Car Moon

In October of 2010 we brought you a Toyota Soarer / Lexus SC that had been transformed into an abomination with a Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM front end and a Nissan 200SX rump. It was bad, but I still liked it better than the snooze-mobile that was the ‘91 Soarer / CS.

Well, from the same website that brought us that automotive mullet comes yet another creation that’s been refashioned into something else. This time its a Nissan Silva. This particular freak of coach building features a Mercedes-Benz rear end (or at very least the taillights) and Nissan 350Z front end. The result is less than impressive.

Don't let the Nissan 350Z snout and the Infiniti G35 Coupe (JDM Nissan Skyline V35) rear end design fool you; the glitzy painted roadster model you're gawking at is in fact a JDM Mitsubishi Eclipse Spider - possibly a third generation model. But before you try to digest all that info let us quickly add that Paint Star's Tokyo Auto Salon project car also hides a Subaru-sourced 2.0-liter turbocharged flat-four engine under its 350Z-shaped hood. See the rest of the photos in our image gallery after the break.

[Updated gallery] The Tokyo Auto Salon is always a blast featuring all sorts of unique tuning proposals, like this here Porsche wannabe. When our Tokyo show man Phil e-mailed the above photo, we assumed it pictured a Porsche -possibly a Boxster- modified to resemble a Panamera Convertible. We were quickly proven wrong, however, when he sent over an image of the interior and some video footage revealing that the Porsche Panamera tune was actually a...masqueraded Nissan 350Z Roadster. More photos after the jump.

As part of its year-long celebration of the 'Z' sports coupe's 40th anniversary, Nissan will display a series of historic racers at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, formerly known as the Monterey Historic Automobile Races, which takes place at the at Laguna Seca Raceway on August 12-15. The six Z racers of the past will be joined at the event by a number of vintage Nissan race cars including a 1970 Datsun 510 and a pair of 1985 Nissan GTPs. For more details about the display cars, hit the break for the official release.

The Nissan 350Z has long been replaced by the all-new 370Z but the tuning industry isn't about to stop introducing performance upgrades for the Japanese sports car any time soon.

Now, Unichip Europe has released a new plug and play 'U-connect' piggy back ECU for the 350Z that adds another 20bhp raising the V6's peak output from a measured 264bhp to a mighty 284 bhp. Similarly, torque increases by 26 lb.ft, bringing the total from 236 lb.ft to 262 lb.ft.

Joining the festivities for the Z's 40th anniversary, the folks over at the NICOClub, a forum dedicated to Nissan and Infiniti cars, published these two black and white photos of the first 240Z and its modern day successor, the 370Z. The original picture with the two pre-production 240Zs and a Datsun 510 support car that were driven by Datsun engineers was shot in October 1969 on Van Buren Street in downtown Phoenix.

The first ever Pro Class 350Z to be seen in Europe will perform at the FIA European Finals at the Santa Pod Raceway in the UK that runs from September 10th to 13th, 2009. Created by owner and driver John Bradshaw, the Project Zed dragster is powered by a Nissan 350Z 3.5-litre V6 engine producing almost 1,900 horsepower.

While most tuners are working on the new Nissan 370Z, Senner Tuning decided to show some love for the previous 'Z model by releasing a new sport package with styling and mechanical enhancements. The body mods consist of a front apron, a large rear wing, new side logos and LSD doors complemented by a new set of 20-inch alloy wheels wrapped in beefy high-performance tires (245/30 up front and 275/30 at the rear).

It's only been a week since Nissan dropped the first official shots of the brand-new 370Z into the web and even though the sports coupe is supposed to make its first public appearance at the upcoming 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show that runs November 21 to 30, the Japanese automaker revealed the vehicle to a handful of people somewhere in Europe. We're not sure whether it was a closed media session or if Nissan showed the new 'Z' to a few of its European employees, but fact is that someone managed to take a few shots and post them on an enthusiast forum.

Following on the heels of Motortrend magazine (check out the video by clicking here), Edmunds' Insideline has also released a video of its first encounter with the all-new 2009 Nissan 370Z after the Japanese firm invited a group of journalists to test drive a pre-production prototype model. If we'd like to make a short list of the most important changes on the 370Z these would include: the shorter wheelbase, the Infiniti-derived 3.7-liter V6 engine, the less fussy design and the better quality materials in the interior. Hit the jump to watch the video. -Continued

Even though the new 370Z Coupe will be introduced at next month's LA Auto Show with sales scheduled to begin early next year, the roadster version of the current 350Z will continue to be available for an undetermined period of time. The only noteworthy change for the 2009MY 350Z Roadster concerns the addition of a new Moonlight White exterior color. The 2009 model is offered in three trims, Enthusiast, Touring and Grand Touring with prices set at $36,870, $39,220 and $41,570 respectively for models equipped with a 6-speed manual gearbox. -Continued

If you happen to prefer an auto box, in which case we'd advise you to look for a less sporty vehicle but if you insist, Nissan charges an extra $1,000 for the 5-speed automatic transmission.

The forthcoming Nissan 370Z is exactly what we'd call one of the best kept secrets of the auto industry. So it comes to no surprise that the 350Z's successor was partially revealed in one of the teaser films for the Need for Speed Undercover video game that is slated to be in stores North America on November 18 and in Europe on November 21. Along with the above screenshot that was sent to us by our reader Marcus, we also managed to take a few more shots ourselves from one of the videos on the NFS website. -Continued

If you happen to have any doubts that these pictures actually depict the new 370Z that is expected to be revealed at next month's 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show, just click here to see a screenshot of the Japanese sports coupe that was taken during an official Nissan presentation earlier this year.

Thanks for the pic Marcus!

Looks like the Datsun XLink concept that was created by Benjamin Nawka at Nissan’s Yulon Design Center (see here) has given birth to a newly found interest for the long-gone Japanese brand. This modern interpretation of the iconic Datsun 240Z / Fairlady Z of the 1970s is the work of a Polish designer Jacek Kolodziejczyk who goes by the alias 'Iacoski. The Fairlady Z Concept study combines the classic lines of the original 240Z with several design elements from the new Nissan GT-R such as the front grille, the side air vents and the headlamps. And while it may never go into production, the end result is pretty dang cool. What do you think? -Image gallery after the jump

Source: Iacoski , Via: Jpcnews