Evo Magazine drives the legendary Calsonic Skyline
Posted: February 4, 2013 Filed under: Auto Idolatry, SHOWCASE | Tags: Calsonic, Evo Magazine, GT-R, NISMO, Nissan, R32, Skyline, Touring Car Leave a comment »Nissan’s R32 Skyline dominated touring car races in the late 80s and early 90s. This Calsonic Nismo R32 Skyline GT-R featured here was the most successful of them all, and helped create the GTR’s “Godzilla” image it has today. Enjoy.
-Nick
Spotted! 1971 Nissan Skyline GT-R, Woodward Ave, MI
Posted: July 23, 2012 Filed under: Classics, Exotics, SPOTTED! | Tags: 1971, 1972, Avenue, Birmingham, C10, Detroit, GTR, In, KPGC10, MI, Michigan, Mind, motor, Nissan, Oak, on, original, Over, Royal, Skyline, spotted, States, the street, United, USA, Woodward 1 Comment »
An extremely rare spot on Woodward Ave this weekend. Only around 1900 C10 generation Skyline GT-Rs were produced worldwide, and only a small handful of them have found their way to the US. This car took me completely by surprise, but I recognized it as soon as I saw it and kind of just stood there dumbfounded because I had never seen one before. He came back the other way on Woodward a few minutes later and I was able to get these two shots. I never saw him go by again that night so I’, glad I got these pics. Hopefully I will find it parked at some point, and can do a real quality photo shoot. Till then, I’m just happy to have seen it at all. Great car.
Spotted! Nissan R34 Skyline GTR V-Spec, Woodward Ave, MI
Posted: July 9, 2012 Filed under: Exotics, Modded, SPOTTED! | Tags: Ave, Avenue, Birmingham, Car, Detroit, DETT, GTR, import, Inline, Japan, legal, MI, Michigan, Mind, motor, Motorex, NISMO, Nissan, Oak, OBD2, Over, R34, Rare, RB26, registration, Royal, six, Skyline, Spec, spotted, Test, turbo, Twin, US, V, wheels, Woodward 4 Comments »
Nissan R34 Skyline GTR
This is a genuine R34 Skyline GTR spotted on US soil. I saw it drive by while I was in Birmingham, and then I was able to find it later on Woodward Ave. It has a legitimate US registration and was imported legally through Motorex while they were still in operation. It has remained a US legal car because it was used as a test car for updating Skylines to OBD2 specifications. This may well be the cleanest R34 Skyline in the United States, certainly the cleanest one I have seen in person. The owner was very cool and happily showed me around the car. It also has only Nismo modifications on it, so this R34 is the equivalent of a numbers matching muscle car for Skylines; very special these days when everyone wants too much horsepower at the expense of all else. It attracted a decent amount of attention, but not as much as I would have figured because most folks around here are all about muscle cars. I was fortunate enough to have some unobstructed photo time with this beautiful R34, so I got some great shots (the fact that it was sunset helped too). Enjoy the pics.
6th Annual Tristatetuners Spring Meet
Posted: May 14, 2012 Filed under: EVENTS / PLACES | Tags: 240, 6th, annual, Audi, BMW, Cars, gallery, Honda, Infiniti, Mazda, meet, Mercedes, Mind, Modified, motor, Nissan, Over, Silvia, Skyline, Spring, Subaru, Supercharger, supra, TE37, Toyota, Tristatetuners, turbo, Volk, VW Leave a comment »
We we in attendance for the 6th Annual Tristatetuners Spring Meet in Pennsylvania. Here are the highlights.
