Daily Slideshow: Into the Night with One of Japan's Underground Car Meets
Custom builds come out as Seven's Day moves into the night at Japan's Umihotaru PA.
1. Decoding the Sevens
On July 7th of each year a man-made island in Tokyo Bay, Japan transforms into one of the best underground car meets on the planet. Umihotaru PA (Parking Area), surrounded by water and encircled with elevated motorways, seems like a different planet, particularly at night. The feeling is further amplified by patches of green-painted tarmac and the tinted glow of parking structure light sources. July 7th, the seventh day of the seventh month, is the time of year that you guessed it "7's Day" takes place in Japan, starting in the late afternoon at Daikoku Parking Area, and migrating up the coast later in the evening to Umihotaru PA in Tokyo Bay. Technically it's a gathering for the Wankel engine faithful, adding another 7 in the form of RX-7s, but as happens with car shows, occasionally the spectators' vehicles rival those of the officially approved attendees.
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2. Common Ground
Like the S2000, Mazda rotaries might be a thing of the past, never to be revived—despite Mazda's rotary tease at the Tokyo Motor Show a few years ago. So checking out other rad Japanese performance machines not only supports the community as a whole, it helps show support for recently-departed vehicles, keeping them alive not just in the lives of their fans, but also in the eyes of watchful manufacturers. With that summer-of-love sentiment out of the way let's check out some cool cars, shall we? First up is this red FD (3rd gen) which looks for all the world like it's had a Ferrari 550 Maranello nose grafted onto it—must be the Rosso Corso (a.k.a, Resale Red) paint.
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3. Mc7
Speaking of exotic-car nose jobs, this RX-7 had McLaren F1 surgery, though the interior still sports only two seats rather than the F1's three. Thanks to Veilside's Fortune body kit you can now have the best of both worlds with this widebody racer.
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4. Middle Child
For obvious reasons (looks, speed, etc.) the FDs seem to get all the love, but the great thing about an event like 7's Day is that the whole family is welcome, as evidenced by the wealth of FC models that were available to feast one's eyes, and ears, on.
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5. More FC
It's worth attending both show locations because, although there is some overlap, there are also numerous cars that only make it to one of the spots. That was the case with this FC, displaying the always classic combo of a red car on bronze wheels—RAYS Volk Racing TE37V wheels in this case.
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6. Memory Lane
Parked in a less prominent spot, the car you see here was the original GReddy II turbo timer demo car from the "bubble era"—note the Porsche 928-style headlight conversion and the oh-so-hard-to-clean period-correct OZ alloys.
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7. Stuttgart 7
The GReddy car wasn't the only Porsche-inspired Mazda on hand, as this RE Amemiya FD3S complete car featuring a 997 Bi-Xenon headlight conversion attests. Amemiya is known for finding inspiration in Porsches when designing his body kits, the white car to the left had his headlight conversion done as well.
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8. Matte 7
This matte gray and gloss black FD3S is coming to you courtesy of a Pandem kit and is one of the many, many automobiles in Japan to wear fender flares designed by Kei Miura.
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9. Open Door
Come for the rotaries, stay for the camaraderie and the occasional NSX... or some funky Japanese concoction like the Salty Lychee juice available at nearby convenience stores. Any car party is a good party. Let's make 2018's 7's Day even better by increasing the S2000 headcount. In a world of driverless and electric cars, no-longer-in-production gems and the people who keep them alive need to stick together.
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