This 1971 Nissan Skyline has been in the Z Car Garage family for several years and currently resides in Georgia with owner Randy Jaffe. Randy has built a few notable cars with ZCG including the Rocketbunny Series1 240Z and #46 BRE Datsun 240Z driven by John Morton:

How did he end up with this JDM beauty? Randy has always loved the stance and looks of these early, “Hakosuka” Skylines and wanted to experience right-hand drive (RHD). Timing was perfect as our customer Alex McDowell was willing to part with his 2000 GT-X:

 

Under Alex’s ownership ZCG maintained the car for many years. It did not need much to prepare for delivery to Randy. We performed a full tune-up, sync’d the triple carbs, changed the fluids, handled minor cosmetics (like straightening the bumper) and it was shipped off to Georgia:

 

Randy’s Way

 

If there is one thing about Randy we admire, it’s his attention to detail. Ok, we like his sense of style too 🙂 Upon arrival he mounted fresh set of chunky Toyo tires on those iconic Watanabe wheels. Inside, he removed the carpet and replaced it with original style GT-R vinyl covering. The tan seats were reupholstered to red.

 

The car was originally a white GT-X and when I asked Randy of any future mods he replied:

“I am thinking about dropping one of the Parkinson race motors in it to give the car more power – the original 2.0 is sluggish compared to what I enjoy driving. If I do that I will pull all of the A/C parts off of it and clean up the engine bay. To be continued!”

Randy applied the Hakosuka racecar-inspired livery:

 

Here is a walk-around of the Hako, with more pictures in the gallery below.

 

We are happy to report that Randy is Enjoying The Ride and even won an award at the local Caffeine and Octane show:

 

More to Come

 

You may have noticed some really cool cars in the background. Randy has several Nissans/Datsuns in his collection that we are excited to share with you in upcoming blog posts! For now, LONG LIVE THE HAKOSUKA!

 

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Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Z Car Garage! We hope you can find time to Enjoy The Ride over the holidays. Please note our hours of operation below:

We will be closed today and Friday for Thanksgiving, re-opening Tuesday December 1. Thank you!

 

 

 

Z Car Garage is expanding to support our vintage, late model and motorsport work. We are seeking an experienced and skilled automotive technician to join our team. This is not an average automotive job. We work 4-10hr days and offer competitive pay/benefits.

Requirements: Automotive experience, your own set of tools, willingness to learn, and be part of a team.

Nissan/Datsun experience is NOT a requirement, you just need to have passion.

Interested or know someone who might be a good fit? Share this, spread the word and please contact rob@zcargarage.com or call us at (408)452-0350.

 

  

 

 

For Sale: This Hakosuka Skyline was originally imported for our customer in 2011 and it has been modified and maintained exclusively by Z Car Garage. The drivetrain was updated with a 3.1L L-series with triple Mikuni induction, and 5-speed transmission. It is ready to be enjoyed. For more information please see our For Sale Ad HERE

 

 

Last Sunday we attended the DrivingWhileAwesome (DWA) Cars & Coffee event in Santa Cruz, CA. Our group of friends left from San Jose and headed up HWY 17 on a chilly morning with myself, Rob and Meghan in our Datsun Roadsters, Geoff in his BMW 2002 and Ty in the 991 Porsche:

 

We were stoked to see Rob’s Datsun 2000 on the road with refreshed Mikuni-Solex carbs and it sounded wonderful. Full report soon!

 

In Search of J-Tin

The venue has moved since we last caught the DWA gathering in Davenport.  Sunday’s event was held at the new location across from the Old Wrigley Building in Santa Cruz. By 9am the parking lot filled rapidly with a great diversity in marque and era.

 

Although attendance was mostly Euro/Italian, many Japanese gems showed up. Let’s start with the Nissan/Datsun showing. Ray’s Hakosuka Skyline was a pleasant surprise.

 

The last time we saw Ray was at the Golden Week Kyusha Festival where I learned that this Hako was from our friends at JDM Legends! We look forward to seeing Ray for some upgrades on this already stunning Skyline.

 

Happy to see Courtney and her 1973 240z.

 

VQ-powered S30, R32 Skyline, S14 240sx and Infiniti Q45:

   

More J-tin goodness! Lloyd’s Corolla was a crowd favorite (mine as well) sporting a 4AGE fed by ITBs, Levin front end and perfect Volk TE37s. This AE86 coupe complements his F20C powered AE86 Hatch.

 

Glenn’s sexy FD RX-7:

 

Two black NSXs

 

Making our Datsun Roadsters look big was this Honda TN7 “Kei” pickup:

  

Euro Classics

Yearning for Porsche’s? Or something a bit less “mainstream”? DWA CnC did not disappoint.

 

Two Panteras:

  

Geoff’s 2002 and an E28 M5:

 

 

Pretty Alfas:

 

VWs: Scirocco and a LSx-swapped Caddy!

 

Austin Healey:

 

Porsche Galore:  914s, 944s, swb 911s, 991s

 

American classics as well! Here is a Plymouth Belvedere and International Harvester Travelall:

 

DWA CnC was definitely my kind of cars and coffee. It’s a great venue with amazing driving roads nearby and the cars were so diverse. We highly recommend checking it out! Thanks to the DWA crew for hosting. If you haven’t already, listen to their podcast and make sure you give them a follow on Instagram.
More pictures in the gallery below!

 

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