Street Wars 8
Posted: April 23, 2012 Filed under: EVENTS / PLACES, Photography by Dan Valanzola | Tags: 302, 350Z, 4G63, 8, AC, accord, airbrush, AMG, Art, Atlantic, Ball, Boss, C63, Camaro, Chevrolet, city, clean, Dan, drag, Dragon, euro, Evo, evolution, FD, Ford, GC, Genesis, Geo, GTI, GTR, Hatch, Honda, Hot Rod, Hyundai, import, Impreza, intake, Integra, Jersey, Lancer, Lexus, Mazda, Mercedes, Miata, Mind, Mitsubishi, Modded, Modified, Monster, motor, Muscle, Mustang, new, Nick, Nissan, NJ, Over, Photography, race, racer, Rotary, RX7, slam, slammed, slicks, Stance, STi, Street, Subaru, Supercharge, Track, Truck, tuned, tuner, turbo, Valanzola, VIP, VW, Wagon, Walker, Wars, WRX, Z 1 Comment »
Photo by Dan Valanzola
We were in attendance for Street Wars 8. The show was a lot smaller than last year due to organizational issues, but there were still plenty of quality cars to see. Photos are by both myself and Dan Valanzola. Enjoy the gallery. Read the rest of this entry »
Spotted! Modded S14 Nissan 240SX, Tucson AZ
Posted: April 2, 2012 Filed under: Modded, SPOTTED! | Tags: 240, Arizona, AZ, blow, cage, Car, Drift, FMIC, front, Intercooler, KA24, Mind, Modded, motor, mount, Nissan, off, Over, RB20, RB25, roll, S14, SR20, SX, Tucson, turbo 2 Comments »
Why bother with a bumper when you have a huge intercooler?
Definitely had a turbocharger, but I’m not sure what motor he had in it. It is always fun to see a bumperless 240 rolling around in public with just a big intercooler up front. The 240 crowd is an interesting bunch, and I respect their love for making most people go “huh?”. Cool Car, more pics below.
-Nick
3 years on, are the Japanese still lost in the dark?
Posted: February 24, 2012 Filed under: MEDIA RESPONSE | Tags: Baruth, Big Three, GT86, Honda, Jack Baruth, Japan, Media Response, Mind over motor, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Opinion, Profit, Reputation, Sports, Subaru, The Truth about Cars, Thoughts, Toyota Leave a comment »
Back in the Eighties, Toyota was making stuff like this iconic AE86. Thankfully the GT 86 might bring back the glory of yesteryear, but what about the rest of Japan?
Back in 2009, The Truth About Cars editor Jack Baruth wrote an article on how the Japanese auto industry is losing its heritage to the point where its products are a shell of what they used to be. He talked about how Honda had lost its roots as a maker of cars with flair and engineering excellence, and how Nissan and Toyota were becoming too close to one another on retail lots. He reposted it on their website (thetruthaboutcars.com) and I found it to still be relevant today. But, in these three years, a few things have changed in the market. My question is this: Does Baruth’s argument still hold water, and is there any more evidence to support his side of this debate? I took a look into what the market is like today, and there are arguments for both sides. Read the rest of this entry »
Nissan Juke R, what to do for a production version?
