By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

While at Sodegaura the other weekend I was lucky enough to get shown this spotless first generation Nissan Silvia by its owner. The car was still running the first license plates it was ever issued, a rare thing to see in Japan. The original Silvia badge. Looking at such a classic and historical car, I couldn’t help but think it’s a real pity Nissan has no intention of bringing the Silvia back to the masses. With only the Mazda Roadster and upcoming FT86 in the affordable front engine/rear wheel drive market, it would seem a viable enough plan. See more views at Speedhunters.

-by Dino Dalle Carbonare

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

I have serious reservations about buying vintage cars from dealerships–used-car lots are sleazy enough as it is without having to weigh in all the x-factors of a history-unknown classic–but this little right-hand-drive Silvia was just too much JDM gold to not at least pique my curiosity. Check out the ad on Craigslist.

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

While this Silvia might look like a time attack car, and is detailed enough to be a show car – it’s primary focus is the quarter mile. After being inspired by the drag cars of Japan, George and Theo Spartalis of South Australia’s GT Autosound set out to create one of the world’s quickest S15′s. Originally established as a car audio shop, GT Autosound is now known as one of Australia’s premiere Silvia tuning shops and they have experience building S-chassis for every application. Combining the build quality of pro drift car with the focus of a drag car was one of the George and Theo’s goals for the car, and they’ve certainly accomplished that. Continue reading at Speedhunters

By Mike Garrett

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

And now for a look at the history of another one of Nissan’s most famous cars, the Silvia and its sister-models. I’m sure when most of you hear “Silvia”, you probably picture a tuned S13 or S15 blasting through a corner sideways, but the model actually has roots that go back 45 years. The first Nissan Silvia was the CSP311 model, shown at the 1964 Tokyo Motor Show. The CSP311 shared the same platform as the Fairlady 1600 Roadster, but had a stylish hand-crafted coupe body. It was really more of a specialty car than one aimed for mass markets. They were produced in very low numbers until 1968 and are seen as very valuable collectors car today. Continue reading at Speedhunters

By Mike Garrett

By Antonio Alvendia

Antonio Alvendia

As this weekend’s much awaited Formula D Pro Am event at Irwindale Speedway draws near, the members of the Motor Mavens Crew from Los Angeles are getting more and more excited to see all our friends from all the different grassroots drifting scenes from all over the country.

Our whole crew has a ton of respect for all the grassroots drivers out there; they are certainly working hard to step their game up and make it into the pro ranks… and for me personally, I think sometimes watching the grassroots guys compete is even more exciting than watching the pro drivers go at it. Some people may be thinking, “What?! Are you crazy?” I know, I know… it may be a bit different to outsiders or to those who are just sitting in the stands… but for those of us who circulate through the pit areas and go to the different shops and hang out with the drivers even outside of track events, it’s really inspiring to see the hard work and perseverance of normal, everyday individuals, the grassroots enthusiasts, pay off.

This is what passion is all about. And this is why I think people are crazy when people think drifting is just a fad. Maybe it is for outsiders… but for the people who live and breathe this stuff day in and day out, it couldn’t be further from the truth.

One guy who lives and breathes drifting is Roland Gallagher. The first time I saw Roland drive was at Formula D Las Vegas, where he was competing to earn his invite to the Pro Am. I was standing trackside with my younger brother David, and I saw this flash of teal pass me, followed by clouds of billowing white tiresmoke. My eyes followed the tiresmoke and somehow became fixated on his WHEELS which had ridiculously fat lips… I remember muttering “helllll yeah” under my breath, because these days, it’s becoming more and more rare to see drift cars with good looking wheels and stance on the FD circuit. Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens!

By Antonio Alvendia

Antonio Alvendia

You might not immediately think of the Dominican Republic when you think of drifting, but last month, the biggest drifting club in the DR, the Club Dominicano de Corredores de Drift (referred to as CDCD) put together a huge drift event and concert together with their racetrack’s title sponsor, Brahma Light. Casper Canul and I were invited to do a drift demo with our US-based Formula D cars during their drift series-opening event on September 19th, 2009.

We went out there a couple of days early to prep our cars, test and setup their new drift track, marking all of the clipping points and track outline of the course. We spoke with the drivers and setup a driver’s meeting on competition day to go over all of the judging criteria and track rules with their local judges.  Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens!

By Ben Schaffer

The Real JDM

Do you guys remember this car? We featured this car back in June and at the time I figured it was just a really cool rendering and nothing more than that. Well…

Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "Nissan GT500 S14 Silvia Private Build" »

By Ben Schaffer

The Real JDM

I cant believe I have never seen this car before. The build of this car is massively epic. A guy in Leeds built this car in his garage from a bone stock S14 Silvia. He even made his own fiberglass body panels from scratch. This is essentially a backyard built Super GT car…something I was pretty sure I’d never see.

The guy who built this car deserves some sort of award or something. It is truely insane to see how he put this together all on his own. Check out the thread. More pics after the jump.

Continue reading "The Best Private Built Silvia Ever" »

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

Take an S15 Silvia convertible, give the car proper stance car, add a dash of 19″ E66 7 series BMW wheels, and sprinkle some Tra Kyoto magic, and poof! You get a flavor of S15 that has not been tasted by many. And so I ask, how does it taste?

By Linhbergh Nguyen

By Steve Neill

Steve Neill

The Hyundai Genesis Coupe has been labeled as the Nissan Silvia of the 21st Century. A High tech, RWD, low cost, high performance sports coupe with enough power to be labeled a real great car. That’s why I was surprised to find this picture of a G4KC (Genesis Coupe) Engine with a striking similarity to a Redtop Nissan Silvia SR20DET. Seperated at birth? You tell me.

The only visual difference I can see is that the Genesis has the manifold on the other side, where as the Silvia SR motor has a removable top cover for easy access to the spark plugs, etc. It’s astonishing how much they’re alike, and I have to say, it’s quite impressive.