If you went to a Hot Import Nights show in 2005, or saw a flyer, banner, or ad for one, there was a good chance you saw this car. Les Wong’s camouflage FD RX-7, built with Signal Auto and wearing Endless USA graphics, was about as close to a celebrity as an import got that year. It was photographed for more magazines than I can count. Josh Mackey shot it for PASMAG, and we ran his take on it as Endless Wonders back in December 2005. This is the other shoot—mine—which ran in the June 2005 issue of Modified Magazine.
I photographed the car in March 2005, just a few weeks after moving from Los Angeles to Irvine. The RX-7 happened to live close to my new place, but I didn’t know the area well enough yet to have a location in mind. We ended up on the top deck of the Irvine Spectrum parking garage, since, well, I’ve barely lived in the city for a month. It worked. The car’s paint did most of the heavy lifting anyway.
That paint is a big part of why the RX-7 ended up on so much Hot Import Nights material. M1 Autobody sprayed the camouflage scheme, which drew inspiration from Maharishi, Mazda, and A Bathing Ape, while Kent Chen at Endless USA handled the graphics and overall visual direction.
Underneath the pattern is a long list of bodywork that can be easy to miss because the camouflage tends to flatten everything together. An A’PEXi front bumper replaces the stock piece, while RE Amemiya side and rear skirts run along the lower body. Pettit Racing rear fender flares were molded into the quarters by M1 Autobody, and a Run Racing hood and fixed-headlight conversion replaced the factory pop-ups. A VeilSide GT3 wing, Signal carbon fiber canards, Feed carbon fiber door handles, and RAZO aluminum wiper blades finish the exterior. The wheels are three-piece Work Termist S1-Cs, measuring 18×8 inches up front with 225/40R18 Michelin Pilot Sport tires and 18×11.5 inches at the rear with massive 335/35R18s.
Signal Auto Japan handled the 13B, and the setup was kept relatively conservative. The turbo system uses an A’PEXi Isamu RX6 ball-bearing turbo with the matching wastegate, GT bleed tank, exhaust manifold, and 3.5-inch piping. A Signal Auto drift-spec V-mount intercooler sits in the engine bay, fed by a custom ram-air intake routed through the headlight opening.
Fuel comes from RC Engineering injectors, with 800cc primaries and 1,300cc secondaries, along with a SARD fuel pressure regulator and Skyline fuel pump. Exhaust exits through an SR Motorsport downpipe and midpipe into a Tanabe Ultra Medalion titanium system.
An HKS Twin Power ignition, Nology hot wires, NGK spark plugs, and Sun Auto Hyper Ground System round out the supporting hardware, while a Feed carbon fiber intake manifold cover dresses up the engine bay. Signal retained an HKS F-Con Pro piggyback with an A’PEXi AVC-R boost controller rather than switching to standalone management. The result was 348 whp at 11 psi and 306 lb-ft of torque. An ACT Xtreme pressure plate and street disc replaced the factory clutch.
The chassis uses Zeal Function B6 coilovers, Tanabe Sustec sway bars front and rear, an AutoExe full under brace, a Carbing three-point front strut tower bar, and the factory R1 rear strut bar. Braking is handled by Endless up front with a four-piston Classic kit, 24-slot 294×22 mm rotors, street compound pads, and Swivel-Steel brake lines. At the rear are 2002 Spirit R RX-7 brakes with Zeal straight-six slotted rotors and Endless Vita Nuova pads.
Inside are Zeal FRP bucket seats with Takata four-point harnesses, an RE Amemiya steering wheel on a Signal Auto quick release, and RAZO pedals and a shift knob. Instrumentation includes an A’PEXi EL boost gauge, Rev Speed meter, and 120 mm tach, along with a Blitz dual turbo timer. The audio system is pure 2005. A Kenwood DVD head unit with a 6.5-inch touchscreen sits up front, joined by a Sony PlayStation 2 and Pioneer W6000 monitor. Kicker component speakers and amplifiers handle the mids and highs, while four 8-inch Sony Xplod subwoofers sit in the rear with an RX-7-etched glass amp enclosure.
Two photographers from the same site ended up shooting the same car for two different magazines in the same year, which proves how much demand there was for it. Josh’s version has been back on Tunerzine for a while now. Mine is here, now, so the two can sit together.
GalleryPhotos by Jason Siu
