On September 22, Nissan invited Z Car Garage to drive the new Z from San Francisco to Los Angeles along the famed Pacific Coast Highway (PCH). The event, dubbed #NissanAdventuresPCH, was an an all-expenses-paid trip with overnight stays in SF and San Luis Obispo.

 

Geared towards social media content creators, Nissan hosted a cocktail hour with tips and tricks from a professional photographer/videographer and even provided personalized drone footage during the drive. It was, as promised, an unforgettable roadtrip experience with amazing company. Enjoy our report with photos and video…

My Z Car Story

 

Dear Zcarblog readers, while most of you know me as a die-hard Datsun Roadster owner/enthusiast, I also have a strong connection to the Z car. Most, if not all of my Z-car experiences have been possible through Rob and Z Car Garage. When I was dating my girlfriend back in 2005, Rob lent me his 1991 Nissan 30ZX Twin Turbo to enjoy. In 2007 I purchased my very own Nissan 350Z 6MT Enthusiast (above) with Stoptech big-brakes, VOLK CE28N wheels and a Nismo exhaust. My wife and I did everything in this Z from epic roadtrips to track days. In 2011 we were expecting our first child and we roadtripped down to the Solvang Datsun Roadster Show in the ZCG Nissan 370Z…

 

…And of course I’ve been lucky to drive the first generation 1970 Datsun 240Z on many rallies and weekend fun runs. This bring us back to the current generation Nissan Z (RZ34), and all of my Z-car memories started to come full circle in 2021 when Nissan invited us to their headquarters in Tennessee to view the pre-production “Z-Proto”:

 

A few months later we were guests at the 2023 Nissan Z Global Reveal event in New York:

  

In October 2021 we hosted a 2023 Nissan Z Viewing Event at Z Car Garage for the public to enjoy:

 

Our journey with the current Nissan Z has been tremendous. When Nissan sent us the invitation for the PCH drive I was beyond excited for the opportunity to enjoy another roadtrip with my wife, in a Z. Like old times. So, from seeing that Ikazuchi Yellow Pearl prototype Z at Nissan HQ in 2021 to having one delivered to our driveway in 2023, Z-car karma really did come full circle:

 

The Drive

Day 1: San Jose to San Francisco

Nissan flew all attendees up from LA to SF to begin the drive, ending back in LA with the Z in each person’s driveway. Since I am based in San Jose, Nissan had a 6MT yellow Z delivered to our home, from LA! The adventure began with my wife and I driving up to SF to meet at our first venue, the 1 Hotel. On a rather serendipitous note, this is the same hotel we stayed in back in 2011, just prior to our first child when it was called Hotel Vitale:

 

After check-in we enjoyed a nice stroll by the Ferry Building and returned to the hotel for cocktails with the event group. Led by Nissan’s PR-rep Stephen O’Neil, the unifying theme for the PCH event was accessibility: The Nissan Z is an attainable sports car and social media can also be accessible. To drive this point home they enlisted the help of director/cinematographer Steven Moreno to offer tips and tricks on smartphone photography.

 

He even showed us his professional gimbal for shooting smooth video and each attendee was gifted a DJI OSMO 6 for smartphones. Dinner followed and this would be the start of some fascinating discussions with a wonderful group of people from all walks of life.

Day 2: SF to San Luis Obispo

Saturday’s drive would take us to San Luis Obispo via HWY 1/PCH with photo stops along the way – about 240miles. The morning started off with drivers getting a tour of the Nissan Z. The sight of 6 Z cars outside the hotel garnered attention from passerbys. As I was taking photos I noticed the yellow 6MT Z we drove up was no longer present…

 

…we were pleasantly surprised to find it was replaced with a Boulder Gray 9AT Performance. You may recall that we took delivery of our very own 2023 Nissan Z earlier this year. Despite having driven our 6MT Performance model extensively, I could not pass up the opportunity to drive a 9-speed automatic trim (more on this below) down the PCH. Like the 9AT, the Blue interior really grew on me with the Gray exterior:

 

Each Z came with the route print out and pre-programmed GPS, but all drivers were free to explore en route to the first stop ~45 miles south along PCH. We jumped in our Z and headed straight to Fort Baker for a few beauty shots with the iconic Golden Gate Bridge:

 

The Z drew plenty of attention in the parking lot. A gentleman named Tony chatted with us and took photos while expressing his memory and admiration of the Z car. Check out his walk-around video with narration below…it was like he was a professional content creator!

