Those crazy people at Mitsuoka are at it again. This time they've turned their attention on making their traditional 1930s styled roadster, the Himiko HT (Hard Top) to something even more traditional. They did this by junking the hardtop for a more traditional cloth soft top and calling it the Himiko Classic Edition.

We know that the original MX5 was designed to replicate the excitement you get from a traditional British soft top like the Lotus Elan or a MGB Roadster but with Japanese reliability and engineering. So Mitsuoka has decided, unsurprisingly, to use this car as its base model for the new Mitsuoka Himiko HT in 2008. They've turned it into a 1930s or a Morgan Plus 8 style of sports car, which is the only production car at the moment that is still stuck in a time warp.

The only thing which is familiar externally is the windscreen and A-pillars as well as the roof. The cabin looks like it has the whole MX5 dashboard with a lot of wood tacked here and there. The original Himiko HT comes with a hard top but Mitsuoka has decided to produce a limited run version that is truer to cars from the 1930s; the Himiko Classic Edition with a soft folding top. Of course, no one told them that cars in the 1930s have wire spoke wheels instead of 5 spoke chunky looking alloys.

The car is powered by the MX5's 2.0liter engine making 170bhp in manual and 160bhp in automatic. The Himiko is around 4.76meters, a good way longer than the 4.0 meter long MX5. The extra length goes into making the long bonnet line and sloping bootlid.

At least it isn't as obscene, ugly or vulgar as a Le-Seyde or even an Orochi. If I drove an Orochi, I'd put a brown paper bag over my head. With the Himiko, I wouldn't mind driving one up and down Orchard Road.