"I never really wanted an RX-7 in the first place," confesses Dan Beighley, on the days before taking ownership of the black-on-black crime machine in front of you. An East Coast transplant, Dan spent the mid nineties cutting his teeth in San Diego, CA's, growing import scene from behind the wheel of his modded 200SX, rolling with a crew that boasted some of California's first SR-swapped rides. Enlistment in the Marine Corps brought him out here four years prior, and after mastering the trade of heavy equipment mechanics and attaining the rank of Sergeant, he was looking forward to applying his skills to the private sector. His last day of service was September 10th, 2001-needless to say, civilian life was short-lived. "I re-enlisted the next morning," Dan explains, "and Okinawa's tropical beaches weren't where I was looking to go." Fate, it seems, would just as soon grab us by the balls and shove us down our path, than ask our feelings on the matter.
When Dan arrived at his new post a few months later and learned of the responsibilities of his new role-and of Okinawa's well-established automotive culture, ripe with reasonably priced used rides, plentiful aftermarket support and low-pressure law enforcement-his affinity for island life grew. His re-location would be for an "undetermined" amount of time, so his first order of business was to find a ride, preferably something Nissan-badged. "I really wanted a Pulsar GTiR," explains Dan, "but they were all in pretty shitty shape. GT-Rs were everywhere, but were out of my price range. Then one day I found this FD at a seedy little used car lot in the middle of nowhere, for $5,500." It was one of the first FDs ever produced, manufactured in October of '91 on a converted FC assembly line, as part of a batch sold in Japanese dealerships under the "Efini" marquee-Mazda's short-lived sport-oriented brand exclusive to the JDM. The car had previously been modded with the addition of a Veliside Type-I aero kit and wing, and some ultra-rare RS-R wheels commissioned by Mazda as optional equipment for the FD. The car had been taken care of, but like any first-year model, it came with its share of problems. "The vacuum lines and cooling system were shit," explains Dan, "so the salesman let me have it for $4,500." Good thing, too, because it overheated on his way home from the dealership, teaching Dan his first lesson in owning an RX-7: they need lots of attention. After spending a month replacing every vacuum line and coolant hose in the engine bay-a process Dan "wouldn't wish upon (his) worst enemy", he learned his second lesson when the FD overheated, again, on its first testdrive: leave no stone unturned; a faulty radiator cap-the only part not replaced-was to blame.
After the addition of some bolt-ons, a manual boost controller and Dan's handiwork in re-configuring the FD's sequential turbos to deliver boost simultaneously, his next step was to replace the dated Veliside kit with something a little more contemporary. Taking a page out of the Okinawa street racer's handbook, he replaced it with a full Wise Sports Type A kit kept in its natural fiberglass finish-no body filler to crack or chip under the daily rigors of aggressive daily driving. The corny battle wing was discharged, and Dan replaced the stock flip-ups with a custom flush-mount headlight kit of his own making-one of the nicer-looking ones we've seen, at that. The car's rear fenders were rolled to match the widened stance of the Wise fenders up front, and the already black FD was re-coated in genuine Mazda Brilliant Black paint, for an even darker demeanor.
By Luke Munnell
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