The Mitsuoka Roadster

There is a modern preoccupation with all things vintage. People are dusting off their grandmother’s crockery and reading the old classics. But the area in which Lifestyle is most excited about in this retro trend is motoring. The Mitsuoka Roadster has just been launched in Europe and it is the stuff that black and white dreams are made of!

Summer might be on its way out but Mitsuoka Motors are on their way in. There has been change in fashion over recent years, the revival of ‘vintage’ suggests the public are harking back, inviting a nostalgia. Gold tinted desires to grow a beard or to drink from bone china, to buy records instead of an iPod. Somewhere along the line people have realised that rampant consumerism is simply unfulfilling, they are now looking about them for the way things were. Returning to periods when things were done ‘properly’. A time when people cooked healthy food and felt better for it. A time when people took a photograph and it meant something. A time when a car was not obligatory but a luxury. Mitsuoka Motors understands. When they create a car it is made by men, not machines. The automobile is not a means of taking one from A to B but an engine that you will want to drive for the sheer wonder of driving!

Susumu Mitsuoka founded the Mitsuoka Motor Company in 1968 in Japan. It is and always has been an endeavour in excellence. Largely unknown outside of Japan, the company quietly produces some of the most elegant contemporary cars, built by a handful of skilled craftsmen that might be better referred to as artisans. Their designs recall classic compositions, combining this with a thoroughly modern approach. Criticisms of the authentic motor car remain in its unreliability and likelihood of break downs, besides being made with irreplaceable parts (all causing classic autos to fall by the wayside) Mitsuoka Motors are produced with state- of- the- art technology. Bringing the old fashioned automobile up to date, making it a viable option.

Lifestyle discovered Mitsuoka this year, when they began breaking headlines with the launch of their new range across the UK with T W White & Sons. The company have been in existence for 50 years and share the same ethos as Mitsuoka Motors, making them the obvious choice to couple with. The Mitsuoka Roadster is the name on everybody’s lips. The car that is making its European debut in the UK, representing the Mitsuoka family name, and causing breathes to be held. The company described the Mitsuoka Roadster as revolutionising ‘the world’s expectations of a true modern day classic sports car’. Featuring heated leather seats and a choice of gearbox which can be driven in ‘auto mode’ or using easy paddle shift controls, automatic climate control air conditioning and all standard safety/security measures that would be expected. This is to name but a few of the many bespoke options that the Mitsuoka Roadster offers.

45 skilled craftsmen that put together each car, breathing life into metal, but this year they will be holding their breath. Their creations finding their way into the show rooms of T W White & Sons, glowing in the windows of stores across Surrey, South London and Kent. There is Japanese influence in many vintage items, from patterned vases to the scent of perfume. It seems fitting that with the homecoming of vintage there should be that timeless Japanese influence. So run your fingers across that sleek exterior, recline into the embrace of those rich leather seats, but most importantly take up the wheel to not just a car but to a legacy in motoring heritage.