarded his uncle’s ship, and headed to the US.

He bounced around for it, continuing his studies, and was finally hired by GM in 1974. Due to visa issues, the General sent him off to Holden in Australia. Under the tutelage of Holden’s design boss Leo Pruneau, he worked on the Torana.

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According to his Instagram, his responsibilities included designing the red and white advertising livery for the HDT Torana race car, support vehicles, and the double-decker team bus.

By the late 70s, Matano-san was in Germany working with BMW. His career at Mazda began in 1983 where he was hired by former journalist Bob Hall to be Mazda North America’s chief designer.

Together with their American team, they won an internal design competition for a small sports car with their lightweight rear-wheel drive roadster proposal inspired by earlier British convertibles.

The first-generation MX-5 – known as the Miata in North America and Roadster in Japan – made its debut at the Chicago motor show in 1989, and was an instant hit. Over the course of four generations, it has been a constant in Mazda’s lineup.

Although sales have slowed in the past decade, over one million MX-5s have been sold since 1989.

As well as shaping the second-generation ‘NB’ MX-5, Matano-san is also credited with the slinky fourth-generation ‘FD’ RX-7, as well as the 1996 M-Coupe concept.

Matano-san left Mazda in 2002 to become head of the School of Industrial Design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

MORE: Everything Mazda MX-5