At the 2018 Chicago Auto Show Nissan decided to treat their fans to something really fun and special. So they took a 370Z Roadster and mated it, forcefully one might add, with a snowmobile. The result is this Nissan 370Zki you see here, and we have to say it does look like a lot of fun.
Of course, there have been cars with skis and tracks instead of wheels before. But usually this treatment is given to SUVs. To fit a sports car, and an open-top one at that, with the stuff is new. What we like about Nissan 370Zki is that it’s not built for any practical purposes. They have put it together just for fun, and for that reason alone it’s probably the coolest thing at Chicago Auto Show.
Some deep modifications were needed to make the Nissan 370Zki work. For instance, to fit the DOMINATOR Tracks from American Track Truck, Inc. they had to take the entire drivetrain out, fit a lift kit and then reinstall the whole thing after putting in custom mountings for the rear suspension springs and three-inch custom spacers to mount the snow tracks to the wheel hubs. The front skis are mounted with spacers to the stock wheel hubs, but engine and transmission have been modded to cope.
“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, Product Planning, Nissan North America, Inc. “Prior to its debut here in Chicago, we put the 370Zki through its paces on the slopes in Wyoming where its performance heritage really came through.”