With its less-than-sleek 1990s cloth top, the Nissan 300ZX we have here might pass as a kit car or an aftermarket effort to an untrained eye. In fact, the Japanese sports car does pack plenty of custom bits and pieces, but those are neatly tucked under the hood and to a spectacular effect.
Offered between 1993 and 1996, the Convertible came out three years after the Z32-generation 300ZX Coupe, sporting a roll bar underneath its soft top, which is the main reason for the styling mentioned above. Factor in the declining popularity of cabriolets in the said era, and you'll understand why we see so few of these on the road nowadays.
So, while keeping the look of the sports car mostly stock (more on this below), the owner of this example decided to seriously upgrade the firepower. And while we don't have an output number, we can tell you that the TT 3.0-liter V6 has been gifted with custom 28mm turbos.
To make proper use of the said hardware at the drag strip, the machine now features specific wheels and tires, which are a hint towards the increased performance or not—it all depends on the beholder being familiar with the drag racing scene.
To be more specific, the rear axle features smaller wheels, which allow the meaty sidewall of the tires to help with getting off the line, while the skinny front units reduce rolling resistance.
As showcased by the video below, which comes courtesy of Drag Racing and Car Stuff, the Nissan recently descended on the Edgewater Sports Park in Ohio as part of the Go Fast Life event.
And, for the first two races documented in the clip, the Japanese toy battled a current-generation Chevrolet Camaro SS and a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII. The quarter-mile numbers shown at the track speak for themselves, with the brawl against the muscle car being particularly spectacular (note that the Camaro delivered the kind of performance you'd expect from a factory model).
However, the Nissan 300ZX Convertible also duked it out with a Tesla Model 3 and the C7 Chevrolet Corvette, although these were index class adventures: the driver that gets closer to the specified time (11.5s in this case) wins while going quicker results in an automatic loss. If both machines go under the said time, the one remaining closer to the index grabs the win.
And all we can say is that things got extremely close during the second part of the adventure.
In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist. Full profile
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