S/I Champs Spotlight: Pure-porno C33 Laurel

22 December, 2016

The drifting sessions were a popular part of the track day and what would drifting be without the presence of a Nissan Laurel (C33). This purple-licked example was a standout for us, and it has, erm, a few ways to catch your interest.

The first of which, is when the owner, Connor, popped the bonnet and the blaring sun reflected heavily of the full polished covers and engine accessories. Although it may appear to be an RB26 at first glance, due to the fact that it wears the covers of one, it is really a RB20DET underneath. This normally wouldn’t excite us too much, however, having seen and heard the little two-litre causing an absolute ruckus on track earlier, it was something we didn’t mind one bit.

Connor summed it up pretty well, too: “Not many people give the RB20s the credit they deserve and all want the RB26 because it’s ‘that’ engine. I chucked the covers on, mainly because they look better, but to unwork what people think of them and prove they are up to the job. Most people don’t believe it’s actually a RB20 at all.”

Up for the job it was, after peeling out many-a-lap out on track and entering the burnout competition for one of the best skids of the day. Backing the heart is a five-speed RB25DET ‘big box’ and Connor has opted to run twin-calipers down the back for the hydraulic handbrake.

Suspension is taken care of by a set of Oz Racing coilovers and includes Hardrace front and rear sway bars, and the full arms catalogue for good measure. WorkshopX side skirts and front guards help to a set of 18×10.5-inch 18p XXRs for a low and tough, yet functional, stance.

Now, with all that out of the way, the second attention grabber, and one that easily drew the biggest crowd when the doors were opened, is the ‘adult content’ plastered interior. Unsure of why he exactly decided to dropped $40 on the 18+ magazines, only to tear them up and stick them on all four door cards and the dash, Connor was rather pleased with his modification. His friends were also more than happy to point out their favourites and had even gone as far to name them. We can’t show you the pictures in their full glory, but you get the idea from the blurred versions…

This is the quintessential home-built drift car in New Zealand; low, loud (in both sound and aesthetics), and more than functional.

NZ Classic Car magazine, March/April 2025 issue 398, on sale now

23 February, 2025

An HQ to die for
Mention the acronym HQ and most people in the northern hemisphere will assume this is an abbreviation for Head Quarters. However, for those born before the mid-’80s in Australia and New Zealand, the same two letters only mean one thing – HQ Holden!
Christchurch enthusiast Ed Beattie has a beautiful collection of Holden and Chevrolet cars. He loves the bowtie and its Aussie cousin and has a stable of beautiful, powerful cars. His collection includes everything from a modern GTSR W507 HSV through the decades to a 1960s Camaro muscle car and much in between.
In the last two Holden Nationals (run biennially in 2021 and 2023), Ed won trophies for the Best Monaro and Best Decade with his amazing 1972 Holden Monaro GTS 350 with manual transmission.
Ed is a perfectionist and loves his cars to reflect precisely how they were on ‘Day 1,’ meaning when the dealer released them to the first customer, including any extras the dealer may have added or changed.

You’re the one that I want – 1973 Datsun 240K GT

21 February, 2025

In the early 1970s, Clark Caldow was a young sales rep travelling the North Island and doing big miles annually. He loved driving. In 1975 the firm he worked for asked Clark what he wanted for his new car, and Clark chose a brand-new Datsun 240K GT. The two-door car arrived, and Clark was smitten, or in his own words, he was “pole vaulting.”
Clark drove it all over the country, racking up thousands of miles. “It had quite a bit of pep with its SOHC 128 hp (96kW) of power mated to a four-speed manual gearbox,” he says. Weighing in at 1240kg meant the power to weight ratio was good for the time and its length at almost 4.5 metres meant it had good street presence.
Clark has been a car enthusiast all his life, and decided around nine years ago to look for one of these coupes. By sheer luck he very quickly found a mint example refurbished by an aircraft engineer, but it was in Perth.