In its fifth year, NISMO Fiesta has become the premiere event for Nissan nuts of Texas. With a new venue in the capital of Austin, the Nissan devoted came from all over the Lone Star State, with a few traveling from as far as Louisiana and New Mexico! The three-day event had a host of activities lined up, so we made the trip from Fort Worth.
Arriving at the host hotel, on a rainy Friday night, we pulled up next to a beautiful 1500 Roadster in the parking lot. So far this trip is off to a good start.
After checking in we noticed there happened to be a car inside the lobby as well. It’s not every day you see a beautiful G-nose RHD Fairlady Z roped off next to a reception desk.
Since we rolled in so late, we had to miss most of the revelry on Friday evening. Saturday morning rolled around and we had to make a choice: the 230-mile hill country cruise was scheduled at the same time as the track day at Driveway Racetrack in northeast Austin. Since I was rolling with a crew that trailered down a race car, they made the decision for me.
Most of the track hardware was of the late model variety, with more GT-Rs in one place than I’ve ever seen.
The only car hot lapping that really qualified as nostalgic was this beautiful Z32.
This widebody 280Z was there, but we weren’t lucky enough to see it turn a wheel in anger. Apparently all of the other vintage cars elected to take the hill country cruise option. I guess that’s where we will camp out next year.
Saturday night brought with it a party at the host hotel with a live band and plenty of adult beverages. There are no photos of this time period to protect the guilty. But Sunday morning came around and we hopped out of bed and headed back to the track for the show portion of the event. There were plenty of vendors on hand, most catering to late model Nissan sports cars.
Nissan corporate (who supplied the previously mentioned Fairlady Z at the hotel) had a booth as well, with a few interesting concept cars including a NISMO 370Z convertible. The matte charcoal grey 600hp GT-R NISMO was obviously an attention getter.
On the other end of the spectrum, a Nissan Sentra NISMO concept, which the company says hearkens back to performance compacts like the Datsun 510 and the Sentra SE-R.
The Project Titan built in association with the Wounded Warrior Project took two veterans injured in the Iraq war all the way up to Alaska and back, a project documented in a series of videos that you can view here.
The event organizers had reserved the track for the entire weekend so the car show was held on the track itself. It’s a gorgeous course and I’d love to get back some day to race on it in my own car.
The older cars were grouped together, and there was a fairly healthy turnout. As is common in Texas, Zs outnumbered other Datsuns by three to one.
Ben tasked me with presenting a JNC Award to the best nostalgic car in attendance. I waffled between three different candidates for quite some time. First up was this 330-chassis Gloria, owned by local tuner shop Sultan Status. It’s rare enough to see one of these stateside. To see one in Texas was quite stunning.
Interesting side note: the owner of that Gloria, also owns this “Gloria.”
He was kind enough after the show to park them together for a comparison shot of then and now.
Second of the impossible-to-pick-from options was Terrance Prashad’s 1988 K’s Silvia, another clean car recently imported from Japan. While mostly original save some suspension upgrades and a new set of Enkei RPF1s, I thought it was absolutely beautiful. After the Gloria, this is the car I would have most loved to drive home from the show.
But the third of the triumvirate won the day. I heard the voice of Ben in the back of my head saying, you have to pick Dan Zubkhoff’s 1964 Datsun 1500 Roadster. Keen-eyed observers will notice that yes, this is the same car we saw in the parking lot when we arrived.
Dan’s Roadster is so original that other than the radiator and a few wear items it is just as it left the factory. Being an early model, it has the third, side-facing rear seat in the rear .
He even went the extra mile to find reproduction bias ply tires that exactly matched the originals. To see a car this clean, that has been driven since new, and never restored is nothing short of amazing.
And the ever gracious man himself accepting his award of a JNC T-shirt, three JNC-branded Hot Wheels, and a stack of all the current JNC decals we offer in the shop. Dan is a super nice guy, and dedicated to keeping this car just as it is. We had a great time at the show, and are already looking forward to next year!
More images in the bonus gallery below.
“It’s not every day you see a beautiful, bone-stock G-nose RHD Fairlady Z roped off next to a reception desk.”
