It’s Tokyo Auto Salon time again, and you know what that means. All the weird and wacky custom cars of Japan come to Makuhari Messe in Chiba to show their stuff. Reports are filtering in all over the web, but NoriYaro has a posted a few cellphone shots.
Let’s start with the craziest one first, this may look like a normal Toyota 2000GT, but walk around to the side and you see…
… an N1 RB26 from the R34 Skyline GT-R Nür! We can already see the Toyota purists taking up torches and pitchforks as Nissan fans chuckle smugly. Me, personally? Pass the pitchfork.
UPDATE: This is actually an amazingly crafted 2000GT lookalike built on a Nissan Fairlady Z platform! Err.. sorry about burning down your village.
Next up is this Nissan Skyline R30 in its trademark two-tone red and black paint scheme with a custom cage and body kit, built by Sakamoto Jidosha in Kyushu.
It too has been a candidate for an engine swap, but at least they kept it in the family with an SR20DET.
And finally, we have this Honda Civic EF, which looks surprisingly cool with its old school Mugen CF48 wheels and retro stripes that remind us of Osamu Nakako and Hideki Okada’s Motul Civic racer that won the 1987 All-Japan Touring Car Championship.
[NoriYaro]
I never thought I’d see a 2000GT engine swap…I’m diggin the R30 and EF though.
Chuckling smugly, But Naw.. that’s just not right!
not sure about that skyline rear bumper, but im liking that EF
This is much righter…
http://www.c-ysports.com/2jz_2000gt_5.jpg
A turbo motor is fine too but a 1jz or 2jz was the correct choice. Though considering how dull toyota has been for the last decade they need a good kick in the ribs, maybe they’ll take notice and start making sports cars again.
wouldn’t a 2J be a much better engine swap compared to the RB26 that’s what confuses me most about the swap.
the DR30 looks nice as well … though I am a bit biased 😉
i wonder what aero is on that EF
All the Toyota fans can breathe easy, that 2000gt is really a S30 with a 2000gt conversion kit. They did a real nice job on it tho, you’d never know it. And I still think a 2jz would have been a better choice, S30 chassis or not.
Oh phew! Thanks for clearing that up, Neil!
*gently puts down pitchfork and looks around sheepishly*
What! They defaced a beautiful S30?
*picks up Ben’s pitchfork*
Okay, you can use my pitchfork, but don’t try sticking an RB in it or anything. I’m on to you Nissan nuts!
Not surprisingly…
Love that Civic! And, long live CF48’s! I’ve been rolling on them since 1984.
For those who are intersted, Rota has a reproduction of the CF48 (less the inset rim logo, center cap, and aero covers). They are currently only available in 15×7, and that may even be what we’re looking at in the photo.
Neil – Colorado
Me, personally? Pass the KEYS!
Just let me have the white TRD AE86 by the R30, and the Civic.
More on the “2000GT’ (and the Tokyo Auto Salon) can be found on Shige Suganuma’s blog @
http://www.hobidas.com/blog/shop/mooneyes/archives/2009/01/
More on that 2000gt replica, which I actually rather like. It is reasonably accurate and seems nicely finished. I found both a motherload of pictures (on the maker, Roadster Garage, site) and a vid on youtube.
Here are the links.
Pics: http://www.katch.ne.jp/~elvis/autsaron.htm
Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=JP&hl=ja&v=fWHqOSC6vyY
The only thing that strikes me as odd is, why bother hacking up an old S30 so radically, when one could design a simple tubular spaceframe chassis and do the body in fiberglass? If you look closely at the pictures of this car, many of the old z’s hard points can still be seen. In fact that is one of the reasons why the ‘greenhouse’ cross-section and other details are off just a bit. Still, it is an amazing conversion and surprizing that no one else thought to do it.
Just my 2cents.
Just an aside, it would be fun to see someone do a conversion like that Roadster Garage 2000gt on a 90’s era supra chassis (though it may be a crime to mollest one, let alone an old z)..
They do a very ‘cute’ conversion on a 1st generation Miata, that is less accurate but fun.
See pic and vid here: http://www.katch.ne.jp/~elvis/doga.htm
Thanks for the links, John! I would guess that, in the US at least, there are more well-kept Zs than 90s Supra Turbos 🙂