Japanese Nostalgic Car

By far one of the more bizarre automotive dalliances was the very short lived alliance between Alfa Romeo and Nissan in the early 80s. Alfa Romeo needed a small and cheap new model to accompany it’s new Alfa33 compact, and Nissan needed a way to break into the European market.

Back in the 1980s, JDM manufacturers were subject to import quotas in most Europoean countries, which limited the number of cars they could sell in any given market. Today, Japanese manufacturers all have plants in Europe anyway, so the import quotas are no longer an issue. But back in the early 80s, Nissan saw a way around the quotas by tying up with Alfa Romeo. And Alfa Romeo would begin to manufacture Nissan Pulsars in its old Alfasud factory near Naples, and that plan was that Nissan would have golden opportunity to expand its European market share, free of the constraints of import quotas.

Well…..it didn’t quite work out that way.

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Hot damn. I swear on your ma, we’re not as biased toward Nissan as you’d think—There’s just a frightening lack of happenings out there for the other marques that are worth mentioning. And as I always say, if we’re missing something fly, you need to be emailing that business to us.

So moving on. Auto-Otaku has gotten his hands on some shots of a bag of classic Neesahns out cruising through the hills of Nihon, with a spot of track time thrown in. If only there were some video of that shiz.

It’s a small bunch of photos, but damn nice nonetheless. Head over.

Ever dreamed about finding a basket-case C10 Skyline in a barn, and then restoring it to perfection? Is it a recurring dream? You and me both, brother.

But the reality of old-car restoration is a lot less romantic than we’d like, and vintage Nissan specialists Star Road, located in Edogawa in east Tokyo, has got a great photodiary of their recent resto of a C10 GT-R rep. Check it out, it really does look like the base car was an absolute basket case, but it’s inspiring to see them restore it properly. I can’t imagine how much it all costed in the end but I’m sure you’ll agree the final result was worth it.

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Where do you reckon would be home to the most ridiculously awesome S30Z in the world? You might think it’d have to be Japan, with their crazy big turbos and ability to turn anything old and Japanese into a masterpiece… or maybe you’d think it would be the U.S.A., where some of the finest customs in the world are built, and supercharged V8’s are sold by the dozen in wooden crates at Wal-Mart. But you’d be wrong. You forgot about the country that brought us ABBA, Volvo and “bork bork bork!” (was that last reference too obscure?)

For over 2 years now, Philip (better known as Mull) has been hard at work with his 240Z, turning it into what can only be described as a piece of engineering magnificence. Graciously, he has documented the entire build from very beginning to its stage now (which involves welding in the suspension from an R32 into the rear end) with great photographs and very entertaining videos. The build is nowhere near completion just yet, but this is a testament to his dedication to create a car without compromise rather than anything else. The project is documented at one of our favourite forums, Classic Z Cars.

Visit the thread, now.

I have no doubt that when finished, this will be one of the best modified S30Z’s in the world. Possibly the best? We wait with baited breath…

As cool as a wood-fuel-powered truck may be, that example in my previous post is a little less classic and a little more ancient than we generally like to cover here. So here’s something a little more up our alley.

Loyal grandJDM reader and hitman, Mark, pointed us in the general direction of this club devoted to the Nissan Sunny truck thing, or more to the point, devoted to awesome. With a strong focus on the B110 and GB120 Sunny trucks, as the name Club Sunny Truck probably made quite clear for you, these guys know how to rock the tray.

In Australia, we refer to these types of cars as “utes”; short for “utility”. They’ve often got a couch sitting in the back so the owners and their buddies can take them to the local car races or football matches and comfortably sip beer from the couch while watching. I wonder if the Club Sunny Truck members sip warm sake in the back of their utes…