 

After navigating out of SF city we finally hit HWY 1 to enjoy some beautiful coastline driving. Arriving at our first photo stop/drone opportunity was one of our favorite destinations, Pescadero Beach. We’ve done many group drives out to this spot with fellow Nissan/Datsun enthusiasts:

 

Each driver got their own drone/video session with cinematographer Steven Moreno. For “chase” video he mounted his Gimbal to the back of a Nissan Armada (support vehicle) and our task was to follow it as close as possible. This was really fun and we had 2-way walkies to communicate with Steve while driving. The results from the drone footage were super impressive, you can see the footage in the video below. Huge thanks to Steve for sharing his passion with us!

 

People love the new Z and the beach lot was no different. A family visiting from NY had to check it out and we happily obliged. After a good 45min of video/photos we hopped back on to the PCH. Yeah, this Boulder Gray paint on the new Z has really got me…I took many photos 🙂

 

Enjoy this video we put together of the PCH drive:

 

The weather was fantastic along HWY1 so we stopped by Monterey to visit my favorite race track, Laguna Seca! Yes, this was just before the Rennsport Reunion and we will have a full race report on zcarblog.com soon!

 

While the PCH does continue past Monterey down to SLO we took a more direct route to avoid road work on HWY1. Driving the long stretch on 101S really made me appreciate the Z’s 9-speed automatic…the gearing allows for ultra-low engine revs for relaxed cruising…2000rpm at 85mph is nice. Thumbs up and lots of love from this G35 owner on HW 101:

 

We arrived at our 2nd overnight hotel, the Apple Farm Inn in San Luis Obispo just before 7pm. Another fantastic evening of drinks, food and conversation ensued.

 

Day 3: SLO to Los Angeles

After a casual breakfast we left SLO and headed south towards our final destination of Los Angeles. Taking 101S allowed us to stop in the small town of Solvang, the sight of our favorite Annual Solvang Datsun Roadster Show. Lots of memories with our family here. A welcome excursion from 101 was Painted Cave Vista Point. This twisty road took us high above for great views and looped back to 154-E.

 

Driving Impressions

This was the most time I’ve spent driving the 9-speed automatic Z. Having driven the ZCG manual transmission Z previously up my favorite winding roads…the 6-speed manual is the perfect-and only transmission of choice for me..but the 9AT has its merits. Cruising along the freeway at a paltry 2000rpm while offering blistering acceleration in full automatic mode is a nice compromise. It’s enough to simply haze the rear tires…even from a roll!

 

If I could find one criticism it’s the paddle shifters. They do not seem to offer quick upshifts or downshifts any faster then being in full automatic mode…I see them as ‘fun-to-have’ feature. Have no fear as it sounds like Nissan improved the shifting performance in the 2024 Nismo Z-kudos to the team! Also, as we mentioned before the sound alone of the 9AT -equipped Z is better than the 6MT…a by-product of current sound restrictions. Either gearbox will serve you well behind the new Z.

 

We made one final stop at The Getty Museum in Los Angeles before dropping off the Z near LAX. What a cool car. Nissan flew us back to San Jose Sunday Night so we could get back to work on Monday. A quick shoutout to Page One Automotive…Benjie and Austin provided excellent service during the trip. Each car was detailed and filled up with gas for the drivers and we really appreciated it. Also, thanks to Nissan for the $500 gift card to cover roadtrip odds and ends!

The People

 

Mr. K said, “Love cars. Love people. Love life.” The NissanAdventuresPCH connected us with an amaZing group of people. Content creators, all talented at their craft. Artists, maybe not in the literal sense, but each one continuously strives to perfect the craft in their respective fields. It was humbling and fascinating to learn from them. I also appreciated their candid feedback on the new Z. Please, give each one a moment of your time by checking out their social media channels below:

Chris Dunlop

https://www.artofchrisdunlop.com/

Chris is an automotive artist. Catch his latest work featuring the new Z on his Instagram, and prepare to be blown away!

Naza Zamanzade, Lifestyle Blogger and Family Travel Writer, Instagram

Aimee Shackelford, car enthusiast and content creator,  Instagram

Angel Laketa Moore, Actress Comedian & Host, Instagram

 

Thank You!

 

Huge thanks to Nissan for the invitation and gathering an immensely engaging group of people to enjoy the drive with. We love that you are still keeping the spirit alive for our beloved sports car. Long Live The Z! More photos in the gallery below.

