PROJECTS IN WAITING

Not all sheds on the property are devoted to cars — one is known as the ‘farm shed’ and is filled with all the machinery required to maintain the property, but what caught our eye in there was a pair of RX7s tucked away in the back corner, under a cover and looking for love. The first was Rod’s 1988–1989 Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) North American Rally Championship–winning FC RX-7. Tube framed and powered by a 13B turbo, it was one of many 4WD RX-7s built by Millen’s team.

Sitting next to it is a Mazda that, on paper, does not exist. It’s the result of a secret project that never actually happened, a Group B prototype 13B 4WD RX-7 built by Mazda and sent to Rod for testing, as his team was already running a very-well-sorted 4WD RX-7 package. The major difference between this RX-7 and Rod’s bespoke builds was that the front diff sits under the engine, which thus sits higher and more forward, causing handling-balance issues. The 13B was also injected, with a similar system as that found on the Series 3 RX-7 and HB Cosmo. With the project abandoned by Mazda, this is the only one in existence that we are aware of. Both of the cars will be rebuilt to their former glory sometime in the future.