Finally.....
It was getting close to New Year's eve. Everyone was celebrating, but I was working. 15 min before 2002 (everyone besides me are partying), I pull up in front of my house. Just back from a ventures journey from Germany, raising money to be by her side (importing a few GT-R). No sleep for as long as I can remember, I crawl into bed. Before I close my eyes, I calculate in my head. It's done! I can hardly believe it, but I have enough, money! Tomorrow I start looking for a sample. I'm going to get a Mazda Rx-7 FD Twin Tur.ZZZZZ Zleep....

The contenders...
Originally, there is only one FD imported into Norway. It is immaculate, and has about 42' Km on the clock. It was way out of my league as far as money was concerned.
Norwegian import tax system is split in two parts. One is general sales tax (hold onto your shorts - it's 24 %). This part is something that must be paid upon import. The second part is the actual car import tax. It is again split into 3 parts: weight, displacement and engine output. On high output cars, it's normal that this part is equal or more than what you initially paid for the car in the origin country are. This is something you must pay if you want it on the road. But I initially wanted the Rx-7 for some occasional track days, and maybe a holiday trip around Europe. I decided to get one from Germany, and just pay the import (sales-) tax.
Additional money is better spent on tuning (he-he).
The cars were spotted on the website mobile.de I wanted to have a bunch of cars to look at when I went down there. (This is not something you buy over the Internet like some cheap sex-toy). I had positive lead on 2 cars, but there were at least 3 more on the net, that I had not come in contact with. I was determined to get a car, and just took off to Germany to get one. Me and my friend Anders (who is highly addicted to Mazda vehicles as well) started the journey from Oslo to Kiel on a boat. In Kiel, we rented a shitty rental at Avis. It was the cheapest there was except the "Smart". It was a Corsa with 3-cylinder engine without power. The crapper did 160 tops, but after 10 min of this top speed crusing, the shit started to misfire. 140 was set as an ok speed, but the verdict was clear. I hate this shitty car, and everyone who owns one.

We are sick of stinkers without turbo on the autobahn....
We drove down south for about 900 km, and then we had enough. Had looked on a FD with US spec. It was shit. Blue smoke on startup, no high rev on cold start, etc.. I knew after 30 sec that this car was toast, and not for me. I feel sorry for the dude who picks this one up (btw, it was black, brown leather, JM1-vin, no spoiler on the rear, it was "dumped" in Goslar).
Anyway, despair, rejection (the girl was not game), etc got me really down. So we just returned the stinker (Corsa), and bought a 323 GTX. It looked shitty with a rusted bonnet, etc. But it took us over 200 km/h in cruising speed, so we were instantaneously happier.

The chase...
I had one FD with a real good feeling in sight. But there was a down side to it. I was in the far south of Germany, and the FD was in the far west (on the border to Belgium). It was a long drive, past noon, and it was raining. I called the owner, and asked him if it was ok to come over (it was Saturday night). I got the go from him, but he sounded a little surprised. The GTX turbo was glowing the whole way bright red. Dinner was gas for the car, Coca Cola and a candy bar. Other than that, activities were reduced to keeping the green light on (-the boost indicator bulbe).
We got there, and met the owner. He was surprised (to say the least) about our progress on the Autobahn system. He had vaguely heard about GT-R, but a Mazda 323 that looked so innocent like the GTX had AWD and was able to pull 210 in stock form was more than he could believe.

I asked for her hand....
I took a glance at the car, introduced Anders and myself to the owner, and just got the good feeling of having found a treasure after a long search. The owner was an end of 30'ish guy, high educated, enthusiast, etc.. He was the 3 owner of the car. It had 61 000 km on the clock. Looked not new, but well taken care of. One accident on the rear fender, but basically just paint. Nice repair. Inside, the black leather and originality of the car gave me a good feeling once more. No big speakers installed, armorall, or other gimmicks. The car had been treated well for it's entire life(- or so it felt). I was very pleased.
I looked underneath the car, and it looked nice, the only flaw was the heat shield over the rear muffler, and the muffler itself. (They are soon to be replaced anyway)
The test-drive was done in hammering rain, and very slippery conditions. Driving out too the autobahn, I took it slowly. Checked all various things I had heard about these cars. There was the smooth engine, making boost of its small turbo from very low rpms. On the autobahn entry, I hit 3'rd, and put the pedal down. Torque from rock bottom, no miss around 3000 rpm, little off boost about 4500 rpm, and then not "wham!", but a steady rise of boost again.(the big turbo in the setup kicks in). The rain kept me from going all crazy, but it could not keep the smile from going all around my head (ok, thank god for those big ears of mine, or I would have lost the top end).
Well back to the place were we met the owner, I checked that all the stuff inside worked. The AC had just been in for a service, and it was working. All other stuff seemed good too. The only thing was the antistatic pad on the driver door handle. It had fallen down from its mounts in the inner door panel.

