Nissan Z 32 300 ZX

Golden era JDM values have gone berserk, but the 300zx remains a hidden gem

- Alex Affat

NISSAN MOTOR COMPANY has had some good times and some not-so-happy periods. Fans of the brand have seen the enthusiast car portfolio wither of late. There hasn’t been a hot hatch worthy of the name for years, the promising Infiniti premium launch proved an abject failure here in Australia and both the 370Z and R35 GT-R coupes are in their teens now. Of course, the new Z car promises a shot in the arm, but it’s all still a far cry from the heady days of 1989.

Japanese manufacturers were overflowing with cash thanks to Japan’s booming economy, and Nissan in particular wasn’t shy about throwing ludicrous amounts of development dollars at its product catalogue. Maybe it was all too much. A culture of costs excesses within that bubble economy landed the Yokohama brand in fiscal hot water by the end of the ’90s, forcing a 44.3 per cent buyout from Renault, the cultural repercussions of which the business still seems to be grappling with.

DID YOU KNOW? The 2+2 gained a separate floorpan with an extra 100mm in the wheelbase

There’s a reason many refer to that time period as Japan’s Golden Era of motoring. Those were the halcyon days, the likes of which we may never see again.

Of course Nissan’s world-beating R32 GT-R famously launched in 1989, but so did this: the Z32 300ZX, further bolstering Nissan’s multi-pronged assault on global sports car markets. Like the R32 GT-R, the Z32 300ZX’s development was heavily aided by Nissan’s technofuturistic Mid4 concept. It was a ‘blank page’ design, in contrast to the preceding Z31 which was based on a modified 280ZX chassis, dating back to 1978.