A long time ago, when I was way into Initial D and import cars in general, I often dreamed about getting a Nissan 240SX, and doing everything necessary to it to essentially turn it into a Nissan Sil-Eighty, a Frankenstein of a drift car that merged the front end of a Nissan Silvia with the body of a Nissan 180SX.
I thought, and still kind of do think, that it’s an awesome car, and that it would be real peachy if I could ever get my hands on one at any point in my lifetime.
Long gone are those boyhood racer dreams for the most part, although I wouldn’t not entertain the idea of still getting an old Nissan 240SX and restoring it to some degree of hotness, but perhaps without the need for an SR20 turbo engine, or any major super-expensive part that needed to be imported internationally. Regardless, it’s safe to assume that those dreams of becoming a legendary drifter are long in the past.
Regardless, I came across this article, and it invoked memories of those old Initial D-fueled days by virtue of the fact that the car of the article was yet another car that I had a very high opinion of, the Mazda RX-7 FD. I never really wanted to use adjectives that I’d typically reserve for aesthetically appealing women for a car, but there was no denying the fact that I found the FD to be a sexy car. It also didn’t hurt that it was a technological marvel with its twin-turbo Wankel rotary engine that generated horsepower numbers that would still be considered high-powered in today’s standards.
This article is a great example of a great read to me, because it’s well-written and has plenty of visual stimulation with lots of pictures to justify the story of a man who liked cars, and had the resources and know-how to track down an old vehicle, and restore it to its once former glory. This isn’t the first time I’ve enjoyed a good read about a successful restoration, but this is definitely the first that I’ve come across in a very long time.
Despite the fact that my old car-crazy days are long gone, I still enjoyed this story immensely, and it even triggers some thoughts in my own head that perhaps if the opportunity ever presented itself, that I’d love to have an old car to tool around with, and restore to some glory.