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The 2020 Solvang Datsun Roadster Classic will be held on April 24-25 in Solvang, CA. Now in its 33rd year, this event continues a tradition of uniting owners from all parts of the world in a little town just outside of Santa Barbara. There is something for everyone here: shopping, food, wine-tasting, outdoor activities, and in the last weekend of April an epic gathering of Datsuns! We are only two months away from the big show so prep your cars and book those hotels!

 

Come check out roadsters and other vintage Datsuns April 24-25.  Reminder: ALL DATSUNS are welcome! There are even award categories for non-roadsters. For registration and show info please go HERE.

 

To catch a glimpse of the show check out Last Year’s Show Report and movie( By Michael Anderson) below. Admission is free to the general public, see you in Solvang!

 

 

  

The 2019 Solvang Datsun Roadster show took place on April 27. Now in its 32nd year, this event continues a tradition of uniting owners from all parts of the world in a little town just outside of Santa Barbara. There is something for everyone here: shopping, food, wine-tasting, outdoor activities, and in the last weekend of April an epic gathering of Datsuns!

 

This year I did not bring my roadster but I was able to experience it with my wife and three children (now all walking):

 
We keep returning to Solvang year after year to see the latest roadster builds, meet new owners and catch up with old friends……and it was a fantastic show with perfect weather and close to 100 Datsuns on First Street in downtown Solvang:

Highlights from the Show

On to the cars! Here are some highlights from the day…starting with the “Holy Grail” of Datsun Roadsters: The 1967 2000! This year there were only a handful of these rare (less than a 1000) models. Some of these cars are considered the “cream of the crop” with full restorations or OEM levels of detail like Kurt’s Sora Blue #520:

  

Interestingly, all of the ’67 2000 models present possessed the fabeled “rivet in the C” on their valve covers. Different body colors as well! Gary Vigil’s SRL #126 was still in the process of being completed, looking brilliant in Beige Grey Metallic:

    

Arnold’s SRL 485:

  

The sole “Thunder Black” ’67 SRL:

 

Stock is Good

Solvang showcases everything from pristine to highly modified examples of roadsters. These two examples are exemplary of the “high-windshield” models. John Baker’s ’69 2000: several years of intense restoration by John has resulted in one stunning, concours-level 2000. Finished in Spanish Red with plenty of engine bay details to drool over. Best part is that it is driven, even with the Bias-ply tires!

     

Mike Ramirez’s ’68 1600 was stored for 32 years before a full restoration in 2014…it is pristine:

 

There were several early 1600s with chrome-ringed gauges and classy red interiors. Alvin’s ’65 SPL was originally imported to the US by a Naval officer and he found it in a barn with 32k original miles. His goal is to take it back to Japan for a springtime tour!

 

Engine Swaps

Like the 510 and Z cars, the Datsun Roadster chassis can accept many engine swaps and this year the show-stopper was Eric Straw’s 1969 SRL.
We have known Eric for many years and he is a talented fabricator with a penchant for high-powered Datsuns. ZCG tuned his RB26-powered Nissan DR30 Skyline and plan on tuning this Haltech-managed SR22VET beast of a roadster.

 

Backing the SR22VET is a Nissan 350z 6-speed transmission, but there are so many details to be found at the surface like the factory OEM(!) Hardtop, 225 front/245 rear tires, Brembo calipers, Lotus Elise seats and more.

  

Eric’s fabrication skills are really displayed in this chassis with full coil-over suspension and a Watts-linkage. With guidance from Michael Spreadbury of Spriso Motorsports, the level of chassis development is mind-boggling:

  

More pictures in the gallery, but this masterpiece deserves its own feature!

JDM  Feel

Two cars that I really like have a special “JDM” feel to them. Greg’s ‘1968 2000 finished in Gray sitting on 14″ Watanabe wheels looked just right:

 

Mike’s 1967.5 SPL sports 15″ Watts, a full solex-equipped U20 drivetrain, roll bar, SRL gauges and rare EMPI steering wheel:

 

A Break for Wine

A few roadster owners proudly offered their own vintage wine creations alongside their cars. Al’s SPL graces the label of his wine:

Vanity plates

When Sidewall is Good

This ’70 SRL not only had one of my favorite white/red color combos, the wheel/tire choice was spot on. Beefy sidewalls on the AR Libras and a nice stance looked great:

 

The 3-Seater: Datsun 1500s

There were only 2, three-seater 1500 roadsters. Raymond Lim’s 1963 1500 was in amazing condition considering its age. This single-carb, three-seater was remarkably preserved. Best part was watching Ray’s son show off the roadster to everyone! This is why I love the Solvang Show.

