Rod Millen's AWD RX7

This is Rod Millen’s AWD RX7. A 770kg, 550bhp tubular frame chassis 1988 RX7 FC. Wow.

FC? Rally? 4wd?

Unless we are talking about the FB, most of us won’t hear RX7 and think “rally”. Most of us will likely have a modified rwd rotary street car in mind. Evidently, that’s not what Rod Millen had in mind. His idea of an FC seems to be an AWD Group B competitor. I guess it’s really all about perspective.

Engine

Rod Millen originally ran a turbochared 13B rotary. This produced 550bhp. The car was not amazing by group B standards, but showed very promising performance. So they developed it further. How you may ask? By dropping in a turbo 20B, of course.

Second Engine

Mazda and Millen came back with a single turbo 20B from a Mazda Eunos Cosmo. I could not find how much power this made. But I did read that it ran a Garrett turbo, and then later a GReddy turbo. Which is pretty cool.

What happened to it?

Unfortunately the car eventually made it’s way outside of Amemiya’s shop. And sat there. For years. When it was sighted, it was in bad condition. It was dirty, a bit rusted, and was on a space saver. Things weren’t looking to good for it.

But then...

Someone by the name of Glenn Munro bought it after he saw the pictures of the retired RX7 in 2005. Unfortunately, he died in 2010. However, his son, Grant Munro decided to take the project into his own hands. You can read about that in this article.

The article however ends with an unfinished car, and does not appear to have a follow up. To add to that, this article was from 2012. I did however, find this image on Grant’s Instagram.

Finished?

👌

If anyone has any suggestions for the next article, as always, please do tell.