2002 Nissan 350Z from The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift

I just finish watching The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift DVD.  It's the 3rd installment of The Fast and the Furious series and it's pretty good.  The movie goes to show you that anywhere in the civilized world, guys love car and women.  The DVD is great because it has vignettes that talk about the production behind a big budget street racing movie.  I like how they trained the actors on drifting cars at the Irwindale Speedway which is not very far from my house.

As expected, the movie is filled with top Japanese sports cars tricked out for street racing, and specifically, drifting.  But I like how they sprinkle in good ole American muscle cars to finish the meal -- 1970 Chevy Monte Carlo, 2003 Dodge Viper SR-T, 1967 Ford Mustang, and 1970 Plymouth Road Runner with Vin Diesel in a cameo.  I admit that I have mix feelings on the 1967 Ford Mustang chassis being retrofitted with a Nissan engine.  Because then, it's not really a mustang.

 
Of all the cars, the one that stood out to me is Morimoto's gold 2002 Nissan Fairlady Z.  The gold touch against the dark Tokyo streets make it glimmer and shiny.  It's also a powerful car with a supercharged 3.5 L VQ35DE V6 that can produce 360-370 horsepower at the rear wheels. Speaking of wheels, it is equipped with Toyo T1R 255/40/ZR18 at the front and Toyo T1R 275/35/ZR19 at the rear.


In the US, these cars are marketed as the Nissan 350Z to revive the sale of Nissan's popular Z-cars.  Nissan has stopped sales of the Z-cars in 1996 due low sales and high production costs.  But with the 350Zs, it's game on again.  Early version of the 350Zs came standard with V6s producing 287 hp and 274 lb-ft of torque.  The current versions come with a 3.5-liter V6 that cranks out 306 horsepower and 268 pound-feet of torque. source: (Edmunds.com)

Now, I don't know if there really is a 2002 Nissan 350Z.  From a quick research, the 350Z was introduced in the US during the summer of 2002, which would make that model a 2003 Nissan 350Z.  I'm going with the guys and gals of the car site, IMCDB.org, for the year designation on this one.  Maybe it's a 2002 Nissan Fairlady Z, which seem to have been continuous sale in Japan.

Check out this video clip of Nissan 350Z doing burnouts during a race in Middleharnis, Netherlands. The Bugatti Veyron is in the video, too. Check it out:

Pictures of Nissan 350Z

In California, I see a lot of the 350Zs. I don't know, somehow, I like the flatter and wider 300Z design more. A friend of mine wrecked a beige one in the mid-90's.