What car is this?
February 16, 2015 2:20 PM Subscribe
Can you identify from screenshots the car that the Mythbusters used in their recent drifting episode?
The information available is that it's a model popular for drifting, a 1991 RWD coupe with manual transmission, inline 4, and no ABS. A few guesses came to mind (Supra?) but I wasn't able to find anything that was definitive.
Bonus question: Why were the producers so eager to remove all identifying marks from the vehicle? I understand that brand names and trademarks are routinely obfuscated to avoid giving free advertising, but in this case it seemed like they were particularly circumspect. Is there some kind of fear of liability if some idiot with the same car tries these things and hurts themselves?
The information available is that it's a model popular for drifting, a 1991 RWD coupe with manual transmission, inline 4, and no ABS. A few guesses came to mind (Supra?) but I wasn't able to find anything that was definitive.
Bonus question: Why were the producers so eager to remove all identifying marks from the vehicle? I understand that brand names and trademarks are routinely obfuscated to avoid giving free advertising, but in this case it seemed like they were particularly circumspect. Is there some kind of fear of liability if some idiot with the same car tries these things and hurts themselves?
(Excuse me, 240SX (also sold under other names outside North America). It's a RWD couple with an inline 4 (here's an engine shot), it was available with a manual transmission, and it's popular with the drifting crowd.)
posted by box at 2:36 PM on February 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by box at 2:36 PM on February 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
I had one of those! It's a Nissan 240SX. My boyfriend lives near an auto diesel college and the students would frequently leave notes on the car offering to buy it.
Not pictured in your screenshots was the heads-up display that shows the MPH on the windshield--super, super cool for a car from 1990.
posted by zoetrope at 2:56 PM on February 16, 2015
Not pictured in your screenshots was the heads-up display that shows the MPH on the windshield--super, super cool for a car from 1990.
posted by zoetrope at 2:56 PM on February 16, 2015
Early 1990s Nissan 240sx, and this is the coupe version (there was also a hatchback variant). I'm not sure of the exact years but I feel like they had this model from about 1990-1993 (the one on the show was a 1991 model, which they showed really quick on on-screen graphics).
I loved that episode, went to my local craigslist, and saw there were at least three for sale in various states of disrepair for anywhere from $2500 to $9000 (the upper end were repainted nice ones owned by people that know they're good cars for drifting).
posted by mathowie at 3:05 PM on February 16, 2015
I loved that episode, went to my local craigslist, and saw there were at least three for sale in various states of disrepair for anywhere from $2500 to $9000 (the upper end were repainted nice ones owned by people that know they're good cars for drifting).
posted by mathowie at 3:05 PM on February 16, 2015
in this case it seemed like they were particularly circumspect. Is there some kind of fear of liability if some idiot with the same car tries these things and hurts themselves?
De-badging those kinds of cars is pretty popular (so may have been already like that) but it is also very easy to do indeed. It's likely that they found it easier to pry them off with a screwdriver than mess about blurring them in post-production - I can't see there being any liability issue at all or there would be no manufacturers at all involved in racing.
posted by Brockles at 3:22 PM on February 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
De-badging those kinds of cars is pretty popular (so may have been already like that) but it is also very easy to do indeed. It's likely that they found it easier to pry them off with a screwdriver than mess about blurring them in post-production - I can't see there being any liability issue at all or there would be no manufacturers at all involved in racing.
posted by Brockles at 3:22 PM on February 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
Seconding Brockles. They did blur out the NISSAN on the engine block, obviously one area they couldn't pry off with a driver or cover with gaffer's tape.
posted by JoeZydeco at 3:27 PM on February 16, 2015
posted by JoeZydeco at 3:27 PM on February 16, 2015
I would assume they debadge to avoid an implied endorsement (or criticism, if the test didn't turn out well) of the product in question. Also, companies sue over very strange things when it comes to using their trademarks, and they probably figure it's easiest to just make sure it's not an issue here. I doubt that it's a safety or liability issue.
posted by Aleyn at 5:00 PM on February 16, 2015
posted by Aleyn at 5:00 PM on February 16, 2015
The industry term for the process you're talking about - removing brand names - is "greeking".
And yeah, that's a notchback S13 240SX.
posted by TheNewWazoo at 8:57 PM on February 16, 2015
And yeah, that's a notchback S13 240SX.
posted by TheNewWazoo at 8:57 PM on February 16, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by box at 2:25 PM on February 16, 2015 [4 favorites]