Is it really? If so, that's no surprise. They're very affordable and fun to drive, but let's face it, you're not going to be hauling groceries with it let alone lumber. :)
It's a practical fun car though. It's good on gas, is fun to drive even though it doesn't have a lot of power, they're cheap to buy and maintain, and they're as reliable as all get out. I absolutley love the NA Mata in particular, if only because they're reminiscent of the Austin Healey Sprite mk I which looks so much like a frog it's awesome.
Sometimes I think people buy and maintain classic British cars just so they can complain about how hard they are to maintain. As for Japanese roadsters, I've always wanted to drive a Honda s600 for an afternoon.
That is a cute little thing. Never even heard of it, though. Datsun 2000s? I had two in my client list. Classic british cars aren't "hard" to maintain, they're f'n annoying to maintain. The British did preposterously stupid things - like decide the XK120 ought to be effectively oil-cooled so that they could keep the grille small. Like decide a 3-position switch ought to have 11 moving pieces. Then you get into the Labor era when the factory workers were literally sabotaging their own shit and you see why the sun set right fast on the British Empire.
My wife is a huge fan of classic Japanese cars. She just loves their styling. I think if you threw anything from a 240z to an Rx-3 to a Skyline her way she'd be happy. In fact, I think if we win the lottery half of our garage will be full of nothing but classic imports.