• The FD3S RX7 is considered a crucial piece of ‘90s JDM royalty amongst its palpable rivals: the MK4 Supra, NA1 NSX, and Z32 300ZX.
• The RX7 moniker, its remarkable handling, and the unique rotary powerplant have amassed a deserved cult following.
• Chris Johnston’s FD is a labor of love spanning 14 years of discovery, hardship, perseverance, and deserved recognition.
• This FD is highlighted by a decidedly TA-focused aesthetic that combines RE Amemiya styling with a modified R Magic widebody kit, and so much more.

Infatuation often proves essential to creating memorable art. RE Amemiya has proved this to be true; they’ve obsessively massaged Mazda’s rotary engine (and the cars around it) since its inception in 1974. With a Super GT Championship crown, competitive running in D1 Grand Prix drifting, and coveted Hot Version Touge titles over other notable Japanese tuners, their motorsport impact cannot be understated.

While other motorsport outfits’ influence may not travel far outside of the circuit grounds, RE Amemiya’s work continued to impress, transcending pop culture with Keisuke Takahashi’s hillclimb FD RX7 in Initial D. It’s no wonder that the famed tuner’s portfolio still attracts fans, like Chris Johnston’s FD3S you see here, long after the platform has been out of production.

His First Love

High school sweetheart stories seem few and far between nowadays, but Chris’s RX7 journey started during those ripe years. Believe it or not, the FD was actually Chris’s first car — it began its life as a Montego Blue/Tan automatic with cut springs that, to his own admission, broke down 15 minutes into his drive home. It wasn’t exactly the ideal way to start his build, but the FD was (and still is) his dream car, so this did little to deter him from achieving his ultimate goal.

Fourteen years later, the car assumes a more familiar form to all of us — gleaming in Mazda’s OEM Sunburst Yellow paint (from the RS-R 30th Anniversary and Bathurst R Editions), full RE Amemiya aero, and about a billion other parts that create a perfect circuit-inspired vision.

More Than a Car

Although Chris’s long-term tenure with the FD is already a sign of his unwavering commitment to the platform, a lot can happen in 14 years. The RX7 has, quite literally, transformed alongside Chris; they’ve grown up together through the best and worst of times. Scroll his Instagram and he’s not shy to share his struggles:

“It’s more than just a car though, it was my home for a while during my lowest point in life and now it is a constant reminder of how far I have come and what I am able to accomplish.”

And what an accomplishment it is. While it is common to hear that builds are “more than the sum of their parts”, this negates the human quality that propels any vision forward. Quite literally, sacrifice, humility, frustration, and patience have just as much to do with how Chris’s RX7 has matured. It’s another important reminder to everyone that these stories aren’t written overnight, as much as social media makes it seem.

True Wanderlust

This word has, unfortunately, devolved into a misnomer for people who like to go on vacation. In its truest form, wanderlust reflects an individual’s intense urge for self-development by experiencing the unknown, confronting unforeseen challenges, and rebelling against the common path. Chris’s RX7 story has been this and so much more; his goal to create the ultimate FD has supplanted compromise for resolute. Despite calling Virginia home, Chris’s FD has amassed components from some of the most vetted rotary hot spots worldwide. After losing an apex seal on his birthday in 2015, Eccentric Motorsports put together a refreshed 13B REW with a half bridge port to push top-end power output and a single Borg Warner EFR 8374 EWG turbo took over duties from the factory twin snails. The resulting numbers speak for themselves: 521whp/435 lb-ft on E85 and 424whp/377lb-ft on 93 pump gas. Sounds downright enthralling in a car that weighs a scant 2,300 pounds.

Chris’s lofty expectations certainly didn’t end with power. The aforementioned RE Amemiya treatment was complemented by a generous serving of other mods like the modified R Magic widebody kit and several other pieces from Seibon, Esprit, Project Mu, Volk Racing, and more. Where off-the-shelf components didn’t exist, Chris worked with companies like Klaus Composites — a VA-based engineering firm for automotive and aerospace — to create pieces from scratch.

After this six-year endeavor, the car was finally painted the rare factory hue you see here.

The World Stage

The effort was certainly worth it. Shortly after completion, Chris’s RX7 debuted at the SEMA Show in 2021. Despite being “96% introverted”, Johnston and his FD3S were the centers of attention at the Fortune Auto booth.

Unsurprisingly, Chris’s car caught our attention too; it easily became one of our favorites from the show. Although it may not have taken home an award that day, it left an impression worthy of something special: a well-deserved spot in our ongoing poster series. Captured by the talented Arlen Liverman, the opportunity allows a handful of lucky winners on social media to cherish this build as intended and it cements Chris’s car into a league of our staff’s discerning favorites, including Alex Alfaro’s Type R.

If you’re wondering where this build goes from here, Chris admits that it’s time to simply enjoy it. As much as he used games like Forza and Gran Turismo to help fine-tune his vision of how he wanted the car to look, 2023 seems like the right time to turn those virtual lap times into legit ones. He’s already upped his game (no pun intended) by creating a special RX7 mod in Assetto Corsa — one that closely mimics his own tuning — to get one step closer to the real thing. Thank you, Chris, for your commitment. Not just to excellence, but to long-term ownership. It’s there where a car and the human beings behind it truly become one.

Chris Johnston | FD3S RX7

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