Sevensday Houston 2019
Once again, the celebration of all motors triangular came to the Houston car scene - Sevensday. For those of you that aren't aware, July 7th (7/7) has become a yearly celebration of Mazda's RX-7 in three locations in America - NYC, SoCal, and here in Houston. Here at home in Texas there is a huge rotary following and Final Form, a rotary-specializing parts importer and distrubutor.
The event was created with the focus of celebrating Mazda’s rotary engine, made most famous by the 90’s Mazda halo car, the RX-7. As a result, 7’s day is more than a show specifically for the RX-7; it is a general appreciation for the rotary and the Mazda RX platforms they were built for as a whole. There is a devoted community globally that is centered around a love for the unique powerplant and the cars it was featured in.
Even the oft-overlooked RX-8 platform gets love at 7’s day, which is a joyous occasion for me, as a longtime enthusiast of the model. Stock, widebody, even swapped is welcome as long as it once held a rotary within the engine compartment, as this drag-prepped 2JZGTE example demonstrated.
There was plenty of love for the genesis of the RX-7 line, as these perfect FB examples showed. Debuting in 1978 with the 1.2L 12A twin-rotor engine, both of these examples appeared to be bone stock, slightly later model life examples from Series II and III respectively.
The FC RX-7 marked the introduction of the higher-power turbocharged 13B motor, and that was really when the tuning potential of the rotary became apparent. The white car on TE37s is owned by one of the founders of Final Form, and was prominently displayed next to their tent.
This specific FC caught my eye with its brightly colored street-art vibe, which looked much more polished than any other graffiti car I’d seen done before. Since the meet was held at an art museum specializing in street art, it looked perfectly at home!
Finally, of course, and most well-represented at the show, was the ultimate road-going Mazda halo car - the RX-7 FD. Houston has a shocking number of FDs, all in various states of modification, but with the sheer variety at Sevensday, there is always bound to be an example to appeal to everyone.
From extremely early 00’s style lovingly recreated in the modern day, to OEM-plus minor tweaks to an already gorgeous car, and modern-day widebody kits and aero, it was overwhelming to see how many different takes on the same beloved platform there could possibly be. The show illustrated so well what I love about car culture. Give three different people the same car to tune, and you’ll barely be able to tell they started with the same base to begin with by the time they’re all done.
And of course, what would a celebration of the rotary motor be without showing off the most intriguing and compact Japanese sports car engine to come out of the 90s?
Sevensday was an absolute joy to attend once again, and the sheer variety of Houston’s car scene never fails to disappoint. I look forward to 7/7/2020, and I hope next time I’ll be rolling up in my own rotary-powered machine.