The FD Rx7 is now almost 20 years old and there has been numerous changes to the basic showroom supplied models over those years. There have also been more than a few special versions that have sat beside the stockers on the showroom floor. Whether you have an FD3s already and want to know a bit more about it's origins or you are looking to buy one. I hope this reference can give you a bit more info than your tanulated model listing. Check through the old archives and your trace the FD history from the first FD3s Efini version in1991 to the final Spirit R in 2002.There has been six relatively distinct changes that result in version differentiation. Some more minor than others and within those versions the range of models varied quite dramatically in Japan. While overseas models were void of the automatic transmission and usually laiden with leather and optional extras, You could buy a cheap stripped out version or a more expensive luxury spec version in the Japanese Domestic Market, which may have included mechanical, visual or optional enhancements. All just a customised tick away on the option sheet. So determining the Version of FD can become difficult at times when the Version and Type separations can be overridden by the options listing. Whether a Type R is a Type S with extras or a Touring X has the features of an Rz is all posible somewhere during the FD life cycle. But I am glad its complicated. It would be pretty boring if there were just one version.
So let's begin with the earliest FD that earned its Japanese name from the skunk works projects at Mazda engineering in the late 80s. The "Efini".
1991/12 - FD3s Version I - Efini Rx-7
1992/10 - FD3s Version I - Efini Rx-7 Type Rz -300
1993/08 - FD3s Version II - Efini Rx-7
1993/10 - FD3s Version II - Efini Rx-7 Type RII Rz -150
1994/01 - FD3s M1020
http://rextreme.blogspot.com/1995/04/fd3s-version-iii-m2-m1020.html
http://rextreme.blogspot.com/1995/04/fd3s-version-iii-m2-m1020.html
1994/09 - FD3s Version II - Efini Rx-7 Type RII Bathurst -350
http://rextreme.blogspot.com/1994/09/fd3s-version-ii-r-ii-bathurst.html
1995/02 - FD3s Version II - Efini Rx-7 Type R Bathurst - 500
1995/03 - FD3s SP (Special Preformance) - 25 + 10.
http://rextreme.blogspot.com/1995/05/fd3s-rx-7-type-sp.html
1995/03 - FD3s Version III - Efini Rx-7
1995/07 - FD3s Version III - Efini Rx-7 Type R Bathurst X - 777
1996/01 - FD3s Version IV - Efini Rx-7
1997/01 - FD3s Version IV - Efini Rx-7 Type RB Bathurst X - 700
1997/10 - FD3s Version IV - Efini Rx-7 Type RS-R - 500
1998/01 - FD3s Version IV - Efini Rx-7
1998/12 - FD3s Version V - Rx-7
2000/10 - FD3s Version V- Rx-7 Type Rz - 175
2000/09 - FD3s Version VI - Rx-7
2001/08 - FD3s Version VI - Rx-7 Type R Bathurst R (RR) - 500
2002/03 - FD3s Version VI - Rx-7 Spirt R - 1500
2002/03 - FD3s Version VI - RX7 Type R Limited Edition - 50
Click on the links for more info on any of the above models. Some of them might surprise you. Not all are the all out ball tearers you may think. Others have a true heritage and others become common. So whatever model you have or choose, enjoy it knowing its true origin.Russ
