Project Leopard's story isn't just about rebuilding it. That is too superficial. Project Leopard's revival has a deeper meaning. There is a lot of connections that make this build just a bit more.. but that is only for people that know the history or pay attention.
It’s a tribute to the originals. Kinda vague, but it’s aimed at the original builders and people that participated in the build. I wanted them to know the time they all put into this car didn’t go to waste.
Koji, Gary, Marco, Phase2… all the original contributors I want them to see this car.
It’s a tribute to F31club and the OGs. This was the car that not only made M30s known, but it was somewhat of a car that set the bar and goals to have/build. Before the M30s were known, many of the F31club members knew and believed the M30 was a good platform and loved the car before the hype. So to those of us that endured trying to fix M30s, gathering information, connected on the forums, appreciated the M30… I wanted to build this car for them.
It’s a tribute to the F31 community in Japan (both Leopards and M30s). Their love for the F31 years ago set many of us on a path of trying to learn about the F31. Even to love the F31 in all forms. I want to pay tribute to the Japanese F31 community because many of them have helped me understand the F31 better. Few have also helped me build my car and even given me ideas along with parts. Their contribution has helped shape my ideas of the F31 and how to put it out there.
It’s a tribute to established brands. As I said, it is an era/period correct build. I wanted to use the companies that was used for the original build, but also companies I enjoyed using products from. Companies such as Greddy, Pivot, HKS, and Phase2 Motortrend
It’s a tribute to Nismo. While there are a limited amount of Nismo Ultimas, I wanted to pay tribute to Nissan, Nismo and Autech as much as possible.
It’s also a tribute to Project Car magazine. The coverage was amazing and was the only publication that reached overseas.
It will also be a tribute to my original race crew, Team Reaction. It's era correct, but my original contribution was to have a show car.