I have looked at hundreds if not thousands of first gen. pictures looking for ideas for my next project. If there is one thing I noticed over and over again it's that LESS IS MORE! Mazda did a remarkable job with these cars and to make them shine all that has to be done is to lightly accent the car, work with the lines, and keep it clean. These are not about Big and Bold they are Sleek and Nimble.
I think I'm going with great paint, older style wheels and a small wrap around wing.
Just my opinion, lets hear your thoughts.

 

I'm all with the "less is more" theory. For the longest time I wanted to slap on a huge airdam, sideskirts, and and a biiiig spoiler. That was during the long time my car was in the shop. Then, after seeing it for the first time in months, I realized... damn mty car looks good . So I decided to leave the ol' fb's exterior alone, and concentrate on what really matter... what you CANT see (well, from the outside of the car at least)

 

Depending on what model you have, the only thing that is visually lacking is the wheels. So upgrading to 14" or 15" in a nice conservative style would be nice.

I saw a very clean tornado silver FB years ago; it had matching color 5-spoke rims and it looked fantastic. Have never seen another FB so stylish.

 

you gotta get a EVO style front bumper with Z3 fenders. throw a huge gt wing that takes up three lanes, and some 20" chrome wheels or spokes. Don't forget to get led's everywhere. The more the better....J/K

Stock body with some nice 15" rims would look nice. maybe something like watanabe 8 spoke would be nice. I think Konig has some that looks like them.
here you go, some konig rewinds

 

Less IS more. I still can't understand all these people with their body kits. I mean, maybe I'd put an airdam on the front and some side thingies...but damn... these cars are so good looking already!

 

I like the lines of them stock, too.. but I prefer them with the factory style airdam and rear wing.. only thing I don't really like about mine is the Targa band, but I don't feel like dealing with the screwholes left behind if I'd take it off.. oh well...

--Danny

 

I like my hardly changed look.....

 

Mazda DID do a perfect job styling the main body of the rex. I think there are a few things needing change:

1) Wheels, I would only ever go w/ 16" rims. Any smaller looks just too small. If you're going aftermarket rims, why get something that doesnt look as good as it COULD. I figure, if you're going aftermarket, might as well go all out.

2) NO wing. As you said, the lines are perfect as they are. If you put a wing on, you need to counter balance w/ the whole body kit. IMO.

3) Whatever other small minor exterior mods you like. This is depending on your paint scheme/color, personal tastes, etc. Me, i have blue/black color, with white/clear lights. I think they match pretty well.

 

I like the looks of the first gen even better than the stock 2nd gen (no offense FC owners). (FD, well ) It's a sexy little car, IMO!

 

I like the standard spoiler ...

 

The FB is a really timeless design. Most people who don't know the cars can't peg when it was made. The SA, while sharing most of the lines of the FB, has very period distinctive bumpers and rear lights, making it a very obvious '70's car. Personally, I'm torn. Some days, I prefer the retro look of the SA, and others the FB looks better to me.

 

Good thread!
I like the look of my SA quite a lot, even with it's stock waffle wheels. Some of the stuff that people do to their cars these days is just downright silly. I agree that the 13" wheels are too small, I have some 14" LE wheels that I'm going to use once I restore them. Then I can use a 195/60 tire and the diameter will be virtually identical to stock. I'm not fond of 50 series tires for daily driving, they're too hard.
But I must admit that I like the bold "jap musclecar" styling of my '74 RX4 more than any other rotary car.

 

Got some pics of that bad boy? Sorry but I was never really fond of the looks of the RX-4. In fact it's probably my least favorite rotary car. It had potential but Mazda put WAY too much plastic on that car. Less is More. Less plastic on that car would have made it more appealing IMO. I still wanna see pics because appreciate all rotary Mazdas.

--Bob

 

i think the 7 looks alot better with a spoiler, ive got a wrap around for mine, its not huge, so it looks ok without the skirts and airdams. I have the skirts and airdams, but they're busted up pretty bad, and i didnt feel like repairing/replacing them so i just took em off. My car also came with the targa roof band, which im keeping cause i think it looks cool. Im thinking about maybe making a carbon fibre hood too.

 

I dunno.. I find the spoiler does exactly as the name suggests... it spoils the look of the sleek drop off that you have with the trunk glass going down to the body like that. Oh well to each their own.

With mine, the only things I really want to do for the exterior are change the colour, remove the badges, and add some bigger rims. 15s, maybe 16s, but I've heard that handling goes to crap above that.

I kinda like gunmetal blue (I think that's the blue I'm thinking of... sorta blue/dark gray sparkely colour).

And as I've said many times before, I love the idea of a
"sleek, nimble " car as 7addict put it. Small, quiet, but fast as hell. If cheetahs could design a car, this would be it.

Jon

 

If your going to get a spoiler, might as well go with a whale tail... That matched with a tubbed rear-end gives a very aggresive look. (If I had the money, I'd probably do something like that.)