Project G37S Introduction

Project G37S Introduction

by Aaron LaBeau

Sorry to take a brief pause at the beginning of the article and all but it’s sort of funny that after taking over four hundred pictures for a series of articles to realize you have no good leadshot of the car.  I’ll tell you who isn’t laughing it’s Jeff because that sort of stuff is super important to him and it happens to Kojima and me all the time. So there you have it folks, the best exterior shot I have of our latest project all strapped down to a car hauler on its way to Austin, TX.  More on that a bit later.

First, I addressed one of the things I looked at the most.  The dash and speedometer.  The previous owner must have used glass cleaner or vinyl dash protectant that just got baked on that damaged the plastic.

When the Infiniti G35 coupe came on the scene in 2002-03 it was an overwhelming success for Infiniti.  I remember when our very own Mike Kojima drove a pre-production model to a race day at Buttonwillow.  While I don’t think anyone would call it a beautiful shape it was a good looking car with decent performance at a reasonable price.  It was very reminiscent of the glory days in the 90’s when all the car’s in Nissan’s lineup seemed to fit that description.

I had some plastic restore from Mothers in the garage from a headlight restoration kit laying around and after about 20 minutes most of the damage was removed.

The whole reason I’m in the market for a Japanese luxury sedan in the first place instead of happily driving Project Civic SI with a supercharger strapped to it is that my work commute changed from the awesome country backroads of San Diego County with almost no traffic to the best stop and go gridlock that Phoenix has to offer.  The low torque of the Si made for constant shifting and at low speeds the engine wasn’t spinning fast enough to keep the A/C blasting cold on 115 degree days.  So after 23 years of driving front wheel drive 4 cylinder stick-shift cars I needed a car that was comfortable, easier to drive in traffic and hopefully fun to drive.

The steering wheel was starting to show some wear and tear from neglect and after seeing what happened to the speedometer I guess I should be happy that it wasn’t worse.

I’ve used this stuff for years going back to when I detailed cars for a Porsche dealership in Newport Beach, CA.  It’s sort of pricy but it’s a real leather restoration product not just a glossy additive with perfumes that will wear off after a couple of weeks.