EVENTS: New Year’s Day Drive 2022

Filed under: 240z,280Z,510,Events,Great Drives,r32
by Alvin G @ 5:10 pm on January 1, 2022

Happy New Year! Today we kicked off 2022 the right way with a New Year’s drive on a beautiful California day. Our friend Geoff assembled a group of cars and we were pleasantly surprised to see several Z Car Garage clients and friends in attendance! Thank you to everyone that braved the chilly morning temperatures and truly showed that Datsuns Are Driven! Enjoy photos and video from the cruise below.

I drove my 1967.5 Datsun Roadster and it was a cool 36F at 8:30am as I hit the freeway for the meeting point in San Jose. It was so good to see familiar faces and cool cars. Geoff briefed the group and we rolled out 16 cars strong heading up HWY 17 to Bear Creek Rd. Let’s take a look at the group:

Jim’s 1971 Datsun 240Z

Jim’s 1971 Datsun 240z is now sporting a Rebello 3.2L with triple-Mikuni carbs on a Harada intake, Recaro Specialist seats, CD009a 6-speed transmission, our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes (for small wheels) and Z Car Garage CV Axles!

Dirk’s 1973 Datsun 240Z

Dirk’s 1973 Datsun 240z is back on the road with a fresh engine, Z Car Garage Big-Brakes (for small wheels) and Z Car Garage CV Axles and Silvia 6-speed transmission. Full report coming to zcarblog.com

Glenn’s 1972 Nissan Fairlady 240z-L

Glenn Chiou drove his RHD Fairlady Z sporting our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes (for small wheels). He is an avid vintage race car driver/restorer and found our brake kit offers incredible brake feel and performance all fitting behind his favorite 15×8 zero offset Watanabe wheel:

Vince’s 1973 Datsun 240Z

Vince’s 1973 Datsun 240z is Enjoying The Ride with our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes (for small wheels) and Z Car Garage CV Axles. He scored this Z from our friends at Bring a Trailer!

Mrs. Butters

Rob and Meghan Fuller drove Mrs. Butters, our Series 1 shop 240z. This Series 1 S30 features a 3.2L with triple-Mikuni induction, Z Car Garage Big-Brakes, Z Car Garage CV Axles, ZCG Heat Shield, 6-speed transmission and full KW suspension (releasing soon).

Jose’s Z

Jose M was happy to join us in his Z. After 8 years, Rob and Jose re-connected at our 2023 Nissan Z Viewing.

Felix’ 1996 Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo

Felix joined is in his 1996 Z32TT. This 300 will also get an updated feature on zcarblog.com.

Pall’s Nissan Skyline GT-R

Pall’s R32 recently visited ZCG for Haltech ECU and dyno tuning.

Datsun 510s

We had three Datsun 510s in Wagon, 2-door and 4-door models!

Mark’s 1972 Datsun 510

We upgraded Mark’s 510 with our Z Car Garage CV Axles. These CV axles help transmit power to the ground and ensure smoother operation compared to standard half shafts, while eliminating the need for aluminum adapters. Mark got ZCG VV Axle set #320 and he loves them:

Nick’s Datsun 510 Wagon

Z Car Garage’s very own Nick F drove his L-Series powered 510 wagon with SSR mesh wheels.

Dustin’s Datsun 510 4-door

We’ve known Dustin and Courtney for many years. Dustin’s 510 4-door runs a KA24DE and sweet Longchamp XR-4 wheels. Hagerty produced a video featuring the local Bay Area Datsun couple you can see it HERE. Dustin also installed our Z Car Garage CV Axles himself on his 510!

Kurt drove his Subaru GC8 with full STi drivetrain. We’ve got more updates on his R32 Skyline GT-R soon! Eric drove his Infiniti FX35 and Henry brought his Stillen Supercharged 370Z. Ben also attended in his 1974 Datsun 260Z.

Our fearless leader Geoff in his Lotus 7 and my Datsun Roadster. Also joing us was William in his (964) 911:

Enjoying The Ride

Bear Creek Rd. up to HWY 9 to the look out was surprisingly traffic-free. At the lookout we could see clear across the Santa Cruz mountains to the coast. A few late-model Porsche’s stopped by.

Enjoy this video of the drive and all cars particiapting:

From the lookout we drove up Skyline (35) and down Alpine Rd. Recent rains have made lush forests:

After a short re-group we took 84 up to Alice’s Restaurant and chatted for a bit. It is always busy here and the eye-candy endless. My J-Tin radar was treated to Mark 3 and 4 Supras, S14 240SX, R35 GT-R, MR2 and DC2 Integra:

This Model A had a hot-rodded 4-cylinder Flathead. It’s a small world and through Geoff we were introduced to the owner, John B. John races a Jaguar Special with CSRG!