By Antti Kautonen
This weekend, I’ll be posting some cars left on their own devices. Some of them abandoned, some of them just positioned where snow has overpowered them: at the very least, it will take a while before they’ll return to the streets.
The first one was shot last weekend at the ice track. It’s a 1988 Nissan Laurel, a big RWD barge in our terms and it’s one of the more rarer Laurels as it has the 2.4-litre straight-six gasoline engine. It’s also been snowed in, as you can see.
The Laurel looks surprisingly clean as far as I can see. The wheelarches do not seem peppered with rust, as often is the case, and there’s not a trail of rust leaking from the gas cap. Still, the rust worm might have eaten the door bottoms from the inside.
It’s difficult to see, but the Laurel even has Minilite-style wheels under it. They have a touch of classic Japanese-ness about them.
Most of the Laurels and Cedrics still doing service here have the 2.8-litre diesel straight six, and they’re often seen hauling horse trailers around. For a large saloon, they’re surprisingly close to a simple work horse for being a semi-luxurious car.
[Images: Copyright 2013 Hooniverse/Antti Kautonen]
Boy would I love to be able to import a big '80s or early-'90s Toyota or Nissan four-door (particularly a hardtop or faux-hardtop like a Laurel or a Crown). Mmm…JDM brougham-y goodness…
Are you sure that's not a Cressida under that snow?
Yep, it does look to be a Nissan Laurel. I was thinking at first this equated to the US Maxima, but it's a different model entirely, not imported to the US.
If I were choosing a Laurel, I would pick the 1972-77 generation that look like a 7/8 scale Dodge Challenger in front:<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Nissan_Laurel_C130_001.JPG" width="600">and a bit more like a '71 Plymouth Roadrunner from the rear:<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/NISSAN_Laurel_C130_rear.jpg" width="600">
Anyone knows where to find parts for that? I live in Estonia and I have Nissan Laurel 1986. It is 2.4 litre betrol straight six. I am dying to find left headlight for it! Anyone?