Tom Matano, Bob Hall, Mark Jordan and Norman Garrett were all on hand at the event to reflect on how they came about creating what was a radical car at the time: a back-to-basics roadster that aimed to be sexy, fun to drive and affordable — and one made in Japan, not Britain. While the men are now doing other work (Matano is an executive director at San Francisco's Academy of Art Institute and Hall works for Proton in Malaysia, for example), they all returned to Irvine for this special occasion. More than a dozen Miata clubs and owners from all over the U.S. showed up for the event, the first of what could be an annual gathering, said Kim Neal, who works in marketing at Mazda and helped organize the event. Pretty impressive, considering the whole thing came about via word of mouth among Miata enthusiasts. About 300 cars were on display in all at the event, which also featured a panel discussion with the designers, tours of the design center and vendor displays.