For this edition of Back In The Day, we bring you a special pair of Skylines. Since this issue is geared towards the stance craze, it only seemed right to show some love for some of the foremost purveyors of the style—Fatlace. Since coining the term "Hellaflush" these guys from the Bay Area have done a lot to advance the scene and broadcast dumped cars all across the Internet. In the left corner, wearing bronze Volks, we have Mark Arcenal’s Hakosuka. One of the most popular bodystyles of the Skyline and the first generation ever to wear the GT-R badge, the Hakosuka, or "box Skyline" is a legendary car. Rather than trying to update the vintage KGC10 Mark decided to embrace its roots and keep the car classic. The first order of business was to get the car as low as possible and throw on some stylish rollers.
Mark picked up the car as a stock GT-R clone from the guys at Right Hand Drive Japan. Within one week’s time he had the car torn down for some modifications to make the car a little more unique. Although he could have focused on generating more power, Mark opted to focus on aesthetics as he found performance to be a vain effort. "Sure you can go faster, but it [still] won’t keep up with a newer car," Mark explains.
In order to get the car a little closer to the ground, Mark was able to source some Eibach coilovers for the front and coupled them with a pair of JDM Toyoshima Lowered rear shocks and springs. The noticeable drop in height adds to the allure of the skyline and the recently offered TE37V wheels from Volk help the Hakosuka look the part of a vintage racer. In order to accommodate the wider footwear, Arcenal added some GT-R style fender flares that sit nicely atop the Toyo rubber.To complete the race car demeanor Mark added a GT-R front lip and racing headlight covers—pieces that he gathered while on a business trip in Japan. The final step on the exterior was removal of the factory chrome bumpers, a popular weight reduction modification in Japan. The result is a simple sled that looks downright sinister while cruising the streets of San Francisco. There’s no denying the street cred that accompanies a slammed RHD JDM classic.
In the right corner, wearing gunmetal Wats, we have Felix Marcelino’s Kenmeri. Although not as popular (or common) as the Hakosuka, the Kenmeri has a cult following of its own. Due to the gas crisis in the ‘70s, less than 200 GT-R versions of the Kenmeri were built, making it an extremely rare and valuable car. However lower-end models aren’t too difficult to track down and Nissan even produced a Datsun version of the car for foreign markets—a first for the Skyline chassis.
Also on the agenda was a low ride and a sick set of wheels. Felix opted to run Toyoshima Lowered suspension on all four corners to achieve a lower ride, but in retrospect Marcelino would recommend coilovers stating, "the ride is pretty bouncy." Once hunkered-down, Felix popped a set of timeless RS Watanabe wheels on the Kenmeri, housed by a set of GT-R style flares. The deep barrels and low-key flavor match up perfectly with the styling of the body, creating a classy look."You could do a lot more to [these cars], but why?" Mark asks, "Keeping it classy and classic is the way to go." We definitely couldn’t agree more. When you have a piece of JDM history at your disposal why wouldn’t you embrace it? We love these Skylines for what they are, and what they represent. The Beastie Boys probably said it best—"low and slow, that is the tempo."
From the October, 2011 issue of Super Street
By Sean Klingelhoefer
No comments:
Post a Comment