During my most recent trip to Tokyo, the NDF Japan team and I had plans to arrange an invite only meeting. The guys spent days curating the cars and arranging location, but unfortunately a forecast of heavy rain pressured us to cancel the meet over the weekend. Since I had a clear schedule, I didn’t want to waste the day, so I messaged my friend Seiya, who was at Glow earlier in the day getting a new V-Mount installed on his FD. He had plans to join the meet later, but since it wasn’t happening anymore, I made the quick trip over to Glow to shoot his car.
This was the first time getting to meet the 26 year old Seiya in person, as well as getting the opportunity to see his Honda inspired RX7 up close. Whenever I get the chance to meet someone I talk to often online is always nice, and the transition to conversation is usually pretty smooth. I suppose that is one of the benefits of getting to live in a globally connected world. When I had arrived at CSG, the boys were already finished with the install and had been waiting for my arrival inside the shop. The rainfall was too bad, but it had been consistent throughout the day with no signs of stopping. I really dislike photographing cars inside shops, especially shops like GLOW, so we bit the bullet and headed down the street to photograph the car outside. Seeing this FD in person was a real change from online photos; the pictures just don’t do the color justice. Seiya put a lot of effort into the overall theme of the build and right away you get the sense that this car is very well thought out.
Seiya’s FD was built as an homage to the old X-Point Import S2000 demo car that Masa built some time ago at the Chiba based tuning shop. The body color, wheels and engine bay were all conceived and executed out of X-Point. Seiya likes to describe the build as ‘Mazda like Honda’, and enjoys the immaculate, but subtle look, akin to a USDM build. It is a very original concept that was implemented with well enough to appease any perfectionist. It’s no surprise that Seiya walks away with best of show trophies at almost every event he attends. He has been building the car for the past 3 years, and since finishing it earlier this year, he has been enjoying taking it to as many shows as his schedule allows.
I’m glad I was able to get a close look at it and hope to see him again soon when the weather is a bit better – enjoy the gallery! Full mod list at end of page.
