Oh I'm diggin' the seats.
Photography Courtesy Nissan
Is the sporty midsize pickup truck poised for a comeback? Nissan has become the latest automaker to test the waters with its “track-ready” Frontier Tarmac. Nissan Motorsports developed the special one-off truck for the SEMA Show in conjunction with Nissan Design America and three-time Formula Drift champion Chris Forsberg.
[Ford Maverick Lobo: A pickup designed to autocross and drift?]
“Twenty years ago, having a performance truck was definitely a cool thing. But today, very rarely do you see lowered, performance truck builds,” Forsberg said in a press release. “I haven’t built a lowered truck since 2003. It just seemed fun–it was different.”
[Red-X: How to turn a pickup into a sporty track "car"]
What are some of the mods they made to the truck based on the Frontier Pro-X? How about adding a water-cooled supercharger to the 3.8-liter V6 and a prototype carbon fiber Nismo cold air intake and performance cat-back exhaust. The combination upped the output of the V6 to 440 horses and 400 lb.-ft. of torque.
They also installed Nismo brakes, including two-piece floating and slotted rotors. In the back there are two calipers, one of which linked to a custom handbrake for drifting.
To lower the truck, Nissan Motorsports created a custom version of the prototype Nismo high-performance street suspension for the Frontier. It features a fully-adjustable coil-over suspension up front, and a flip kit and C-notch in the rear.
There’s carbon-fiber bodywork throughout the truck, including fenders that make the body 4 inches wider than a Frontier Pro-X. It rides on 315/35 Yokohoma Advans on 20-inch Nismo wheels.
“I want to bring back that nostalgia and show that a truck can have performance, too,” Forsberg added. “You can have a fun, fast, track-ready truck and still throw stuff in the bed.”
Nissan will debut the truck at SEMA, November 5-8.
Oh I'm diggin' the seats.
In reply to Colin Wood :
Back in the 1990's a friends dad had a similar seat done up as an office chair. It was the dogs bollocks.
Well, that's pretty berkin cool.
LOVE the idea. But like all things now even small trucks are IMHO wildly overpriced. Oh and they are freaking huge compared to how they used to be...
looks pretty sexy! Off on a tangent here, but I've often thought that an automaker trying to break into this market should try doing so via the enthusiast market. Build some wildly overpowered, yet reasonably priced truck and or coupe so that any enthusiast with a pulse would long for, and which would attract a big aftermarket. Then start moving upscale, rather than wading in with yet another civic or Accord competitor.
Colin Wood said:Oh I'm diggin' the seats.
Those are fantastic!
Wow, Nissan making something I find interesting for a change!
Fueled by Caffeine said:In reply to Colin Wood :
Back in the 1990's a friends dad had a similar seat done up as an office chair. It was the dogs bollocks.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
I love everything about that except the front wheels sticking out past the fender flares.
For years I have wanted a "sport truck." But like the retro 510, I suspect this will not be built and if it did it would be crazy expensive.
Any idea who makes those seats? 
As for the truck, there is probably a better business case to be made to do something like this in the North American market, than say a small car. This continent LOVES trucks. We watch them race on tarmac and off road. We watch them crush cars, race up dirt ramps and do 360's in the air, land, and do zero-radius circles in clouds of dust in an indoor arena.
They may sell every one of these that they build, and with a healthy ADM.
This vehicle harkens back to a time when small trucks were cheap vehicles and easy to mod. This truck ain't that, but it is cool.
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