Main Street Rides

It is said that “good things come in threes”, and apparently my subconscious at some point felt that applied to the Nissan 350Z as well. Out of nearly fifty vehicles that I’ve owned as an adult, more than a quarter have worn either Nissan’s hamburger badge or the Datsun equivalent. At some point, early in my conquest of trying different cars, I’d decided that I wanted to try every generation of the Datsun/Nissan Z. I’ve owned enough Z’s to technically complete the set – but I’m still several generations short, mostly because a few of them were so good that I keep going back for more.

The Nissan 350Z is one of those Z generations that I keep going back to. I find that each time I sell one, it isn’t very long before I’m searching for another. I’ve owned three Z’s of the Z33 variety and I don’t expect that it will end there, even if they are becoming harder to find in the kind of clean, unmodified condition that I like to find them in.

Manufactured primarily from 2003 through 2008 (with convertibles extending through 2009), the 350Z was a sports car for the masses. Like the original 240z which disrupted the sports car market in 1969 by providing unheard of reliability paired with a level of performance that punched way above its price point, the 350Z followed the same blueprint. 2003 also happened to be the year that I started my senior year of high school, making the new Z car the object of my pubescent musings.

For a 17-year-old car crazy high school student whose pride and joy was a 1993 Nissan Maxima SE and whose dream car was a 300ZX Twin Turbo, the return of the Z was a big… big deal. So – while there are plenty of other cars out there that I might buy instead with a larger budget, the budget would have to have a large multiplier and the 350Z still stands as one of my all-time favorite cars. Out of the three that I’ve owned, I had two at the same time.

I remember all three of these Z’s with equal fondness and would grade all three as high as any vehicle I’ve owned in ownership satisfaction. I’ll differentiate these Z’s as The One That Got Away, The Rebound Z, and The Nismo.

The One That Got Away:

I bought my first 350Z at a time when I was well on my way to trying all the Z generations. I’d already owned multiple 240Z’s, a 280Z, and a 300ZX Twin Turbo and was neck deep in having a restoration done on a 1973 240Z. I was actively looking for a 350Z when I won an eBay auction for a black-on-black 2008 Grand Touring spec. As I’ve mentioned before, I love to buy cars that are either identical to the press release cars when they first release, or even more preferred, the final year of the model. Final year models, especially ones that have runs of 5 or more years typically have all the bugs worked out and come with the best features and aesthetics.

Being an eBay listing, I essentially bought this Z site unseen out of Terre Haute Indiana, and while it ended up showing up with a few surprises, it was overall a very clean example with just under 40,000 miles. As surprises go, finding out that the car had some nice performance upgrades that the previous owner didn’t even know about was a nice plus. I found that the Z had down pipes and performance headers, paired with quite a few Nismo catalog goodies, namely a Nismo S-Tune exhaust and intakes.    

I fondly referred to this Z as Black Betty and often found myself driving aimlessly for hours on a weekend afternoon with no particular destination. The VQ engine paired with the 6-speed manual was intensely satisfying to run through the gears as the exhaust setup on that car was a pure symphony.

Not long after buying the Z, I stumbled across a genuine Nismo V2 front bumper for sale in a 350Z specific group on Facebook. It was literally the last one for sale in the United States that was still new in the box. Prior to the 2007 model year, all Nismo accessories for the 350Z were only available through catalog or as a dealer install. There were two versions of aero kits that consisted of front bumpers, side skirts, rear spats and rear spoilers. The coveted 2007-2008 Nismos were the first and only model of the 350Z that were sold as dedicated Nismo models.

I paid good money for that Nismo V2 bumper but the Z had shown up with a knockoff of the V1 with poor fitment. I had the genuine bumper paint matched and installed by a local shop and it really set the Z off IMO. To this day, I still think the Grand Touring trim of the HR powered 350Z’s is the one to have (next to the Nismo of course). Grand touring models came with all the bells and whistles, leather, nav, Brembo brakes, etc.; but my personal favorite feature is the staggered offset Ray’s wheels. They are the same wheels that come on the Nismo with a few aesthetic differences.

