The beautiful Laurel at the Girls’ Car Collection
The Girls Car Collection, a girls-only event, was held on 23 November 2023 in Akihabara, Tokyo. Among the approximately 30 cars owned by car-loving girls, we spoke to the owner of a slightly nostalgic sedan, an 8th-generation C35 Nissan Laurel, who took part in the event.
“When I saw this color, I thought, “This is it!”
In the past few years, we have seen young owners participating in various events with so-called neo-historic models from the 1980s and 1990s, many of which are sports models such as the Silvia and RX-7. Among them, participating in the Girls’ Car Collection in a 1998 Nissan C35 Laurel Medalist, a sedan that also had a slightly badass image at the time, was Mai Yazawa, who is active in car-related events and as a reporter.
She used to drive the Suzuki Lapin, which is also popular with women, but she met an old car at an event and bought this Laurel in May 2022. By the way, why the sedan and why the Laurel?
“I’ve always had a longing for Nissans, or cars of this age with a bit of a crunchy look, and the Laurel was one of the candidates I was looking at buying. What made me decide on this car was the body color. I had seen a few black and white Laurels before, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to buy one. I thought, “This is it!”
The one-owner car is in mint condition with a live cassette deck
The car he bought was a fully-stocked Laurel that had previously been driven by the president of a company. He has thought about customizing it, but has decided to drive it stock for a while first.
“Well, it’s just great. It’s a sedan, so it’s stable to drive, and it’s easy to drive on the motorway because it’s so excellent. I thought it might be big, but it’s not as big as I thought it would be, it’s easy to drive and you can go anywhere, it’s a good partner. It’s a one-owner car, and the interior is still in the same condition as it was back then, I can even listen to cassette tapes. It has a nostalgic feel, like my father’s car.”
“I want to keep on board for as long as a year from now”
By the way, why did you decide to stop customizing it and ride it close to the original?
“Various people told me that this stock bike was a waste because it was rare, and as I rode it more and more, I became more and more attached to the stock bike. I also like to go a little bit in the wild direction, but in a way, I’m still trying to find out how cool I can make it without destroying the normal.”
“Now I’ve put in stock R33 wheels and Blitz ZZ-R dampers. That alone has made quite a difference. In the future, I still want to put in Endless brakes and I’m asking Fujitsubo for a muffler. Eventually, I want to bronze the wheels, and I’m wondering if I should paint the current ones or the stock R34 ones. Also, this baby is a 1998 model and it’s getting on in years, so I’d like to do my best to make sure I can drive it safely for even a year longer than it looks.”
translated by DeepL