The Titan was never a big seller for Nissan in America. Not even the Titan XD with the Cummins V8 turbo diesel managed to put a dent in the market share of the F-150, Ram, and Silverado, but nevertheless, the Mississippi-built pickup soldiers on for 2020.
From the makers of the 750-horsepower 370Z time attack racing car, Z1 returns into the spotlight with what Nissan should’ve done to the Titan XD in the first place. The truck in the photo gallery is nicknamed Butch Johnson, and as you can tell, the Georgia-based outfit has swapped the factory rear axle with a dually setup for superior towing capacity.
The big rig had to remove the cargo bed then widen the rear fenders to create the double-wheel conversion, now sporting 19.5-inch wheels wrapped in 33-inch Toyo tires. A three-inch lift kit and eight-bolt axles, a beefier front bumper with LED auxiliary lights a two-tone combination of Black Metallic and NISMO Grey Metallic paintwork, there’s a lot to like here.
Even the leaf spring suspension has been relocated to the inside of the frame rails, and the finishing touches come in the guise of Midnight Edition headlights and badging. Under the hood, the 5.6-liter naturally aspirated V8 has been upgraded with an intake system from AFE, 4.0-inch Mishimoto exhaust system, and a little bit of ECU software calibration.
Z1 Off-Road even makes a case for “improved fuel economy,” but that might be wishful thinking if you remember that a dually conversion adds a lot of weight to the bone-stock Titan XD. Nissan has yet to announce the starting price for the 2020 model year, but in any case, it should be a few bucks more than the $42,825 sticker of the 2019 crew cab 4WD.
On an ending note, care to guess how many Titans were sold in 2018 stateside? The grand total is 50,459 examples of the breed. To put that volume into greater perspective, the Ford Motor Company sold 18 times more pickups from the F-Series.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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