It’s not any day, actually. It’s clearly not a genuine HS30-H model Fairlady 240ZG, so it clearly isn’t “bone stock”…
Alan cracks open the door of his closet just long enough to sneer. haha
That was my fault. It’s been rectified.
Thanks Ben, but perhaps a couple of lines about the background story of that particular car might help to clarify that the ZG-look wasn’t a ‘stock’ fitment on that year or model of Fairlady Z?
The car looks great actually, I just think it’s a good idea to inform and educate in such instances.
Oh, and ‘Mister K’ (great choice of name, by the way…) that image you have of my closet and me sneering? Here’s a tip: It’s in your head. And as such, it’s not necessarily connected to reality…
HTH.
Touché haha
Looks like a great show at a great location.
John, Thank you for the kind words about the Silvia, i rather enjoy driving it. Its been getting alot of attention lately to the point where a USAF service man sent me pics …he thinks it was his car that he sold 8 months ago…in Japan! As for the award there is no doubt you made the right choice…. that Roadster was mint…i was actually under the impression it was restored, impressive!! ….The cedric belongs to my good friend Andy Boodhan, the car almost missed the event actually… it arrived on the Thursday Morning before Nismo weekend and was rushed to get ready for the event….We are going to be doing a track day at the venue soon, i’ll get details to you. Thanks again for the pics…It was an awesome event.
That’s awesome Terrance!
Similar funny story, that tan 2dr 510 was built by me about 8 years ago. It’s been through a few different hands since then, but the current owner promises to bring it back to it’s “former glory”. 🙂
http://datsun510.com/data/3486/Rewind_510.jpg
I was looking at that car….it was one of my favorites, the orange z, and the 510 with the KA24 were the other two….i think its partly due to the style of rims ….wats or wat like design…
John, great coverage of Nismo Fiesta 2015. Despite the crazy weather that weekend I thought the turn out was really good. This year there was a really good mix of different Datsuns, Nissans and Infinitis at the event. I believe that was the first time I’ve seen a 330 chassis Gloria in person. Thanks for catching my Z32. I didn’t realize I had the oldest car on the track but I think you’re right. lol Next year I’ll bring out my RB26 powered S30 to the track event.
Your Z32 is a beautiful car, but I can’t wait to see the S30. 🙂
The Z was stunning…i’m eagerly awaiting the RB26 one, on a side note…..i have begun the process of importing a Y31 gloria and also looking for a 430 for my Dad.
Thanks guys. I’ve owned the s30 for 26 years and this will be the final restoration of it. My goal is to have is ready for Nismo Fiesta next year and Zdayz the following year.
So Nissan isnt selling the Nismo Sentra? It looks like it’s ready to go. Do it!
Yea but how dare they attempt to milk the 510 here… For years they ignored Datsuns (although they did allow meetings in the Gardena HQ lot) like they were ashamed of them… Then on a political whim they pulled themselves out of their SoCal car culture roots and fled to Dollyworld. A lot of their 50k+ employees didn’t follow suit…
The good old days:
http://s15.postimg.org/md570jgl7/nissan_building.jpg
Enjoyed the different angles of the cars and the coverage. Nice job!
Oh man, I can’t wait to attend this event next year! Awesome story!
Will you be home for good by this time next year?
Very nice article and photography. Nice to see some Roadster love.
However, I do have one small issue. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the shirt that Mr. Zubkhoff is receiving appears to be an original “Vintage Barrels” t-shirt. Now, I’m assuming that you didn’t give the man an used t-shirt, so I am left with the question: Why can’t I buy it in the JNC shop? Don’t get me wrong, the VB-II is a nice shirt, but I have been wanting an original for as long as I’ve been on this site.
It is indeed out of print and only have a small batch of misc. sizes left. We can’t accommodate everyone’s orders but what size do you wear? I’ll check if we still have it.
That would be great. Thanks a lot, Ben. Honestly I’ll take whatever you’ve got. I normally wear a large, but I figure that sold out first. I’ll shoot you a message on the forums.
Great coverage John, any way I can get you to email me the full size resolution of my 620 please?