What Jay Duca‘s 1983 Nissan Prairie lacks in aerodynamic talent, it greater than makes up for with an abundance of persona.

The Praire other folks mover caught out like a sore thumb among the International Time Assault Problem‘s wildest aerofoils, greatest infinity wings, sharpest canards or even the vortexiest of vortex diffusers. I needed to take a better glance.

The guy who introduced us ‘The Little Purple Truck‘ isn’t your common automobile fanatic. Jay concocts of probably the most maximum left box and oddball nostalgic mash-ups we’ve ever noticed, documenting all of them on his in style Low Requirements YouTube channel. However Jay’s newest undertaking is greater than metal and rubber – it’s additionally a bit of steel field of recollections.

However why a Prairie within the first position? Why a 40-year-old, under-powered, uninspiring, nugget of a automobile? For starters, it’s no longer simply any automobile to Jay.

As soon as belonging to his brother, it was once the vessel of adventures, highway journeys and recollections. As Jay recollects, this was once the automobile that noticed him and 6 others adventure to Summernats two times. The guys drove it all over.

Having a look previous its sentimental worth, the Prairie’s distinctive field form, absence of B-pillars, dead-flat ground – to not point out rarity and antique enchantment – made it a very simple selection for this particular undertaking. Then again, reclaiming historical past isn’t all the time easy. When Jay determined to resurrect the Prairie as a flow automobile, he knew the street forward could be stuffed with demanding situations.

When Jay were given his arms at the Praire, it was once, in his personal phrases, “a sack of sh*t”. But, he wasn’t deterred.

For sure, your eyes were interested in the corrosion, dents, scrapes and scratches that Jay has consciously determined no longer to take away or patch up. Some would possibly accuse him of negligence, however with this Prairie, maintaining its faults is a planned selection. It provides persona.

Demanding situations like rust were markers of a compelling adventure. Whether or not it’s been a problematic part or a design quandary, there’s not anything {that a} grinder, welder and a few excellent ol’ formed elbow grease hasn’t been ready to unravel to this point.

Jay’s first giant activity was once changing the front-wheel force Nissan to rear-wheel force. The answer? Embedding a changed KE70 Corolla chassis construction – from entrance radiator toughen to the rear panel – underneath the Prairie’s shell. Through positioning the ground pan upper up within the Nissan’s bodywork, it’s necessarily been body-dropped.

With Jay and his colleague Zac’s craftsmanship, mixed with friends like Adam and Chris lending their experience to the inner trims and paint, the Prairie was once reborn with a brand new goal.

Jay saved everybody guessing when it got here to the engine, however in the end a stroked Toyota 2JZ-GE discovered its method into the bay. The naturally aspirated inline-six is a lovely critical factor, now displacing 3.2L and that includes a CNC-ported cylinder head with 304-degree cams and a race-spec valvetrain.

Upload to {that a} customized consumption that includes six person throttle our bodies with open trumpets and a customized exhaust that starts with a stunning handmade 6-1 stainless metal header, and you’ll be able to wager this 2JZ roars.

An AE86 entrance suspension setup and Shockworks coilovers all spherical, plus an AE86 steerage setup guarantees the Prairie handles neatly. This coupled with the physique drop permits the van to sit down ultra-low over its 14-inch SSR MKII wheels with suitably stretched rubber.

And the inner? A lovely mix of previous and provide with a customized roll cage, Recaro LX entrance seats, and a undying Nardi wood-rimmed steerage wheel.

As you could possibly have picked up on, there’s a bit of paintings left to do, however the plan is to have this Nissan/Toyota mash-up finished in time for the LZ International Excursion’s Australian forestall subsequent month.

As Jay mused concerning the Prairie drifting along the sector’s absolute best, it’s exhausting to not proportion his enthusiasm. If you’ll be able to’t in finding pleasure on this amalgamation of recollections, customized engineering and loads of love, perhaps, simply perhaps, it’s time to search out that rusted piece of your soul and produce it again to lifestyles.

Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com