I'm a bit of a long term lurker on these forums and watching the various builds with interest, I've owned a couple of MX-5s (one heavily modified turbo charged MK1 and a lightly modified MK2.5).
Back when Simpson Design and Retroforza were the limited options for a retro modded MX-5 (along with various JDM wonders such as Pit Crew and the like) I suggested to Jim Simpson a more 70s / 80s style kit and did the shop below:
Jim is firmly in the 60s styling camp and wasn't keen, Chris might consider it though.
Should be a fairly simple kit (nose, wings, bonnet, rear wings, boot and rear bumper) and you get to keep the pop-up head lights.