EVENTS: 2011 SevenStock

SevenStock is SoCal’s annual gathering of all things rotary, a celebration of an engine so competitive it was banned from SCCA, IMSA and Le Mans. This year, the Mazdafarian Mecca was the Pomona fairgrounds, home of the NHRA Museum. That seems only fitting, as the Wankel is also a stupendously capable quarter-mile killer.

In fact, they are so good at it that it’s pretty rare in the States to see an old school rotary with any sort of JDM flair. But this first-gen Mazda RX-7 was oozing JDM cool with bolt-on fender flares, low-down stance and stepped-lip meshies.  

See the difference a set of ZG flares make. One is brutish, the other svelte. Of course, the smooth-sided SA22 is no less droolworthy.

Some of us are partial to the earlier pre-urethane cars, just because Mazda went through the trouble of painting all the bumpers whatever color the body was. Classy!

SevenStock boasted what must be America’s highest concentration of Mazda RX-2s, perhaps even all of them.

We’ve seen this RX-2 at several shows, but its beautiful brownness keeps us coming back. No one would have the balls to paint a car this color today and slather it with enough vinyl roofing to pitch a tent, but that’s what makes this car so 70s cool.

The majority of nostalgic Mazdas are set up for the drags, with a giant silver radiator peeking out from behind the grille and staggered skinny/fat wheels. The interesting thing about this one is that the “littles” up front are Epsilon meshies!

This silver sleeper was extremely clean, hustling challengers with stock, beauty-ringed steelies.

A Mazda 616 managed to sneak in despite the fact that it has a 1.6 liter piston engine. It’s plain as can be in appliance white, but that’s what makes it a rare beauty and we hope it stays that way. It may be the finest example left in the country.

For a moment we thought we had stumbled into the wrong hemisphere when we saw this Aussie R100, complete with Simmons wheels.

These are the same RX-2 sedan and RX-4 pair we saw at JCCS, two of SoCal’s finest rotaries. It makes us want to launch an Indiana Jones style rescue mission to find this long-forgotten Luce.

Despite their popularity when new, the Mazda RX-3 is in alarmingly short supply these days. Even at SevenStock, there were but a handful. Where have they all gone? These were giant killers in their day, but seem to have fallen to the unyielding march of time.

 

At least there’s one 1977 RX-3 SPs around. These are certainly collector-worthy for American hoarders, especially since the SP trim package wasn’t offered in Japan. This one sports the rare ivory white color, and sits on custom chromed Enkei 92s. It’s lost the SP louvers for the rear windows, but that’s probably a good thing.

There’s something to be said for simplicity. This RX-3 looks like something one might have seen tearing around Watkins Glen plastered with SCCA stickers back in the 70s.

Same era but half a world away, this RX-3 looks like something that would have been devouring Skyline GT-Rs on Fuji Speedway. The owner of this car has clearly studied Japanese racing history well.

Cue the miniskirts and go-go dancers, the Mazda 110S is here! Its timeless style and sky’s-the-limit optimism about the rotary engine’s potential puts it among Japan’s best of the best in late-Sixties GTs.

How cool is it to have a car that says “Rotary Wagon” on the back? The badge on the hatch of this RX-3 Wagon is pure elegance. Mazda designers sure knew their typefaces.

Too bad that by the mid 70s our safety bumpers would muck up the car itself. We’re not sure why light yellow seems to be the color of choice for RX-4 Wagons. There have been only two shown at SevenStock throughout the years, and both of them are yellow. Add the Coupe shown above and that’s a 100% yellowness factor for American-spec Luces.

First-gen RX-7s would be prime candidates for collectibility if there weren’t so many of them built. They’re sporty, have the racing provenance up the wazoo and are equipped with a wholly unique engine architecture. Plus, the late Seventies was a veritable Dark Ages for sports cars and this thing came out of nowhere to revive the genre.

