By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

Almost a year ago, we featured that much loathed or loved 240z which invaded the automotive internet like a virus. Since then, it has changed ever so slightly and now has the appearance of a World War II Japanese fighter plane –a plane which actually shuns taking to the air but would rather hug the earth as close as possible….

I recently ran into the owner, Yuta, and he mentioned that both the car and himself will be shipping off for the land of the rising sun, permanently, in a few months time. How is the car is going to transform in the rice motherland? Only time can tell.

Good luck with your travels and keep us updated, Yuta!

By Linhbergh

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

Sitting not too far from the Lister Roadster at Fan Fest in downtown Colorado Springs was this exquisite example of a Datsun 240z. This was another car that I was unable to see in the three morning practice session because it was running in the vintage race car class. What sits in this immaculate example of a 240z, is no monstrous V8, but a carbureted inline-six L series motor. Continue reading at Speedhunters

By Linhbergh

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Today’s photo of the day comes from Brandon’s Datsun 510 ride page. Nice row of cars there…

If you have a photo you want me to post, PM me or shoot me an e-mail!

By Ben Schaffer

The Real JDM

Tokyo Auto Salon brought the goods as expected, but some things were not in the same packages as traditionally expected. One of the topics I’ll continue to talk about when thinking of what went well at TAS is the resurgence of old school JDM tuning and styling. Rays wheels predicted it early with their release a couple months back of a retro sized and styled TE37 wheel. However it was not until TAS started that the world saw the resurgence of vintage JDM!

As much as I love modern cars and especially the latest R35 GT-R, this Rocky Auto S31Z Fairlady Z does everything that the modern cars can’t.

Yet it does it with modern technology in an old school package. Let me explain…

Continue reading "A Favorite Of Mine – Rocky Auto S31Z Fairlady Z" »

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

Let’s put all the cards on the table: this car is ridiculously stupid. The build quality is shoddy, the care that has been given to this car is questionable, and the ride height is by no means produced by a human with a single ounce of rational thought. Why would you take a prized relic such as this Nissan 240z and completely ruin it, turning it into some pretentious piece of metal that serves no function other than itself? Continue reading at Speedhunters

By Linhbergh Nguyen

By Antonio Alvendia

Antonio Alvendia

Last weekend at the Japanese Classic Car Show, the Showa car lovers that gathered in Irvine California for this year’s event were treated to a sensory overload of Japanese nostalgic cars of all sorts – from Skylines to Corollas to rotaries to Hondas to Datsuns… Oh, the Datsuns!

There were so many cars from Datsun/Nissan lineage represented at this year’s JCCS, it was hard to focus on them all. Everything from Japanese style G-nose S30s to US market 240Zs were in abundance at the event this year, but there was one Z in particular that had a certain combination of presence and shock value. I just knew I had to feature it on our site… but there was just one problem. The car (and its owner) live in San Jose, California. And they would both be returning to the Bay Area on the morning after the show.

I had to figure out how (and where) to somehow shoot the car before it went back to San Jose – and I knew I didn’t want to do one of those “on the grass” photo shoots after the show, because I think photos of cars on the grass are cliche, unimaginative and overdone… especially since there were 236790 photographers from different magazines doing the same photo shoot on different spots on the grass after JCCS.

The owner of this shakotan (super low down) boogiemonster is Yuta Akaishi. Let’s pronounce it together. His first name is Yuta, pronounced like “Utah” and his last name is pronounced “Aka-ishi.” I was first drawn to this amazing 240Z because it is just so damn low… it’s mind boggling, seriously! The car may be showing its age with the presence of surface rust and dents here and there, but hell… to me, it’s just a sign that this car lived a full life. It’s kind of like battle scars on a seasoned fighter – they actually ADD to the look.  Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens!

By Antonio Alvendia

Antonio Alvendia

A few months back, we attended the annual Motorsport Auto Z-Car Nationals in Orange County! Admittedly, we were out late with some out-of-town friends the night before, so we got to the show a bit later than expected. On our drive to the show, we saw lots and lots of 240Zs, 280Zs, 300Zs, and a few 350Zs cruising all over Orange County, some heading towards the show, and some apparently heading in the opposite direction. (Maybe they were leaving already, because we were late? Oops!)

There were tons of outstanding examples of drag race, road race, autocross and Z-car restorations at the meet. Click here to check out more of our Z-Car Nationals photos on MotorMavens!

By Steve Neill

Steve Neill

She sat there, her aura all too familiar. Maybe someone had tried to recreate her into the legend that so many people knew? Maybe they tried to find a car that suited them? Either way, it didn’t matter now. Her blue paint faded under the harsh Tokyo sun, and peeking through the window, I could make out her tendered soul. The seats were worn, and the roll cage was starting to push down into the unibody. God could only wonder how hard she had been driven. 150? 180? 200 miles per hour? I didn’t know.

Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "On the Side of Route 16" »

Jay stuffed a V8 in this 240Z, but it made it too nose heavy so he went back to the drawing board. He removed the entire firewall and most of the trans tunnel to set the engine back as far as possible. And with the body kit he was able to stuff 11.5" wide rims up front with 305/30/18 Kuhmo V700 tires, and 12.5" wide rims in back with 335/30/18s. On Friday this was the #1 car on CarDomain, and now it’s SOTW. You can check out some videos of the car here.

Ronald special ordered his 240Z before leaving for Vietnam in 1971. The photo below was taken shortly after he returned and took delivery in 1972. The car was subsequently painted red and then dark gray and was driven over 100,000 miles before Ronald began a full restoration in 2006. A lot of time and money went into body and paint, and Ronald has carefully documented the entire process on his ride page. He’s not quite done–he still wants to finish the engine compartment–but the results so far are stunning.