Throughout the entirety of this year’s SEMA show, I was stunned at how many Japanese imports were catching my eye…that isn’t something that is easy to do, but cars such as the BRE Datsun 510 and the kenmeri Skyline coupe certainly had my attention. But it was this Hakosuka-nosed Nissan pickup that really jarred me awake. To be fair, my initial assessment (a Datsun 620 with a nose job) was completely incorrect, but with how much I genuinely know about JDM proper vehicles, that was a fairly educated guess. Instead, this is a Nissan Sunny pickup…think a Datsun 1200 in ute form from 1973 or thereabouts and you have the right idea. Overall, the look of this little ute was one of pure menace and it reminded me of a vehicle from my past, a Datsun 620 with the inline-six from a 240Z. That being said, this Sunny would kick the hell out of that 620 with it’s SR20DET turbocharged inline-four cylinder.
Speedhunters’ Keith Charvonia took a closer look at the Sunny and got some great angles of the little trucklet as it hid between the halls of the Convention Center. Check out his writeup as well as some of his other pictures. Not all Japanese cars are immediate write-offs, and this Skyline-nosed ute is proof!
Link: Speedhunters: The Unexpected Hakotora
This is extreme bitter irony!
With the trend in modified small Japanese pickups consigned to the stone age and the resulting loss of interest meaning that there are few if any still left in one piece this beauty is really a forlorn hope. Good luck to anybody out there who can find one to restart the trend – which is a pity as there has never been a better time to as there are countless possibilities with the huge range of hot motors and suspension tuning parts available.