Still, it’s good to see some bone stockers. Give them a few years and they’ll be as coveted as early 240Zs.

Aside from the Cosmo, you won’t see any Mazdas this original at SevenStock.

Mazda was so convinced that rotaries were going to take over the world they put them in everything, including pickups. The Mazda REPU has got to be one of the coolest trucks ever built.

Amazingly, there are still stock ones out there, and judging from the mirrors this one was even called into trailer duty.

It’s refreshing to see so many of these trucks gathered at SevenStock. They were only sold in North America, so these are likely to be the most rust-free crop of REPUs left in the world.

Since the idea of a Wankel pickup never made it past one generation, Racing Beat built their own out of a B-series. How 80s is that paint job?

It’s hard to believe, but the FC RX-7 has already crossed the magical 25-year threshold to become a bona-fide classic. It was nice to see this beautiful blue specimen untainted by a crazy body kit.

Of course, there is something to be said for crazy body kits done right. This one looks like it would be right at home on the Wangan with a death-defying hashiriya behind the wheel.

Mazda displayed one of its Le Mans 787 race cars, though sadly not the 787B championship car, whose Renown warpaint we immortalized in T-shirt form. Still, this was one of three quad-rotor cars that pounded Sarthe circuit into submission, and in actuality blue and white fits the Mazda corporate colors much better.

But that didn’t stop us from hawking the ol’ orange and green! The 787B 20th Anniversary shirts were a big hit, and we sold out of several sizes. But we have since made more and they are ready for purchase in the JNC Shop.

Yes, we know FD RX-7s are not quite nostalgic yet, but this one was too gorgeous not to share. The FD is one of the most beautiful cars ever to come out of Japan but sadly, all too often they’re afflicted with garish body kits and too-big spoilers.

In fact, we at JNC prefer the FD with little to no spoiler at all. Even the stock one is a bit much. Yee hit it on the nose when he called it a Klingon battle axe. In any case, Gawd, can a car be any sexier? We eagerly await the day when these become nostalgic. Let’s hope there will be unmolested examples left. But for now, more pics await your perusal in the gallery below.

Photos by Dan Hsu

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27 Responses to EVENTS: 2011 SevenStock

  1. Yee says:

    The correct term for the Klingon weapon is “Bat’leth”, and yes, I’m a Star Trek geek. I do not think the FD is one of the most beautiful cars to come out of Japan, but IS one of the most beautiful cars ever built on this PLANET and other planets as well.

    What impressed me most at SevenStock 14 was the enthusiasts. I saw true passion for the rotary in the show. Atkins Rotary even gave tutorials on rebuilding the rotary engine in front of dozens of onlookers. The Rotary crowd are bona-fide performance gearheads.

    • Ben says:

      It’s decided. An FD now officially occupies a spot on my Lottery List. Normally I despise both dark green and silver, but even those colors could not stifle my lust for this car.

      • Dan says:

        You may or may not know, but the “dark green” is actually Montego Blue. When the light hits it right it is one of my favorite blue colors on any car. I know they aren’t quite considered Nostalgic, but it was nice to see the FD get some photo time. Can’t wait to finish rebuilding mine and get it back on the road.

        • Yee says:

          I do love the Montego Blue, and in most lighting situations, it hugs the soft curves of the FD really well. These cars are keepers, never sell it.

  2. E-AT_me says:

    i want an rx7 now. any year. doesn’t matter. all of them are gorgeous. i have a miata.. but it just cannot compete with the style, class, and sexiness of the 7..

  3. Kelly Greenidge says:

    Yes, finally you guys got the Sevenstock pictures up. I’m in the Army stationed at Fort Carson Colorado and was not able to make it out this year.
    Thank you for the coverage.

  4. TE72_sunny says:

    Nice coverage and beautiful cars, but Redondo Beach Police FC RX-7… seriously guys? Why waste MBs on your camera for that? SMH

  5. Dutch 1960 says:

    The blue RX3 is actually a 1977 RX3SP without the body kit and is for sale. The owner is a nice guy but he is not selling cheap.