I took Black Betty to quite a few car cruises where I blasted back roads alongside Ferrari’s, Lamborghini’s, and Porsches and cruised miles and miles of Idaho’s scenic backroads and mountain passes. I also had it paint corrected to a mirror finish, it was simply a stunning 350Z inside and out.

Shortly after Covid-19 broke out, I found myself out of work and we pursued a new opportunity in Colorado. The Z came along for the ride, and I enjoyed every minute of the drive from Boise to Denver where I found every excuse to avoid the interstate and drove the roads with personality instead. Once in Colorado my friend Scott and I began finding reasons to go for cruises along the peak-to-peak highway in the Rockies.

It was a tearful goodbye when I ultimately sent the Z on its way to fund turning my newly purchased Jeep Wrangler Rubicon into a true adventure machine. It’s a decision that I don’t necessarily regret but I would have liked to keep Black Betty. I would buy her back if I could.

The Rebound Z:

I don’t think more than a year passed before I bought another Z, I just couldn’t stay away. However, the next Z I’d buy was a 300ZX Twin Turbo and this story is about my 350Z’s. Our time in Colorado would eventually come to an end as a relationship I’d developed through work led us to a new opportunity for me to work for Z1 Motorsports in Carrollton, GA. To say Z1 was a dream job opportunity for me would be a bit of an understatement.

I’d worked for Bestop through the majority of the Covid-19 pandemic and the three years. I’d gotten the Jeep bug bad while working there and while I’d gone through two Z’s while living in Colorado, I found myself with two Wranglers when we took the job with Z1 and proceeded to move to Georgia. I showed up on my first day of work at what can only be described as Z car MECCA with two fully built Wranglers, both worthy of being SEMA builds (one of which was).

I was pining for another Z on a daily basis, especially after I found that my commute to work each day was made up of incredibly smooth, curvy roads that were just begging for a rear-wheel-drive sports car with a manual. I hadn’t been at Z1 long before I noticed an older gentlemen entering Z1’s showroom and retail area in loafers, khaki pants, and a button up shirt. He’d pulled up in a silver 2008 350Z that look really clean from my vantage point.  A little serendipity was at work as I walked down to the showroom to see what I could help him with. Turns out, he was looking for help in finding a buyer for his Z. I would be his huckleberry.

I had just sold one of my Jeeps with the specific intent on buying a 350Z Nismo from a guy in Wisconsin, but he’d gone dark and that Z money was burning a hole in my pocket. The Z had roughly 80,000 miles and was incredibly clean inside. The only real drawback of the car was that the paint was starting to show some wear but it was the perfect Z for daily driver duty that I could also start trying out some track events with. We made a deal and I was back in a Z33.

Ironically, shortly after buying this Z, things started moving again with the 350Z Nismo that I’d been trying to buy over the previous months. I ended up buying that Z as well, just a few weeks after buying the silver car and I’d keep them both for quite some time (at least by my standards).

The Silver Z was a joy to drive to work each day as there were at least three routes I could take, all of which were equally entertaining from a driver enthusiast’s perspective and If the daily commute still didn’t scratch the itch, I would take one of the Z’s out for long drives on Sunday afternoons.

Working at Z1 also had its perks and I started upgrading the Silver Z to continue to improve its performance, and more importantly, get it setup for the occasional track day. I was forced to upgrade the slave cylinder shortly after getting the car when it failed and left me stranded in the driveway which led to a performance clutch from Z1. Then came lowering springs, a Z1 Touring exhaust, and brake pads and brake fluid that were for track use.

While the silver Z didn’t have the lowest mileage or the best paint, I probably had the most fun in this Z. Between the excellent commute and track days at Road Atlanta and Atlanta Motorsports Park, I definitely got plenty of bang for my buck out of that car. I’ll never forget my first track day at Road Atlanta and just how much fun it was to put the Z through its paces on such a historic track.

