Photography by Donnie Rochin (@r0cean11)
Amanda Kennedy’s initial taste for cars came when she started to attend street and drag strip races in Dallas, TX with her best friend. She quickly became fascinated with modifying and building cars when she realized what she could create out of each platform. Initially, Kennedy focused on the performance aspect of her builds starting off with a ’98 Pontiac Grand Am, which was followed by a Gen V swapped Pontiac Grand Prix GTP that she stills owns and is soon bringing back to life, which brings us to her current car, a 2007 Mazda Mazdaspeed 3 that she picked up in 2015.
The Speed3 is different however, since the car started off with a good performance base out of the factory Kennedy took the show car route instead. The original plan, as it is for most car enthusiasts, was to just mildly modify it and build a fun street car. But as most of us know that rarely pans out, instead, Kennedy ended up building a full-on show car.
This particular Speed3 has gone through quite a bit. Initially when the car was bagged and wrapped, the first shop working on the car caused some serious damage, fortunately Everything Air (Modesto, CA) was able to save the car and even create the first fully functional pressurized rear strut brace.
Shortly after the car was set to receive a minor fender flare, but again the shop doing the work failed. Thankfully, the car was once again saved, this time by Anderson Motorsports LLC who was able to complete the body work and have the car looking as good as new.
Other shops that Kennedy is thankful for are Damond Motorsports because of their focus on the MZR platform, and CorkSport because of their constant pursuit to research and develop for this platform, as well as their impeccable customer service (special shout out to Brett from the CorkSport team).
"I was a teen meth addict and the Speed3 has been built in honor of the Grand Am that kept me sober," mentions Kennedy.
Keep an eye out for this build in the future as Kennedy isn’t done yet. This winter, she plans on starting the performance-side of things as there is currently motor work in progress so that the car will be able to support a Precision 6266 Turbo.
With 58% of the Popular Vote, Amanda Kennedy was the winner of the PASMAG Tuner Battlegrounds #TBGLIVE award category competition at Hot Import Nights: Portland.
Amanda Kennedy's 2007 Mazdaspeed 3 is featured in PASMAG #155 + Style Book #6. Click HERE to order.
ESSENTIALS
Owner: Amanda Kennedy
Location: Whitewright TX
Vehicle: 2007 Mazda Mazdaspeed 3
Horsepower: 350 WHP
Facebook: Amanda Specht
Instagram: @ms3_mzrzoom
ENGINE
- BNR S3 Turbo
- JMF V1 Intake Manifold
- JBR EBCS
- Treadstone TR8 FMIC with CX Racing piping
- 3 Bar MAP
- Damond OCC
- Damond rear, passenger & transmission motor mounts
- 3" JBR turbo inlet pipe
- Corksport 51R battery box + ECU container
- Corksport hpfp + injector seals
EXHAUST
- Corksport divorced catless downpipe + test pipe
- LowKey Fab custom 3" exhaust
PERFORMANCE ELECTRONICS
- Cobb v3 accessport + Tuned by Will @ Purple Drank Tuning
WHEELS & TIRES
- CCW LM5 18x10 +19 front/ 18x11 +7 rear
- Nankang NS-20 225/35R18 front / 245/35R18 rear
- Sickspeed extended lug nuts (black & neochrome)
- We Are Likewise spiked black jewel valve stem caps
DRIVETRAIN
- ACT HD Clutch Kit 6 Puck Sprung w/ Prolite Flywheel
CHASSIS & SUSPENSION
- Air Lift Performance air struts + rear lower control arms
- Air Lift Performance 3H
- Dominant Engineering toe end links + camber arms
- Custom rear pressurized strut brace w/ dual 2 gal tanks (powdered to match wheels)+ dual black ViAir 380 compressors by Everything Air in Modesto, CA
- Corksport front adjustable sway bar endlinks
- Hotchkis rear sway bar
EXTERIOR
- Garage Vary front lip
- Autoexe badgeless front grill
- Molded Nextmod rear spoiler lip
- Molded DG Motorsports rear diffuser
- Custom metal widebody by Kimxon Ulterior Motives x Anderson Motorsports LLC
- Evoke Dark Metallic Gray w/ Summertime Watermelon flake from Tropical Glitz
- Deleted antenna, side markers and badging
INTERIOR
- Custom black leather and pink suede with honeycomb stitching
- Black suede wrapped pillars
- We Are Likewise Lil Oozie Pink and Black shift knob w/ custom Hello Kitty shift boot
LIGHTING
- Smoked led taillights
- Black suede illuminated starry night headliner by Premier Upholstery, Sacramento CA
AUDIO & MULTIMEDIA
- Alpine Type R 12" subwoofer
- Alpine Type R door speakers + tweeters
- Dual Alpine amps
- Pioneer double din DVD player
FUTURE MODIFICATIONS
- Turbo exhaust manifold
- Full motor build to support a Precision 6266
SPONSORS
- r0cean11 Photography
SHOPS/MECHANICS
- Anderson Motorsports (Henderson, NV) @andersonmotorsportsllc
- Built 4 Speed (Brentwood, CA) @built4speedinc
- Everything Air (Modesto, CA) @everything_air_
- Lesa's Auto Body Supplies (Las Vegas, NV) @lesasautobodysupplies
- Premier Upholstery (Sacramento, CA) @premierupholsterysac
- R&P Motorsports and Coatings ( Dallas, TX) @randpmc
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