Zeds last Dance
This car… This car just like so many machines in the height of the good times somehow made its way onto our little green Island. Its something we discuss a lot here on Juicebox because it really is such a fascinating piece of Irish automotive History.
This is hands down one of the coolest 350z I have ever come across, possibly the coolest one in Ireland and before you explode, allow me to explain. When this originally came in it was white and boy did it look incredible. I’m not the biggest fan of a completely stock 350z , its very bulbous and there is no real defining edges on it which always seemed to bug me, but that’s personal taste.
The wild NKB kit sort of follows the JGTC look and gives the 350z some sharp edges which really do enhance this beauty. For some reason this kit is almost impossible to come across online and I really didn’t see too many others state side or in Japan which I found very interesting. I do think this is one of the coolest kits every produced for a 350 and it shocked me to see very little of them online.
Fast forward a few years and someone paid big money for this car, as it was only a few years old when it was shipped to Ireland. The car did the rounds for a few years, and somewhere along the line it was painted green. We had a fascination with painting everything green here but yet it didn’t kill the look of the car.
The kit puffs the entire car out and it basically has a proper track GT300 look, but in road form. Sadly no one had the love for this machine as I asked Ffrenchie to drive it down to Waterford a few weeks before I headed away to Canada, very eager to shoot this car before it was broken it met its uncertain faith.
Thankfully for now, breaking cars has started to slow down big time as the value of everything increases. It’s crazy how we live in a country where no one really wanted this thing. Once of the best kits I have ever seen on a 350z accompanied by proper wheels and a wing, if it was only returned to white or something else and loved it would have been one of the best lookers in the world.
Those twin rear exhausts! I checked in with FFrenchie a few weeks back and heard that the shell still exists and everything is there except the running gear, which is a good bit of news.
Its insane just how much potential this Z had to offer. There really cant be too man countries in the world where stuff comes from the mother land of gold only to be discarded in the corner.
I felt the car deserved its final shoot, in whatever costume I could have it in. Rain hail or snow it was happening. Maybe I’m alone in thinking this car was mental but its just another one of these stories I would tell someone abroad.
Stories about some of the most enjoyable stuff to ever come out of Japan, stuck in a strange limbo, in a shed or similar, many to meet their inevitable faith while some are lucky to be saved.
Its such a funny little country we live in, I do feel a lot of us take it for granted how lucky we are to have witnessed some of the quality that was snatched from Japan. This 350z is a prime example; if this were anywhere else in the world this thing would be the right colour, with the right bits and probably be insta famous…. I’m sure you and your friends have many a similar story about similar cars.
There really are not too many places quite like our Emerald Isle for tales like that.
Both FFrenchie and myself were hoping it wouldn’t come to broken down but that’s how it goes.
I wonder what will happen to this shell, will it ever become something again? Time will tell.
Last I heard its still sitting in Martin FFrenches shed. Someone should save this thing and make it shine once again.