Activision Enduro Datsun 280ZX Pace Car Contest

Hey, remember Enduro? Neither do we. But apparently it was the freakin’ Forza Motorsport of 1983, made for the Atari system. There was a contest where you could win a Datsun 280ZX Turbo pace car in the vein of the Star Wars Toyota Celica giveaway. Not that there was an actual S130 Z in the game: the “spectacular graphics” of the day made your car indistinguishable from a twelve-pixel fiddler crab scurrying across the bottom of your screen.

The pace car served at the Caesar’s Palace Grand Prix, an actual stop on the Formula 1 circuit for 1981-82. The race, which Nissan officially sponsored both times, took place in the casino parking lot. Along with the Z, the winner also got a trip for two to watch the event in Las Vegas. For those not quite as lucky, second place was a Datsun 200SX SL. Ouch, S110 fans. Check out the real car in the video after the jump and “shift into awesome.

Hat tip to cesariojpn.

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18 Responses to Activision Enduro Datsun 280ZX Pace Car Contest

  1. Nigel says:

    This game was like “Night Driver” an Atari arcade game of around the same vintage.
    The 280 was cool but at the time I was 15 so I still had another year before I could drive “legally”.

  2. QD says:

    [quote=blog]Hey, remember Enduro? Neither do we.[/quote]

    HEY!!! I remember it well as I had an Atari 2600. Very cool game it was.

  3. PFG says:

    Improv comic. Conservative columnist. And now videogame designer! Is there anything Larry Miller can’t do?

  4. Sr-FairladyZ says:

    I actually hooked up the old Atari a few years ago and played Night Driver and Dragster. My findings:

    Night Driver + Alcohol = Humanly impossible.
    Dragster + Alcohol = Highly competitive sport among voicetrous males lol.

  5. TommyJ says:

    Heck I’d be satisfied with the 6th place prize.

  6. JoeyZ says:

    I wonder where that car is now. Be nice to know if the winner took car of it, or if it’s in a scrap yard.

  7. Sr-FairladyZ says:

    Joey,

    Yea, I pondered the same thought. I think the JNC Detective Squad needs to look into this matter. Was there a cruel end to this winners prize Datsun? Where is the S130 Pacecar today?!

    • Ben says:

      Joey, SR: Hopefully someone will chime in now that we’ve posted. The builder of the Star Wars Celica responded in the post comments!

  8. thermionic says:

    I got this game for my sixth birthday and played the crap out of it. The fog and snow levels were pretty neat, considering the hardware of the time. Good times!

  9. cesariojpn says:

    Ben, the 4chan thread I gave had someone claim that the pace car was rotting in Desert Valley Auto Parts in Arizona. That big place more well known as a Muscle Car Graveyard?

    http://www.dvap.com/

    Did a check, and the Survivors section produced an interesting find or two:

    http://www.dvap.com/survivors/display/5103
    http://www.dvap.com/survivors/display/6358

  10. cesariojpn says:

    Oh, I think i mentioned that the ad looks like the pace car is sporting Work Equip 01’s…I think.

  11. JoeyZ says:

    Those are factory Nissan Turbo 280ZX wheels.

  12. Wells First says:

    If anyone cares, my dad and I are the new owner of this very car. We purchased it yesterday from an older couple in Apple Valley. 35,000 original miles, mint besides a few tiny dings here and there.

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