Remember that Super Bowl commercial that aired in 1990 with the silver Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo that was directed by Ridley Scott? Whatever happened to that car?
A Craigslist ad in the San Francisco Bay Area popped up a few days ago featuring a 1990 Nissan 300ZX, also silver, with incredibly low mileage (1,200 miles). And after reading the car’s description, it seems quite probable that this is the same car.
The ad details how this 300ZX had been donated to the California State University, Long Beach by Nissan after it was used in a commercial in 1990 and how it had been in storage for the last 25 years. The seller describes how the commercial had a 300ZX TT jump over the camera and that the front bumper was damaged and replaced, but not painted.
From the ad:
The ZX was originally black and repainted silver for the commercial (all the other vehicles in the commercial are black). All the windows—including the windshield—were blacked out. Though the car has a turbo spoiler and many stickers stating “twin turbo”, its actually naturally aspirated. According to the VIN number, this car is #000034 (out of 164,170, probably the first day of production) and I don’t think Nissan had made any 300TT’s yet when they shot the commercial.
The seller is asking for $8,500.
What do you think? Is this the same car that’s in the famous Super Bowl commercial? Because if it is, I’ll bet that the owner can fetch a lot more than just $8,500 for it.
We’ve reached out to the seller the confirm and will update if we hear back.
(H/t to Tamerlane’s Thoughts!)
Update No. 1: The ad originally stated that the car was kept at the University of California Long Beach, when it was actually the California State University, Long Beach. The post has been updated to reflect that.
Update No. 2: The seller is almost certain that this is the car from the Super Bowl commercial. He says that the university has nothing in writing and Nissan could not verify it either, when he contacted them.
The seller acquired the 300ZX at the CSULB Public Surplus auction. When he contacted the property manager to make arrangements to pick up the car, he was told that the Z was being sold for “parts only.” From the email:
This was because when the Z was donated to them, back in 1990, it was with the understanding by Nissan that the car was never to be driven on the street, due to various liability issues.
But, because the University didn’t have anything written down about the car, the property manager let the seller come and take the car.
The car had never been registered before, and upon inspection, it was discovered that the car had no emissions or manufacturer labels. Eventually, though, the seller was able to get the Z to pass inspection.