 

 

Even older than the 1500s were the SPL212s owned by Jeff Silvey:

People

People. It’s what makes the Solvang Datsun Roadster Show so much fun. Datsun folks in general are cool people and they came from all parts of the world:

 

The Beast Within

Corey’s ’66 SPL had a mighty stroked 1600 engine. Final displacement is 2.3L(!) courtesy of parts from Datsun-specialist Lou Mondello of Australia. We look forward to dyno-tuning this quad-motorcycle carb’d monster soon:

  

Non-roadsters

Don’t have a roadster but want to park and enjoy the show? The Solvang show also welcomes Japanese classics that are not roadsters. Lots of cool trucks, Z-cars and 510s joined in on the fun. Brian K drove and displayed his Nissan Patrol. He is also the man behind our Z Car Garage CV Axles. When he’s not enjoying Datsuns, Brian owns/operates KaD Models machine shop in Berkeley, CA making various parts for our cars as well.

  

Going the Distance

The Solvang Show draws roadster owners from all over the US, and world! We can always count on Jim and Susan to make the trek from Mexico in their ’70 SRL with matching trailer:

 

Adrian Christian made the long journey from New York in his ’70 SRL:

  

This is the actual car from Nissan’s multi-million dollar Datsun Heritage advertising campaign in the late 90’s.  Check it out in this Super Bowl Ad – “The Dream Garage”.

Family Affair

Ted Heaton drove his three roadsters down from Bellvue, Washington. He had help from his son and grandson!

   

We love this event and hope you have enjoyed our coverage of the 2019 Solvang Datsun Roadster Show. Big thanks to the organizer Harlan Katz and SoCal crew for hosting!  Please visit our picture gallery below:
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Dear Zcarblog readers, this is my 2016 Solvang Datsun Roadster Show report. Although long overdue, it serves as a reminder that the 30th Annual 2017 Solvang Datsun Roadster Show is just around the corner. So mark those calendars for April 22!  Enjoy.

-Alvin

 

The 2016 Solvang Datsun Roadster show took place on April 23. Now in its 29th year, this gathering continues a tradition of uniting owners from all parts of the world in a little town just outside of Santa Barbara. There is something for everyone here: shopping, food, wine-tasting, outdoor activities, and the last weekend of every April a huge gathering of Datsuns. I did not drive my roadster this year but I still enjoyed the show with my family!

 

On to the cars! Here are some highlights from the day…there were only a handful of 1967 2000 roadsters this year. Some of these cars are considered the “cream of the crop” with full restorations or OEM levels of detail like Mike Young’s SRL #266 and Rodney N’s SRL #485:

  

Winning best of show was SRL #233 completely frame-off restored by Kevin of KRD:

   

Speaking of attention to detail…fully restored factory gauges artfully assembled by Jon Frampton could be seen on multiple cars. The gauges are truly little jewels that give owners a range of options with lighting, lettering and even inner workings all without going to aftermarket gauges.

Left: Factory mechanical gauges behind Corey’s R20 stroker powered SPL

Right: Factory gauges converted to electronic behind Harlan’s SR20DE-powered SPL

 

While were on interiors, check out this cool Datsun Competion (by Kaemeri) steering wheel looking great in Corey’s SPL:

  

At the other end of the spectrum and far from stock is Shannon’s ’69 SRL. Modern gauges and A/C vents adorn the dash with a touch screen in the center console:
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The Solvang Datsun Roadster show took place last weekend. Now in its 28th year, this gathering continues a tradition of uniting owners from all parts of the world in a little town just outside of Santa Barbara.  I drove my roadster down from San Jose and arrived Saturday morning to a very wet downtown Solvang. Despite the showers we had 77 Datsuns in attendance and eventual sunshine.

 

For the last 3 years The Solvang Roadster Show has been organized by the great folks of SoCal Roadster Owners Club. They have carried the torch well, providing a fun time for all and keeping things interesting like creating show categories with sponsors. This year the new “race” class was sponsored by the popular historic driving group SVRA, and the display was pretty epic!

 

This 1962 Fairlady SPL212 was given a full transformation into a road-racing beast. The man behind this one-off roadster is Jeff Silvey, a long-time Solvang show attendee and talented fabricator. He’s known for his bright red, L-series powered hot-rod SPL212 and sweet turbo-diesel powered NL320 truck. The latter was actually the tow rig for the racecar, how cool is that?!

