On the 9th of February, 35 years ago, the Mazda MX-5 made its debut at the Chicago Auto Show. Built like a classic rear-wheel-drive sports car, but with a groundbreaking front-mid-engine layout for optimum longitudinal weight distribution, the Japanese roadster revived a then almost extinct car segment. The compact and lightweight Mazda MX-5 redefined the joy of open-top driving. Mazda engineers achieved this by adhering to the traditional Japanese philosophy of Jinba-Ittai, which views the...