Sentimental Sleeper: Mazda 323 FE Turbo

Story by Charlene Somduth and Jehran Naidoo We first saw Trevor Govender's Mazda 323 at Loud Addicts Street to Strip event on June 29 at Dezzi Raceway. At a glance, we knew it had something special because it just did not belong on a race track. When Trevor finally cut loose, it sounded like a rotary but after speaking with his son Tyler at the event, we learnt that it housed a Mazda fe turbo motor. What we initially thought to be just another race car with a turbo engine, turned out to be one of the most sentimental vehicles encountered so far. Trevor Govender's first car was a Mazda 323, which he bought from his father. It was a car he took his late wife and then girlfriend, Charlene, to dates in. It was a car that he taught her how to drive in. It was there when their love first began. Charlene Govender passed away in June 2023 after a battle with cancer. Trevor was then a father that needed to make his family whole again so he decided to embark on a project build and decided to buy another Mazda 323. Trevor managed to acquire a version already fitted with a FE turbo motor with fully fabricated custom engine mounts all done by "Johan from Vryheid". But the car was used for spinning and not driving, as it should be, so Trevor brought it back to Durban and used it as a way to get closer to his boys, Tyler and Cree. After countless hours in their garage, talking about engines and some of the good times that Trevor and his wife had together in the car, the family finally got the running at the level they wanted. While this may seem like some uber cool Mazda build on the outside, to the Govender family, it is a bridge to connect with a mother, wife, and a sister. Music credit: Travel Aimlessly by Alexander Fulin