Photos by Woodbine Nissan
Growing up with an enthusiasm for American classic cars can be difficult for Millennials, especially if you are a city-dwelling hipster who finds merit in music produced this century and would sooner die than wear cargo shorts.
Car culture, especially classic car culture, has been primarily defined by the Baby Boomer generation. When we think of local car shows, we typically think of vehicles produced no later than 1980 (with a few exceptions), incessant fundamental rock n’ roll playing on a low-fidelity loudspeaker, lawn chairs, and eye-roll-inducing, cringeworthy signs like “Don’t touch my car unless you are in the nude.”
Gee, that’s such a funny sign, man. Funny, original, and definitely not overtly toxic. Look at you go. You chug that triple-triple coffee at 7 p.m. and rant about how they don’t make cars like they used to. We’re all just dying to hear more.
This means that if you’re of a certain vintage and of a particular taste, it can be difficult to feel accepted by the American classic car community. And even though my personal preferences have and perhaps always will lean toward American muscle, this generational exclusion has been a big source of my car tastes changing and evolving over the years as I seek community above totems.
I don’t think I’m alone. That’s why subversive car festivals like RADwood and Oblivion have exploded in popularity – they meet at the intersection of the car enthusiast and hipster crowd and, most importantly, expressly keep out the riff-raff of Boomer vehicles and their “no replacement for displacement” nonsense.
It allows Gen X and Millennial enthusiasts to finally begin claiming their place as the drivers of car culture – and perhaps best of all, unlike the Boomer car scene, you don’t need to spend silly amounts of money to get in on this burgeoning car community.
This absolutely cherry 1986 Nissan 300ZX is a case in point, which should practically be the logo for RADwood.
First introduced in Japan in 1983 and branded as the Fairlady Z, the Z31 model hoped to improve the aerodynamics and power of the outgoing 280ZX.
Those improvements were modest. Nissan’s newly developed 3.0-litre V6, mounted to a five-speed manual gearbox (exotic for the time), made a modest 160 horsepower in its naturally aspirated form. And while the turbo variant received rave reviews for its performance, the base model’s 8.4-second sprint to 100km/h meant it wasn’t exactly a drag race monster.
But who cares? Because what Nissan really did with the 300ZX was move its design language firmly away from the analogue, smoothed, gentlemanly sports car design cues that persisted from the 1960s through to the early ’80s and into a digital, sharp, angular, future-retro cyberpunk statement.
Pop-up headlights with square lamps; a taillight panel that looks like something out of Star Wars (the good ones); and an interior that looks like it was cobbled together from an old couch, melted-down action figures, and digital alarm clocks. Its silhouette would be right at home in an ’80s cartoon.
This particular 300ZX found on the AutoTrader marketplace was originally sold by Uptown Nissan and still has the original sticker on the trunk lid. Leased for the first three years of its life, the little blue Fairlady exchanged hands a few times up until 2021, when it was purchased at auction.
But what’s really impressive is that this is a true survivor car. It hasn’t had to undergo any serious restoration – more like a healthy tune-up.
Upon taking possession, Woodbine Nissan turned the 300ZX over to a veteran Nissan tech who has worked on these cars since they were brand new in the 1980s. They replaced the hood stays, clutch cylinder, and differential seal, and performed a brake service. That’s it, which is minimal for a car that’s almost 40 years old.
Woodbine Nissan told AutoTrader that the tech in question is himself a serious Z enthusiast with his own collection. “It was a labour of love when he brought this one up to snuff,” Oliver Dempsy, General Manager of Woodbine Nissan, told AutoTrader.
Woodbine Nissan purchased the ’86 to coincide with the launch of the 2023 Z, though they’ve noticed that interest in their back catalogue is beginning to heat up.
“We have noticed that certain cars from the ’80s have become very collectable and prices have started to go up,” said Dempsy, who mentioned this nostalgic interest is even starting to creep up to cars from the early 2000s, as the dealership has begun to snag examples like an extremely low-mileage 2003 Pathfinder.
But that’s what’s great about this emerging RADwood-style car culture. It’s broad, it’s accepting, and, unlike traditional classic car culture, it isn’t snobbish or exclusionary. It seeks to appreciate the previously unappreciated and it doesn’t have to define itself by the legacy of a previous generation.
Best of all, you don’t need $100K to get into a big block Chevelle or B-Body Dodge or whatever. An attainable $23,000 is all it takes to get into a clean, well-kept, well-serviced classic sports car from the 1980s. And there’s never been a better time to enjoy it now.
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