I was pointed towards a link on the Edmund’s Straightline Blog the other day that gives us a view into one of the 370z designer’s mind.  Randy Rodriguez penned the original 370z sketch and it turns out that he grabbed some inspiration from a few exotic Italian motorcycles.

While the 370z was in it’s early design phase Randy was piecing together a MV Agusta F4-750 and it is easy to see how one beautiful two-wheeled machine was able to lend a few design cues to a four-wheeled one.  There were also influences from a Ducati 749/999 upper triple clamp that was morphed into the final design of the sport-package wheel.  His MV Agusta motorcycle now sits behind his desk at Nissan Design America in San Diego when he isn’t out putting it through it’s paces.

Many of you know that we here at Z Car Garage ride motorcycles or have close ties to them and it is always nice to see our two passions come together in a car that we get to enjoy, the 370z.  In a side note, I’ve had the chance to own a few Ducatis and still own a 2006 749s, small world…

There are a couple more photos after the ‘read more’ including one of the Ducati 749s that I own.  Enjoy and thanks to Edmunds Insideline for the Nissan info and a few of the photos.

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I was over at our local Infiniti dealer today to pick up a few parts and was lucky enough to take a photo of four 370Zs that were to be delivered to a Nissan dealer this afternoon.  The I didn’t get a chance to talk to the driver but the cars looked pretty sexy when all strapped down for shipping.  It looks as if tying the cars down lowered them an inch-and-a-half to two inches.

After I took this photo, I also saw a white 370z being driven down the street.  I have a good feeling that this new Z is really going to take off and be loved by consumers.   We will be making our first modifications on a customer’s car in just a few weeks so look for a full write-up in the near future.

Everyone has been patiently waiting so here is your payoff!  These photos are here for our viewing pleasure from our good friends at PhotoShootMyCar.com (please visit their site on the right.)  They had two photographers at our 370z event and all of the pictures are top notch.  Thanks again friends.

I’m going to spread all of the photos over a couple of posts to keep everyone coming back for more.  As always, click on the photos to see it larger and there are tons more photos after the “jump.”

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The drive from Sacramento to Las Vegas with the 370z was like winning the lottery.  I’m not kidding.  Getting the opportunity to drive these cars on an extended trip like this is a once in a life time experience (well hopefully not.)

I was able to drive the final leg all the way from Bakersfield to Las Vegas.  I have never been more impressed with a STOCK car in my entire life.  This car is amazing!  The improvements over the out-going model are almost too vast to describe here, but I’ll give it my best.

Exterior styling: While quite a few people feel that the new car has some strange styling ques the design really grows on you one you spend some time on it.  I spent four days with the car doing everything from detailing them to driving them through the desert with ZCG’s finest creations and I have fallen in love with the way it looks.  It is definitely a Z.

Interior: Improvements in this department are vast.  All of the materials are top notch quality and the arrangement of the buttons and switches has been improved over the 350z.  I wasn’t too big of a fan of the seats in the standard model (I drove the blue 370z the 300 miles from Bakersfield to Las Vegas) but the other people on the drive had no complaints.  The Premium Edition interior was also very impressive with it’s power leather seats and full navigation system.  Very nice indeed.

Engine: The new VQ is the best normally aspirated V6 Nissan has ever produced, hands down.  There is torque everywhere with this thing!!  With the rev limit still up at 7,500 rpm so there is plenty of room to play around the rpm range while changing gears as little as possible if you desire.  Yes please…

Drivetrain: This is my favorite part of the entire package.  They have modified the electronics in the car to recognize what gear you are in at any time.  This allows the ecu to be able to rev match you automatically no matter what gear you select, and it works on up shifts too!  NO MORE MISSED THROTTLE BLIPS, EVER.  The only way to miss a shift now is if you don’t engage the shifter all the way.
In other words if you are at 60mph and you want to go from 5th to 4th gear you just need to disengage the clutch and start to move the shifter  and the engine will adjust it’s RPM to match the selected gear and it will hold it there as long as you have your foot on the clutch.  You can even keep the clutch in while shifting from gear to gear and the engine RPM will dance around the tach like Circ de Soleil.  Wicked.

If you have any specific questions about the car feel free to leave a comment of shoot us an email and I will add whatever information I can get my hands on.  Now without further delay here are some more pictures from our adventures on the Follow The Nissan Z tour to Las Vegas and Back.

There are more photos after clicking the read more link and always click on the pictures for larger.

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By now everyone knows that Z Car Garage just hosted an awesome event on the Follow The Nissan Z tour and we took the chance to try out a new wheel option.  The obvious choice are the R35 GT-R wheels that we have off our shop GT-R.  They fit perfectly which could make this the hot ticket when the 370z hits market.  Check it out

This car was brought to our shop by our friends at GO370Z.com and Nissan Sport magazine.  Check out their sites.