From YourSITE.com

Events Coverage
SevenStock 7
By By: Oliver Dueck
Sep 15, 2004, 08:13

If you are a rotary enthusiast, then SevenStock 7 was the place to be this past weekend. The event was again held in Irvine, California, at Mazda’s North American R&D headquarters. Not surprisingly, the turnout was once again bigger than in previous years. In fact, it may have been too good; the sheer size of the event means that space is at a premium and this may have been the last SevenStock. That would be a shame and we hope that the organizers can find a more suitable venue for next year’s show.

The event kicked off Saturday morning. The gates opened at 9:00, and it was already blisteringly hot and humid. Nonetheless, that didn’t prevent more than 600 cars and over 5000 people from showing up.



The diversity of both cars and people was impressive. People traveled from all over the United States and Canada, as well as from Europe. There were even 17 people who flew in from Japan just to go to SevenStock, showing just how enthusiastic the rotary community is.

As expected, there were plenty of RX-7s of all three generations, ranging from mint-condition stock vehicles to highly modified track cars. The success of the new RX-8 was evident, as several dozen showed up. And we can’t forget the old-school crowd either, with their REPUs, RX-2s, RX-3s, and RX-4s.

There were several vehicles present that were not originally fitted with rotary engines, from both Mazda and other manufacturers. These included a couple B-series pickups, a beautiful widebody Miata, an AE86 Corolla, a Volkswagen Beetle, and several Datsun 510s.



But the highlight of the show was definitely the display in the courtyard, where the motorsports theme of the event was emphasized with the display of many of the significant Mazda race cars from past years.

These included the two Lola T616 cars that placed first and third at Le Mans in 1984 and the 787B that won Le Mans in 1991. Also on display was an example of the original Mazda Cosmo coupe, the first rotary powered Mazda; an imported Mazda Cosmo powered by a 20B three rotor engine; and the 360, Mazda’s first passenger car (albeit not rotary powered).



By all accounts, the show as an incredible success and would be appreciated by any automotive enthusiast – and especially by Mazda enthusiasts. It would definitely be sad to see this event go away, and we sincerely hope the organizers are able to find some more space. If that happens, we will definitely be attending again.

To see some of the cars that appeared at the show, please check out our gallery. Credit goes to Stephen Miller for the majority of the photography.



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