Amanda Kennedy was always fascinated with cars growing up. "I'd make my parents take me to the big auto show at the Texas State Fair every year," mentions Kennedy, "so I could gather the booklets and take them home to study." Kennedy's passion ultimately saved her from herself when she got sober from meth at 18. "I purchased my 2007 Mazda Mazdaspeed3 in March of 2015 and wanted to build it in honor of the car that kept me sober."

Kennedy's inspiration came from Mike Squires and his static 1st gen MS3. She had put her own twist on things with her MS3, "I went air with a fully functional pressurized strut brace that marries my passion for performance with the whole show-car thing," states Kennedy. She credits her air suspension to Mike and Sam with Everything Air in Ripon, CA. The motor work is done alongside Mike with Built4Speed in Brentwood, CA, and the custom widebody was a collaboration between Kimxon at Ulterior Motives in Sacramento, CA and James from Anderson Motorsports in Las Vegas, NV. To complete the project, the interior was done by Robert and his amazing staff at Premier Upholstery, which is in Sacramento as well.

Owner: Amanda Kennedy
Location: Sacramento, CA
Vehicle: 2007 Mazda Mazdaspeed3
Horsepower: 300
Club: Sovereign Fitment Society

SOCIAL

Facebook: Amanda Specht
Instagram: @ms3_mzrzoom

Photography by @shiftedoptics, @r0cean11_photography, @elf.one81.

ENGINE & PERFORMANCE

• BNR S3 Turbo
• JBR EBCS
• Treadstone TR8 FMIC with CX Racing piping
• 3 Bar MAP
• Damond oil catch can
• Damond rear and passenger 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 Acccessport + Custom tuned by Will @ Purple Drank Tuning

DRIVETRAIN

• OEM

WHEELS & TIRES

• CCW LM5 wheels; 18x10 +19 (f), 18x11 +7 (r)
• Nankang NS-20 tires; 225/35R18 (f), 245/35R18 (r)

BRAKES

• OEM

CHASSIS & SUSPENSION

• Airlift air struts + rear lower control arms
• Airlift 3H
• Dominant Engineering toe end links + camber arms
• Custom rear pressurized strut brace w/ dual 2 gal tanks + dual black ViAir 380 compressors by Everything Air
• Corksport front adjustable sway bar endlinks
• Hotchkis rear sway bar

EXTERIOR

• Garage Vary front lip
• Autoexe badgeless front grill
• Molded Nextmod rear spoiler lip 
• Custom metal widebody by Kimxon Ulterior Motives x Anderson Motorsports LLC
• Evoke Dark Metallic Gray (GM/Holden factory color; European pink pearl version - US version had red pearl) w/ Summertime
• Watermelon flake from Tropical Glitz
• Deleted antenna, side markers and badging
• Custom Hello Kitty design on roof with Tropical Glitz Summertime Watermelon and Dirty Wizard Mix

LIGHTING

• Smoked LED taillights

INTERIOR

• Custom black leather and pink suede with honeycomb stitching + Black suede illuminated starry night headliner by Premier Upholstery, Sacramento CA
• Black suede wrapped pillars
• We Are Likewise Lil Oozie Black & Pink shift knob set w/ custom Hello Kitty shift boot

AUDIO & MULTIMEDIA

• Alpine Type R door speakers + tweeters
• Dual Alpine amplifiers
• Pioneer double-din DVD player

FAVORITE MODIFICATION

"My favorite modification is the pressurized strut brace. It is unique and actually made a huge difference in handling once it was in the car. It really holds the car together nicely. People are always fascinated with seeing it in person."

FUTURE MODIFICATIONS

"The next big step will be the motor build. I have some high horsepower goals for the car and I'm looking forward to spending my winter doing what I love most. The pretty stuff is cool and all but the motor is what gets me excited about building. 

SPONSORS

• None

SHOPS & MECHANICS

• Brisco Media - Lompoc, CA
• r0cean11 Photography - Sacramento, CA
• LowKey Fab - Sacramento, CA
• Built4Speed - Brentwood, CA
• Everything Air - Ripon, CA
• Premier Upholstery - Sacramento, CA
• Ulterior Motives - Sacramento, CA
• Anderson Motorsports - Las Vegas, NV
• Lesa's Auto Body Supplies - Las Vegas, NV
• Shifted Optics - Vancouver, WA
• Tailored Autostyling - Portland, OR
• Karam Concepts - Eugene, OR
• Purple Drank Tuning - Maryland