 

Back to the racecar…from the outside there are a few subtle mods like the front air dam, “gills” and speedster cover that catch the eye. Add the 16″ vintage Volk GT-U wheels and you know this isn’t the stock, 48hp Fairlady from the factory. With red/white paint somehow it all works very well. Then you peek underneath that tiny hood and see an S15 SR20DET sitting almost a foot back and a myriad of custom fabrication takes over.  From the full Silvia rear suspension to custom a-arm setup up front Jeff went bezerk with this build. We dig it, see more detailed shots in the gallery:

 

Other notable race cars included our friend Ron Carter with his 1967 2000 race car and Gary Wasserman’s factory lightweight SRL.  Ron recently got accepted to run at the Monterey Historic Races coming in August!

 

The show brings roadsters lovers from all over the world including British Columbia and Mexico.  For those hardcore Datsun enthusiasts that insist on Enjoying The Ride this means towing a small trailer!

 

 

I have a soft spot for Datsun 1500s (I have a 1500 grille on mine), especially these ’63-64 3-seat models. This year we had four beautiful examples, including an original owner who was a Solvang resident. He even showed me the original purchase order spec’d with the factory hardtop!

 

 

Solvang showcases everything from highly modified to pristine stock examples of roadsters. John Baker’s ’69 2000 and this ’67 SPL were great examples of stock roadsters, right down to their stock steel wheels:

 

Speaking of stock, Mike Young brought this fantastic 67 2000 for display showcasing his great restorative skills. White/red is one of my favorite combinations and really got the stance right on this SRL with the slightly larger Libra-style wheels:

A few more 1600s, including Mike’s stroked and Mikuni-carb’d hot rod.  Watanabe wheels, EMPI steering wheel and red/black interior are great choices.  Eagle eyes may notice the 2L gauges, shift plate and trim ring. Watch the video to hear it run!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJIVRqm8Pfo
 

A pleasant surprise was this “short-nose” Skyline coupe or “hakosuka”. These cars were powered by G-series 4-cylinder engines unlike their larger L-series 6 cylinder brothers that we are starting to see stateside. Sitting nicely on Hayashi Techno Phantoms this classic J-tin ticked all the right boxes with pillar-less windows and a proper surf line left intact! Check the gallery for other “non-roadster JDM” finds.

 

An incredible amount of high windshield 2000’s inhabited the show this year with very diverse examples. Solex, SU and even motorcycle quad-carb induction setups hooked up to U20s. Scoville/BRE stripes, fresh paint jobs and custom interiors worthy of Pro-Touring muscle cars were also seen:

 

A properly executed engine swap into a Datsun Roadster is always nice to see as the bar increases each year.  These (for lack of a better word)  “resto-modded” roadsters blend modern drivetrains with vintage lines while adding personal touches from the builder/owners.  Here are three examples that stood out:

Looking for more power but wanting to stay NA, Mike Anderson’s ’68 SPL sports an SR20VE. Using Nissan’s version of VTEC, this VVL combination is good for 200hp NA. With help from Kevin Desirello of KRD it dyno’d at 215wrhp! Limited production Volk TE37v SL wheels are one of my all-time favorites.  Mike took me for a spin and this engine in such a light car is phenomenal.

 

Jon Frampton’s 1967.5 SPL stole the show with a total frame-off restoration and SR20VE-T/6-speed drivetrain. That’s right, a turbo was added to an already ballistic engine! Another one of Kevin Desirello’s creations, this roadster came to him needing only transmission work and suffered an extreme case of “Hey, while we’re there”…

 

It’s hard to believe this car was once candy red and decked out in 90’s era style. Beautifully applied #531 Beige Grey Metallic paint and a very subtle but custom interior by Bill Dunn (Overhaulin’) helped win Best of Show.  Jon himself is famous for restoring and “modernizing” roadster gauges…his work is sensational!  Check the gallery for more shots…there are plenty of neat details to see!

 

Finally, Ted’s 1966 SPL is a familiar, though still impressive roadster. Built by Michael Spreadbury of
Spriso Motorsports, this S15 SR20DET powered beauty glistens with Plymouth Prowler paint:

 

Sitting perfectly atop 16″ Watanabe RS-8 wheels with a massive dish out back on a 225-width tire, this one oozes cool. Ted is currently driving her thousands of miles on a Southwest tour!

 

We had a blast at Solvang and always look forward to next year. Big thanks again to SoCalROC for putting on another wonderful show!

 

If you didn’t attend please watch this excellent drone footage of the show from fellow roadster owner Mike Anderson. Don’t forget the picture gallery after the jump and…

Enjoy The Ride!

 

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