I’m squinting through the mist in a miserable New England Summer town, the type of place where saltbox cottages reign over the harbor on stilts and wafty retirees turn up their nose in seashell-clad sweaters. Obscuring my view like horse blinders is a Sabelt race seat from a Ferrari challenge car, saving me from having to make eye contact with the upper crusts who’s uneaten fish dinners I ruin as I rumble slowly through the main street, dodging cobblestone crosswalks and never-ending potholes.
In this town full of historical societies and Paul Revere Slept Here houses, suddenly my modern classic feels unwelcome and out of place.
Enter this, my new to me 2003 Nissan 350z, built by good friend and local speedshop owner, Chris. His project/daily/drift car, this Z has been thrashed across New England race tracks and highways for the past few years, before changing hands with me about a month ago in preparation of his S13 getting back on the road.
In full transparency, the car is a little rough. The CD001 has an internal grind that makes you grit your teeth, and the window seals make no attempt to keep even the smallest amount of water out of the cabin. The reverse lights got ripped off on a wall drag, the key doesn’t unlock the car after the doors were replaced from getting stuffed in during a tandem at Thompson, so an ugly, taped together fob now hangs off the keyring as the only way to get in the car. The Nismo exhaust is bent and misshapen, the taillights are duct taped in, and the fucking windows drop down every time I close the doors. I had to pull the fuse for the horn because it grounds out when I turn the wheel, the Vertex bumper and skirts are “alleged,” and it smells like a hockey bag on a hot day. My dad thinks it’s going to explode and my grandmother feels unsafe driving knowing this has a registration and plates. Most importantly, though, this car is mine, and I couldn’t be any more obsessed with it.
I’ve been wasting gas in it like when I first got my license, finding every opportunity to take it to the grocery store 45 minutes away from home and driving separate to events it would be much easier to go to in just one car. I lay out beach towels on the carpet with pride on rainy days and take a photo every time I walk away, catching worried stares from parents I pass on 93 and waves from their kids in the back seat. I took it to Chinatown and the North Shore and the beach and to a drift event the week after I got plates, and I’m feeling more and more like Nissan should’ve stopped making cars after 2003.
This car is as old as I am, and it’s a kind of charming similarity we share— the both of us in our early 20s, in a transitional phase but spending the Summer with friends on racetracks and interstates.
So, what’s the plan with it then? Well, for the most part, it’ll stay more or less in this form for the near future, aside for some new wheels and a handful of little quality of life improvements— a new shift knob, some cooling mods, and fixing the AC that currently operates like it’s possessed. Otherwise, the car has been set up incredibly well for both drifting and daily use by Chris, with some BC coilovers, a welded diff, and minor angle— along with a laundry list of other mods I’ll save for space. Next year, I’m going to order scissor doors and rewire the underglow to live out my 2000s fantasy, but other than that, this is my drift car and new 3-ish season daily, and I look forward to having it for a long time.
I hope you’ve all been well— this little intro post is how I’m getting over the barrier of writing again, but with lots more planned for the Summer and only 6 months left before I move out of California and back to Boston full time, there’s going to be a lot of great events coverage coming soon. In a post for a seperate day, I’ll share a handful of stories in a big update about where I’ve been over the past year, but for today, I’ll keep it to the new car. Stay safe out there, and if you see a red Z with bassboat paint, don’t be afraid to say hey. Keep doing cool shit in cars, and I’ll see you back on track or a local backroad again soon. ///RC
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