The Original Miata was a copy of a European sports car, the Lotus Elan (like Emma Peel drove in the original ‘Avengers’ TV series). Colin Chapman’s nimbleness combined with Japanese reliability.
The Miata and the Honda S2000 are the two most trouble-free pure sports cars ever built. The current MX-5’s 4-pot is more powerful than either of the straight-6s in the early Vettes, and 2026 safety equipment and all it weighs more than 400 lbs less than the ‘53 Vette.
That said, on 27 June 1874, at the 2nd Battle of Adobe Wells, Billy Dixon did in fact shoot a Comanche warrior off his horse at a distance of a bit more than 1500 yards using a .50 Sharps, which he borrowed because he didn’t think his .44 Sharps had the range. In the movie, that was a large-ish bucket, not much smaller than a man’s (armless) torso.
To the poor Indian’s misfortune, he had silhouetted himself on a prominent point where the sharpshooters among the cowboys used to place the targets they would shoot at for bragging rights, so Dixon knew the range of the shot to a certainty. Even Dixon admitted there was a lot of luck in the shot. Still, it took amazing keenness of eye and steadiness of hold, and it’s as remarkable a shot I ever heard tell of with iron sights.