On Sunday I attended the Saratoga Classic Car Show in beautiful downtown Saratoga, Ca. Now in its 5th year running, thousands of car lovers flock to this historic strip of Big Basin Way.  Two-hundred cars line the street with music, vendors, shopping and plenty of fun for families. Despite its huge following I had never heard of this show happening in my own backyard until a friend sent me the flyer. I thought it would be cool to represent Japanese classic cars with the Datsun Roadster so I signed up and enjoyed the day with family.

 

I’m a huge fan of muscle cars and Hot Rods so this show was a refreshing break from the J-tin that is close to my heart Here are some of my favorites:

From Ford:  ”Bullit-esque” Mustang and Pro-Touring Shelby fastback:

 

This Thunderbird had a wicked stance and Halibrand-style wheels:

 

From Chevrolet: Pro-Touring ’57, trackday Camaro, C1 ‘Vette, Yenko tribute and mean Chevelle:

 

The roadster was well-received and I spotted a very clean S30 down the street! Maybe next year we can bring more JDM flair to the show!

 

Speaking of roadsters, there was a large contingent of English droptops including this absolutely bonkers turbocharged Sunbeam Alpine:

 

Sporting some sweet vintage Enkei 92 meshies with sticky Re-11s this DE-prepped beast even had a “TIGR ETR” plate!  Below: very clean MGA, Tiger and E-type:

 

I thought I was out of place with the Datsun and then I saw this beautiful ’68 Audi 100…on bags!

Such pretty lines it reminded me of BMW’s famous E9 chassis. The Rotiform wheels were perfect:

 

I was in Torq-Thrust and vintage wheel heaven. Some of my favorites. I love flat caps on these:

Check out the gallery for more pictures!

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We have an exciting update from our Datsun Roadster friend Francis A. Last year we helped Francis sell his beautifully restored 1968 Datsun 2000 by listing it in our FOR SALE page.

 

The roadster is now across the globe with its new owner just completing a 5,000 mile tour through ten countries: Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia-Heregovina, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia and Greece…

 

Thank you Francis for sharing these photos with us.  Though it might be painful to see somebody else with your baby it is obviously in good hands!

 

Stillen supercharger month continues at Z Car Garage! Last week we featured Daly’s G37 sedan and today we bring you David G’s 2009 G37 coupe. With 57k miles on the clock David wanted to go forced-induction on his G37 with Stillen’s CARB-legal kit.  As with all builds, each customer gets a dedicated rack for parts:

 

We also installed a  JWT HD clutch/flywheel, Z-Speed T/O bearing and 19-row oil cooler:

 

For added peace of mind we also performed full 60k services. Here are a few in-progress pictures:

 

On the dyno, the Stillen-provided CAN tune put down 406hp/309tq to the wheels. Rob’s tuning further improved hp and tq throughout the entire rev range for total of 433hp/325tq!

 

With an improvement of +137hp/69tq over stock David is trying to keep his smile under control. Enjoy the Boost!

 

June felt like Stillen Supercharger month at the shop. Since Stillen has made significant changes to their kit including the use of a Vortech blower, this is now a very popular choice for great power gains and CARB-friendliness. Naturally, Z/G enthusiasts are lining up to enjoy some boost!

We have three Stillen S/C builds to report. Let’s start with Daly C’s  2009 G37 Sedan. You might notice that the kit still uses the pretty “Stillen” cast intake manifold with dual throttle bodies on one side:

 

Here are a few in-progress pics of the install. Daly has GTM oil and tranny coolers and GTR one-step colder spark plugs:

 

While the G was here we gave Daly a full 30k service for peace of mind and upgraded Stoptech brake pads. The before/after:

 

So how does the Stillen kit perform? With the baseline CAN tune from Stillen, it produced 373hp/282tq to the wheels. This is an improvement of 89hp/40tq with most of the gains only noticeable after 4krpm:

 

Rob’s tuning however, turns Daly’s G into a different beast now making 414hp/317tq to the wheels. This is a significant peak increase of 38hp/35tq to the wheels over the base tune! More importantly, the gains are available throughout the entire rev range. Lots of area under the curve to enjoy!

 

It’s always gratifying to see total gains above baseline, so here is what the +130hp/75tq improvement looks like:

 

Daly we love your sleeper G37 sedan. Tune in next week for the second Stillen build!

 

***!!!Attention all Datsun fans!!!***

 

Z Owners of Northern California (ZONC) will be hosting a Datsun/Nissan car corral at the Historic races August 14-17 at Laguna Seca. This is a very special event with several Datsuns competing and the legendary Joel Anderson will be driving his IMSA Z. The last time Anderson drove ‘Seca in this car was 25 years ago!
Don’t miss this event and bring your Datsun/Nissan to the corral to show some support!

 

 

We also hear that the wicked Steve Millen 300zx IMSA race car will also be running! See you at ‘Seca!