Here is a tough one I don’t know how to feature. To be honest, I don’t know anything about this car. I’m not the last one about JDM – I think I have a nice collection and car culture about it – but this one stump me. After all, no problem, Google is my friend. I apologize if you think I’m constantly repeating myself, but I love when diecast teaches me something on car culture. And here again, banco.
At first sight, it’s a white truck. Pretty small. With very JDM mirrors, with an insolent stance, after market wheels and a nice front spoiler. And then something disturbed me, in the front. I did not recognize the face of a Nissan Sunny but more a familiar face. I did not recognize the latest M2 Machines Datsun trucks either – I said I did not know anything about this truck! In fact this was normal, cause after making my homework, I realized the concept of this crazy little truck was to be a pure hybrid thing. Let me explain : take a Datsun Sunny from 1974 and implant him a face of an Hakosuka (= Skyline KPGC10), with carbon fiber and a crazy 436 hp engine, and you got it!
So, Datsun Sunny x Hakosuka = Hakotora! Isn’t it too cool ? How a white and black truck, prima facie over boring, can become such an interesting subject! If you want to learn more about this project by Dominic Le, a Datsun specialist, please head to this site (for French readers). You can still Google Hakotora though.
Back to the replica itself. Now, we can look at it with a new angle, and understand the casting. Based on the photos I’ve seen on the website, Inno64 replica is really close to reality. White/black is of course primordial, but if we go deeper in the details, we can spot very true details too.
In a no particular order, I can see the gold Rays after market wheels, the marked tires, the front spoiler, the detailed taillights, the carbon fiber bed in black and white stripes, or the green Takata belts. Wow. That is a lot of details. Please take note also of the little typical JDM mirrors – that we would looooove to see on Tomica Limited Vintage cars, and the GT-R logo on the front grill.
I’ve been skeptical about the front headlights, which I thought were not separate pieces but after confirmation with the Inno team, they are! If you look closely to the car (3D samples can confirm), the tiny headlights are well separate pieces, with a bit of paint on it.
I also thought this Nissan Sunny was a collaboration casting made with Pop Race, because we have already seen some announcements of this truck in a Coca Cola deco in Pop Race line, and above all the chassis is made of metal, but it’s not.
The fact many of you will like is that the truck actually rolls pretty well, WITH his amazing stance and tiny size. I offer that comment.
All in all, this is a very interesting truck I loved to discover. You can find some on eBay easily as it is a new release. It will surely fit in any JDM fan collection, and please be sure that many other versions will come. But as a start, this is the perfect model for your Nissan Sunny Hakotora collection, because it’s the first project of Dominic Le. A good replica of a JDM connoisseur car made with good execution.
@Willdiecast