Posted: January 5, 2012 Filed under: INDUSTRY TALK | Tags: 2.0, all, AWD, building, Concept, Drive, Evo, for, I4, Juke, killer, marketing, Mind, motor, Nick, Nissan, Over, plans, Production, prototype, R, STi, turbo, V6, Walker, wheel Leave a comment »
Nissan Juke R prototype
There has been a lot of buzz over the Nissan GTR powered Juke R. It is one of those insane ideas that comes along every so often as a prototype and makes everyone wonder if it could ever make it to production. The last time this sort of thing happened, VW put a Bentley GT engine in a GTI, it caused a commotion and even appeared on Top Gear, but that was all that became of it. I see the GTR powered Juke R as the same sort of thing, a fun prototype that won’t actually make it to production. It does however raise the question of what a high performance Juke could actually be like in production form though. Read the rest of this entry »
A look back at 2011
Posted: December 31, 2011 Filed under: INDUSTRY TALK | Tags: 1M, 2011, A7, Audi, Aventador, back, Bentley, Benz, BMW, CLS, Evoque, Ferrari, FF, GTR, Happy, Honda, Huayra, Lamborghini, Land Rover, Leaf, look, Mercedes, Mind, motor, new, Nissan, Over, Pagani, Rang, recap, review, Rover, Toyota, Volkswagen, year Leave a comment »
2011 will be remembered as many things by many people, but one thing it will not be seen as is a boring year. So much happened this year around the world, from terrible cataclysms to amazing and inspiring revolutions. Obviously being a car site, we want to focus more on the auto industry, but it would be a great injustice not to first acknowledge the events of this year that have changed the lives of millions of people around the globe. Now as for the auto industry, many great things have happened as well as a few that are not so great. Read the rest of this entry »
Automotive Evolution: Series Introduction
Posted: November 28, 2011 Filed under: AUTOMOTIVE INSIGHTS | Tags: Asia, automotive, Challenger, development, Dodge, Europe, evolution, Factors, History, Japan, Mind, motor, Nissan, Over, Porsche, Skyline, States, United, USA Leave a comment »
Porsche 911s old and new
There is a lot of bickering that goes on between car enthusiasts about cars of different regions, saying European cars are this, American cars can’t do that, Japanese cars are this, etc. With the advent of the Internet this bickering has only expanded and now people are arguing their views with folks all over the globe. While it is interesting to witness, there is a huge amount of ignorance and a lack of appreciation (on everyone’s part) for how different cars came to be the way they are. I am starting this mini series here to take a look at how the automobile developed in different parts of the world, and hopefully enlighten some of the very opinionated people out there so that they may at least respect cars from all regions and their purposes. Read the rest of this entry »
The business of renting your dream car: Part 1
Posted: November 8, 2011 Filed under: AUTOMOTIVE INSIGHTS | Tags: Aston, Audi, Bear, Bentley, Car, Cars, critique, CT, Dream, East, Exotic, Exotics, Ferrari, Gotham, GTR, Jersey, Lamborghini, Las, Martin, Mclaren, Mind, motor, Mountain, Nevada, new, Nissan, North, NV, NYC, Over, R8, racing, Rental, school, south, Speedway, Tour, Vegas, west, York 1 Comment »
A photo from Gotham Dream Car's "Legends Tour", Lambos only with special guest Valentino Balboni
The sun shines brightly down on a sleek, sculpted shape; the rays reflecting outward with a voluptuous red hue. The car contrasts sharply with the restrained elegance of nature, imposing itself on all within view. This is your dream car; it is vastly expensive (more than you are ever likely to afford), insanely fast (capable of easily breaking the highest speed limit in just a few seconds), and quite rare (only a few hundred exist, and they are not seen often on the street). In the past it was accepted that only a lucky few would ever get to even drive an ultra-exotic car, and even fewer would ever own one; however in the last decade or so an industry has emerged that will let anyone get behind the wheel of the worlds auto exotica, for a price though, of course. I have been following this industry with great interest and have had some recent experiences with two leading companies. While there are more and more companies popping up out there, I still have yet to see an industry standard emerge, lets first look at what there is out there right now. Read the rest of this entry »
Secondhand Saint: Infiniti G35
Posted: September 20, 2011 Filed under: Secondhand Saints, SHOWCASE | Tags: 3.5L, 35, 350Z, buy, comfort, G35, great, Infiniti, info, Luxury, manual, Market, Mind, Modded, Modified, motor, Nissan, Over, saint, secondhand, Sport, Transmission, Used, V6, VQ, Z Leave a comment »
G35 Coupe
The G35 pretty much saved the Infiniti brand when it came out. It offered an extremely solid package for a very good price offering better performance than its German competition for less money. The G35 shared its platform with the Nissan 350Z, making the sedan a four door sports car and the coupe a more comfortable Z. It was a rock solid lineup and they sold like hotcakes to executives and enthusiasts alike. Now they are among the best used cars you can buy if you’re looking for something that’s got everything. Read the rest of this entry »
