Vintage cars may remain with their loving owners for years, change ownership or even get spotlighted in the media at some point. Our “where are they now” series features past Z Car Garage vehicles with updates on their status. In this fourth installment we catch up with Joe’s 1973 Kenmeri Skyline, now residing in Los Angeles, Ca.
Let’s go back in time to 2017…our client Alex McDowell decided to part with his 2000 GT-X so we listed it on our FOR SALE page. Joe F from SoCal contacted us immediately and jumped on a plane to visit Z Car Garage. Rob picked Joe up from the airport in the Kenmeri, tossed him the keys to enjoy it for a day…and he was sold.
We had great times with this KGC110 Skyline driving to many local events in the Bay Area. JDM Legends did a great job.
Enjoy this video of the Kenmeri driving and on the dyno at ZCG:
Just 4 days after we listed this 1973 Nissan Kenmeri Skyline it found a new owner with Joe in Southern California:
“Just want to say thank to Rob and the guys at Z Car Garage. Had a great experience purchasing my 73 Skyline Kenmeri from them. Class act all around and I would recommend them to anyone looking for a quality top notch classic JDM car!”
Here is the Kenmeri arriving:
Joe immediately started Enjoying The Ride in his Skyline and making appearances at local events!
JDM Makeover
Joe added his own touches to make the Kenmeri his own with 15×10/12 Work Spirit 33 wheels built by Love20Bee, custom suspension and a full repaint in BMW Alpine White:
All the factory chrome parts blacked out along with Mizuno Works rear wing and front spoiler. Joe’s build was showcased Super Street Magazine with photos by Marvin Recinos:
Inside, Joe added Recaro seats. He left the engine alone as it was properly strong making all the right noises when it left Z Car Garage! Ps…we love that Joe also kept the Z Car Garage license plate frame on!
We are happy for you Joe, thanks for visiting us and making the next chapter of the Kenmeri awesome. Always check our FOR SALE listings here on zcarblog.com, FB and IG. Stay tuned as we have a very cool group of cars coming up for sale from the collection of Randy Jaffe!
Patrick’s 1973 Nissan Kenmeri Skyline is featured (again!) in Super Street Magazine. We love to see our products being installed and used on client cars and is running our Z Car Garage CV Axles in his 550whp RB26-powered Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-X:
Pat installed our CV Axles himself on his 1973 Kenmeri Skyline and reports that it went smoothly. Here are a few pictures he sent us:
As if the Rb26 wasn’t enough, the extremely rare Riverside Super River wheels re-finished by Izanami captivated us:
Here is a fun fact about Pat: we were both participants at the All-Datsun Meet at Mt. Shasta back in in 2004! This 3-day event featured a full track day at Thunderhill Raceway before heading up North. Pat drove his SR20DET-powered Datsun 510 (blue, front row):
We love to see our products being installed and used on customer cars. Datsun enthusiast Pat S is running our Z Car Garage CV Axles in his 550whp RB26-powered Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-X.
Pat installed our CV Axles himself on his 1973 Kenmeri Skyline and reports that it went smoothly. Here are a few pictures he sent us:
We were stoked to hear Pat report the improvement over his standard half shafts:
“Testing out my new axles from Z Car Garage…no more clunking, no more vibrations, just smooth as glass. Strong as hell too”
Here is the video of Pat “testing” out the new CV Axles, enjoy!
Pat is also a member of the Wild Cards, a group of enthusiasts based in Southern California. You may have seen their crew featured on the Hoonigans:
As if the Rb26 wasn’t enough, the extremely rare Riverside Super River wheels re-finished by Izanami captivated us:
Here is a fun fact about Pat: we were both participants at the All-Datsun Meet at Mt. Shasta back in in 2004! This 3-day event featured a full track day at Thunderhill Raceway before heading up North. Pat drove his SR20DET-powered Datsun 510 (blue, front row):
Richard M has been our customer since he moved to California years ago and together we built his 2009 370z into a balanced sports car with power and style. We are really proud to see him enjoy his Z and be an active member of the community. Let’s take a look at the journey with a few highlights along the way…
Humble Beginnings Lead to Boost
“My experience with ZCG has been nothing but exceptional. Rob Fuller has taken care of me since day one and currently we are so close I call ’em family.”