I told him that I was seriously interested in his car, but I was also seriously starving after 10 hours without any food to speak of. I asked him if it was ok to go to a McDonalds and just grab a burger, while we talked about the price and terms. He agreed. And we sat down and started talking. Landed a deal on a McFeast(burger), large coke, Rx-7 FD and large fries that afternoon. I never spent some much cash at McDonalds before ! But then again, I never walked out of McD's so happy.

We did the cash flow at his house (-you don't want to flash around the burger joint with these kinda numbers). Sitting down, talking about the Rx-7, and other cars, he had to "hit me one more time" with saying that he really didn't like to sell it to any "geek of the street". I had to calm him down, and explained the set up for him. That the Rx-7 wasn't even going to be licensed, just sunny days and garage from here on. I told him I had a 323 GT-R for the snow, and a B2600 as a daily driver to work. He seemed satisfied with my story, so I got the keys...

We drove off into the night....
It was getting late. There was no way we could start driving before we got some sleep. The owner led us to a hotel, and we said goodbye to each other on the parking lot. His last words were "take good care of her". He looked at his previous FD with a kind of look that says it all...you know.
We, on the other hand, had a completely different look ! We had just got a FD, and it just can not be too late for a little spin, can it? Never! We threw our stuff into the room, and went straight out. A good 15 min later, we were idling the lady down. We were smiling like we just got laid... The feeling was intense. And this is just stock. I couldn't believe it. And still, it would get better the next day. We rounded the day up with a few beers on the room, and went to bed. Had a hard time falling asleep, but the soon as I did, she was right there with me..

" Gooood morning, Germanyyy ! "
Imagine. It's 0800 Sunday morning. The roads are damped from all night rain, but the streets are drying up. Perfect conditions. Germany is sleeping its E-trip off the night before, except for 2 guys checking out of a cheesy hotel in Achen. They are not on anything, but will in a short while be able to produce huge amount of adrenaline. The catalyst for all this? Well, it's the FD, of course.

We start out from Achen, far west in Germany. The goal is to reach the top of Denmark in the evening, and get a boat to Norway, or Sweden. We start both cars, and hit the autobahn. We drive almost alone on the Autobahn, but there are some cars out there. I take it easy for about 30 min (under 200) to warm up the engine. Then, as the road opens up, I let her stretch her legs. She accelerates easy up to 200. The pull over 200 is so impressive! I have never driven a car that's so strong in this kind of speed. She takes me very quickly to about 250 km/h. This is the max speed stated in the official papers for the car. I keep the hammer on a little more. She is not ready to give up. 260, 265, 270...things are getting blurred......275...insane. I let go. She has proven herself. In absolutely stock form, she's doing 275 km/h (and if you wait some more, she'll probably do more). It seems like she's never givin' in. It just keeps on reving higher and higher...
Btw, in 275 km/h, she's a handful to guide. It might be of the fact that the stock Bridgestones (9 year old tires on a car like this - Not driven too spirited, is it?), are on the front axle. The rear is guided by a couple of Goodyear F1's. They feel real good. I think I'll get some for the front as well.
The GTX is right up there until the clock reach 210. Don't get me wrong, the FD pulls allot harder, but the GTX was impressive too. It really drives great and even in 210 km/h, its super stable. You'll have to be an idiot to loose control in this little AWD rocked. If you haven't tried one, do it !

The Danish customs...
In fear of getting locked down the next time I go to Denmark, I choose to exclude all the stuff that happened in Denmark. Let's just say we had (mazda-)fun....

Winter driving the lady....
We took the ship to Norway on the next morning. The boat was boring. They had some SEGA rally games there, and we got coins for about 100 games.(It's a long journey, about 8 hours). But the game was not maintained at all for the last 100 000 users. Bummer ! Stuck on the boat, and nothing to do. Little we knew, that we soon would have enough logistic duties to take care of.....Upon reaching the Norway shores, we got some words on the telephone that was disturbing. It was snowing like there was no tomorrow in Oslo. Totally fu**** up roads. And my girl would not make it in one piece on her high heals (summer tires). I got on the horn (telephone) and called some friends. Got them to get movin', and head our way with a trailer for the FD, and winter wheels for the GTX. They got busy, and after a few hours, they were on their way. We got trough customs, and started driving. It was not snowing at the start, but after a while, we gave up. Then we met my gang, and had a quick service. The FD was safely loaded (it's hard with a low car like this - I am used to rally cars), and the GTX got new sneakers. It was finally doin' what it was made for - insane sideways action !

I hibernation until spring....
Got the FD to work, and had it washed with soap and water. Over, and under the body. I wanted to get all the salt of her. Under the car, it was allot of sand. I didn't think it looked so bad, but after the washing, there was allot of sand on the floor. She was then kept overnight in a heated workshop to dry. The next day, I took her home in an enclosed trailer. She wasn't going to get near the salt on the roads. Then I rolled her right into my freshly cleaned garage. I felt so relieved/satisfied. She was home. Safe and sound (-almost, that part of the story you'll hear over a beer).