    The rotary was not banned in either IMSA or SCCA. In fact rotary Mazdas did and do make up large portions of the entry grids in both venues. What the sanctioning bodies do and have always done is carefully specify what is a legal engine, so that others can compete against the rotary. Now that Mazda has stopped selling 12A engine parts, a lot of these SCCA race cars are in jeopardy, as are street Mazdas. It will be a 12B rotary world soon.

    • Ben says:

      The rotary wasn’t banned outright from IMSA and SCCA, but it was given so much weight penalty and classed with larger engines that it might as well have. It took a while for organizers to find the right balance but they cost Mazda a championship or two that they would have otherwise won.

      • j_c says:

        And it wasn’t banned from Le Mans from being too competitive, in 1992 ANYTHING that wasn’t a 3.5 V10 was banned. Jaguar & Ferrari V12s, Porsche & Nissan Turbos, were out.

        Mazda really were the underdogs in that race, Merc and Jag could’ve easily won it, but the Merc had a mechanical failure and the Jags had to pull back or they would’ve run out of fuel due to the consumption rules at the time.

  6. Dutch 1960 says:

    Oops I meant 13B world. iPhones impossible to review and edit.

  7. dave says:

    Excellent coverage! I LOVE 7stock; it’s the mother of single-marque Japanese car shows. Nice people, awesome cars, lots of goodies, what a day of fun. I was a bit disappointed that it didn’t happen at Mazda’s facility this year, but the Fairplex is pretty good, too. So much fun times… IMHO, those clean RX-2s and RX-3s are as alluring as Alfa Giulia coupes of the late ’60s. As for the 1st gen RX-7s, I keep going back and forth between the early and late types. Right now, an early type in yellow is my dream car. And that blue FC is CLEAN! Love the JDM “GT-X” decal. I love Mazdas…

  8. dave says:

    Oh and the FD is nostalgic enough for me. First of all, I was lucky enough to own an utterly sweet example during one of the funnest periods of my life. It’s also one of the most signature cars from one of the craziest, most wonderfully prolific and ambitious periods of the Japanese car industry, during which also saw the return of the Skyline GT-R, twin turbos and 4WS up the wazoo, and all sorts of other goodness. I sure feel nostalgic for them. And I totally agree, the FD looks best spoiler-less.

    • E-AT_me says:

      everyone does realize that the silver FD has a “lip” spoiler on the back, right? so it’s not TRULY “spoilerless”.. 😀

  9. Lincoln Stax says:

    I was just thinking over the weekend about how much less interesting the automotive world is without a rotary-engined car in it.

  10. Tyler says:

    How about a color shirt with black and white ink to make the JDM looking RX3?

    I’d like a green one plz. (I’d design it too if you like)

  11. Nigel says:

    Lots of nice cars.
    I’ll take the gold RX-3 with the over fenders.
    A Toyota shirt sounds cool.

  12. Berny H. says:

    Thanks for coming out and sharing the day with us guys! I want to let all know that JNC are big supporters of the SS event and shared in helping us get the show done this year! Excellent pics and write-up guys!

  13. Freddy! says:

    Great coverage..anyone have any idea what kind of fender flares the first FB is sporting?? Where can I buy them for my ra64 celica??

    • Yee says:

      Hi Freddy, several 1st gen RX7 folks have been purchasing ZG flares from Motorsport Auto. These flares are originally for S30, but I’ve been told by Abe in MSA that they have been adapted to fit. As for your Celica, I am not sure.

  14. Ryan says:

    I might go out and get an RX7 now.
    watch this space……

  15. rx7_antonio says:

    THANK YOU JNC!!!! Always lovely to see my company of choice being repped, I hope to one day have a SA of my own you can include in your JCCS or Sevenstock covers. :]

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