Rich simply grew up loving cars, being a young enthusiast back in Philadelphia enjoying the street racing scene and drag strip at Atco and Englishtown NJ. His vision of a quick, balanced car started off as a bone stock 370z touring addition purchased from the original owner with just over 20k on the clock.
“I had just moved to California from Philadelphia and was searching for a reputable tuner in the Norcal region. That’s when I found ZCG and brought the car to see Rob to determine if this motor was worth investing in. We put it on the dyno and made over 313whp & 268wtq with just Uprev Osiris management and a Top Speed Pro 1 Track edition catback exhaust.”
That was in 2015, and indeed 313whp for a basically stock Z34 was well-above average, but Rich wanted a bit more:
“Then 2 months later we reached out to Stillen to bless the Z with the full Stillen Supercharger kit and oil cooler. The kit was installed and dyno’d making 433whp and 340wtq. We transformed the Z into a new car. The new driving characteristics were improved drastically and the kit, compared to the naturally aspirated setup was day and night.”
We added a Stillen 25-row oil cooler and GTR plugs:
The installation was seamlessly, before/after:
With a CAN tune out of the box we saw 376hp/284tq to the wheels. This wasn’t terribly impressive considering baseline NA numbers were 305hp/251tq, netting gains of 69hp/33tq:
After Rob’s custom tune we squeezed another 58hp/55tq for a total of 433hp/339tq to the wheels. The gains were significant all the way to the VQ’s sweet 7500rpm redline, even with slightly less boost!
Richard was happier now with over 400whp 🙂
“The performance of my Amuse 370Z from the beginning has met both my expectations and Rob’s expectations. Rob and I always talk about how this car has been a stand out in regards to reliability with added power enhancers.”
“Working with Rob was the best decision I could’ve made in allowing someone to tune my car and keep me grounded as it’s easy to get sucked into the battle of “who has the most horsepower”? Although it can always be done, I am proud to daily drive and make repeated trips between Norcal/Socal without any issues.”
We thank Rich for the kind words, and the Z certainly has been a workhorse. Here are some of Rich’s memorable moments with his 370z.
Highlights
Landing the front cover of DSPORT Magazine (Feb. 2018) which was also their SEMA issue and my first car cover and centerfold.
Being featured on Matt Farrah’s youtube channel “The Smoking Tire” which has over 500k views. We love to see our customer’s cars spotlighted in the media! Check out the video:
Winning 1st place Best Import at The San Jose Auto Show inside the “Spider Section” for custom cars at the Convention Center
Being invited & featured by Super Street Magazine to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Nissan GTR & Z Heritage in Monterey California for car week
The final and most special to Rich is being invited to be featured in the “2020 Toyo Tires X SuperStreet” calendar which has also been declared the very last Calendar that Toyo Tires and Super Street Magazine will do. SuperStreet has been such a pillar for all of us import enthusiasts so to be recognized by them has been a childhood dream come true.
Style
Rich added his own touch to the Z, including a full Powerhouse Amuse kit and custom paint job with Silver with Gold flakes:
“The PowerHouse Amuse body kit is a kit that is also functional for cooling purposes but is also one of those kits that I actually fell in love with. The sharp body lines that I think enhances the Z. I imported the kit from Japan after becoming friends with Hitoshi Matsui and becoming more confident in Amuse now known as R1 Titan.”
We love the Work Emotion CR KAI wheels (F: 19×9.5 +15 R: 19×11 +18) with Muteki 12×1.25 Neo Chrome Extended open lug nuts and Toyo Proxes T1 Tires 285/35/19R -255/35/19F:
The Z was then fitted with ISC Suspension 32 way fully adjustable coilover kit with custom spring rates. We also included SPC front and rear camber + SPC bolts to dial in the alignment. The brakes were upgraded to Stoptech slotted Rotors and performance pads with the addition of Stainless steel brake lines and Motul fluid. Rich continues to daily drive his Z and visits us for routine maintenance. Next up will be an OS Giken rear end
Rich would like to thank his sponsors: Toyo Tires, Stillen, ISC Suspension, Socal Z, and ZCG.
