Nissan 370Zki – a 332 hp snow-conquering roadster

In the early 2000s, there was this television programme called Junkyard Wars, where teams would build curious contraptions to compete in a challenge. Most often than not, this involved finding a seasoned vehicle and modifying it extensively with various parts.

This is the Nissan 370Zki (pronounced 370 Ski), and it certainly appears to follow the path laid out by the now-discontinued show. The challenge was to make a snowmobile based on a car, and to do that, the carmaker has sourced a 370Z (a seasoned vehicle seeing how it’s nearly decade old), a pair of snow tracks and two skis.

After getting everything to work in harmony, the end result is a vehicle that is ready to tackle ski slopes and backwoods trails. Mechanically, the car retains its 3.7 litre V6 engine (332 hp/366 Nm) and seven-speed automatic transmission, with drive going to the rear as before. However, these items had to be custom mounted and a skid plate added to prevent damage on the snow.

“The Nissan 370Zki continues our recent tradition of bringing imaginative winter vehicle concepts to the Chicago Auto Show. With the Nissan Z’s long heritage of motorsports competition, the 370Zki seemed like a natural combination,” said Michael Bunce, vice president of product planning at Nissan North America.

To create the 370Zki, a lift kit was installed to make room for the snow tracks. Custom fabrication work on the suspension and mountings were also done to make sure the front skis were able to move and rotate. Finally, the brake line had to be rerouted, while the exhaust system was modified to fit under the vehicle.

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