I would eventually trade the silver Z in at a friends dealership for a 40^th Anniversary 370Z to check the next Z generation off my bucket list.

The Nismo:

While the aero kit that comes on the 350Z Nismo isn’t for everyone, it is definitely for me. Only 1600 and some change 350Z Nismos were produced from 2007 through 2008 and they were all shipped to Autech, a motorsports tuning and customization division of Nissan before making their way to dealerships. The chassis of each Nismo was stitch welded to improve rigidity, and each car received performance tuned suspension, Yamaha performance frame mounted dampers, and an aero kit that was inspired by the Super GT 350Z race car. Each Nismo also came with a serialized plaque that identified it’s unique number in the limited production run.

The Nismo 350Z is probably one of my top five favorite cars of all time. You could give me a multi-million-dollar budget, limit it to only five cars and the 350Z Nismo would probably still make my dream garage cut.

I found mine on Facebook Marketplace in a listing with poor photos and not a lot of information. The seller was asking top dollar for the time, but the Z was with the original owner and only had maybe 25,000 miles on it. I’d started kicking the tires with the seller online and found that the owner didn’t speak English and his nephew was helping him sell it. They went quiet after a few back-and-forth messages for more than a couple of months.

They eventually started communicating with me again, ironically just a week or two after I’d bought the Silver 350Z. I finally got some real photos of the car and was able to negotiate a price that I was comfortable with, especially given that I was going to buy it site unseen.

I jumped on a plane to Milwaukee Wisconsin, met the owner and his nephew at a bank and then proceeded to drive the Nismo back to Georgia. I love nothing more than a long road trip in a bucket list car, it’s the honeymoon stage for a car enthusiast. Having already owned a couple of Z33’s I did feel that the suspension was different in the Nismo but in this case, it wasn’t a good thing. The Z felt like an old Buick with blown out struts. It would float over imperfections in the pavement and certainly didn’t feel like a race car inspired performance car from a handling point of view. I had a sneaking suspicion I knew exactly why.

Nismo Z’s are shipped with plastic spacers in the front springs to prevent jouncing during shipment and to provide some additional clearance for the low-slung front bumper. Sure enough, I got the Z back to Z1 and up on the lift and the first thing we noticed was that the Z still had the shipping spacers in the springs. These are supposed to have been removed by the selling dealerships during the pre-delivery inspection. You’d be surprised by just how many Z’s are still running around with spacers in the springs. In my case, they had destroyed the front struts, and they came off in pieces.

I ended up having some nice HKS Hipermax coilovers installed on the Z to remedy the damaged originals. With a slightly lowered stance and improved handling from the coilovers, the Nismo was on rails, and it was a comfortable ride to boot. I left the Z completely stock aside from those coilovers for the majority of the time that I owned the Z and it was a dream.

We did use the Nismo for some product videos at Z1, and it was specifically used in an exhaust comparison video. I ended up leaving a Z1 Touring Exhaust on the car for a while and I did prefer the tone and volume of that exhaust over the factory Nismo exhaust, it was too reserved for my taste.

I kept the Nismo through several other Z rotations from the Silver 350Z to the 40^th Anniversary 370Z and then a 370Z V1 Nismo. I will say, having both a 350Z Nismo in Nogaro red and a pearl white 370Z Nismo at the same time went really HARD.

I eventually did sell the Nismo to a local enthusiast, but I think about that car often. It was one of the best cars I’ve owned. All three 350Z’s were stellar and if good things really do come in threes, I have a feeling number four is only a matter of time. If you’re looking for an ownership experience that is truly one of the greatest hits of the early to mid-2000’s, make sure that the 350Z is on your list. And if you’re going to own one, it’s nice knowing the aftermarket support for these cars is stronger than ever.