Party Seven

Back in the olden days, a Watneys Party Seven was a seven-pint tin of draught bitter, designed to liven up your neighbourhood gatherings. And today, this RX-7 is basically its modern equivalent – brash, fat, boisterous, slightly dangerous, and brimming with potential for mischief…

- Dan Bevis

Cake. Balloons. Streamers. An underlying political tension culminating in an ironic nod toward evolving views on gender equality. We put a lot of thought into how to construct the cover shoot for Fast Car’s 30th birthday issue. But the most important element, above all else, is the car.

Just how in the hell do you choose one car to represent all that’s great about the modern modding scene, while also harking back across the last three decades? The answer was to get scientific. Jules donned his ketchup smeared lab coat. Midge drew up a spreadsheet (which was rubbish, to be honest – he got bored and filled all the cells with pictures of wheels). And the rest of us set about trying to distil the logical essence of what makes a car great today, and what has done over the previous 30 years…

And we reckon we’ve nailed it: an FD RX-7. Just like everyone wanted in the early 2000s. A pair of shouty turbos, like players rocked in the ’80s, pearlescent paint, which is oh-so-’90s, and the screamingly 2010s combo of air-ride and ostentatious widearch bolt-ons. The complete package, right? Thirty years of Fast Car wrapped up in one tight little bundle.

It’s certainly ticking a few boxes for Jordan Warren, as he flexes his right ankle and blips his snorting Wankel for the gawping onlookers. “I’ve been modifying cars for the past decade or so,” he grins as Midge haemorrhages superlatives at the Mazda’s unrivalled magnificence.

“There was another RX-7 before this one,” says Jordan. “Along with an EP3 Civic Type R, an R32 Skyline GT-R, an S15 Silvia…” It’s safe to say he’s into his Japanese tin then? “Well, yes and no,” he says. “I went deep into the VAG scene with my B7 Audi RS4. I kept that for a couple of years and had some fun with it – full Air Lift setup, Rotiform DUS splits, the works.”