Tag: HISTORIC

The Nissan 300ZX was a far cry from it’s original Datsun 240Z predecessor, but in the early 1990s, a Twin Turbo Z was still a very impressive car…it might not have been a light and nimble little machine that earlier Z and ZX cars had been, but the Z32 variation that appeared in USDM markets in 1990 was stylish, comfortable and very, very capable. The 300ZX was produced through 2000 in Japan and other markets, but left the U.S. market in 1996 after the Yen/Dollar ratio went south for Nissan’s liking. To be fair, the 300ZX was a $50,000+ coupe that had been more affordable beforehand, but still…

That being said, for the final year’s advertising, Nissan went ahead and went bonkers with the ad campaign. The car itself made an impression, but this is one of the very few 1990s-era auto advertisements that was worth remembering simply because Nissan was having way too much fun with the campaign. Van Halen’s “You Really Got Me” might have resonated with kids who grew up listening to VH years earlier (or, in my case, my parents, who had been going to the concerts since high school, when Diamond Dave was still at full action and insanity, but it was the cocky presentation of the not-a-G.I. Joe and his runaway lover in a remote-controlled T-top Nissan 300ZX that had me on the floor laughing. Hey, I was thirteen, give me a break! The one thing I didn’t know growing up was who the old Japanese man was at the end of it. That, friends, is Mr. K. – the father of the Z-car,

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For starters, holy cow did these fellows have guts! Tasked with recovering a disabled tank that was sitting by itself well off the road and away from the protection of a convoy, a small group of men ventured over to the broken Crusader Mk II tank with a lumbering monster of a truck and set to work loading it. Soon after they start working to winch the tank onto the truck, explosions in VERY close proximity to where they are begin. The men dive to the ground and wait them out before going back to work again. They are met by more explosions, even closer this time. We then see the truck with the tank on its back creeping back toward the road with shells hitting mere yards from it. The final shot we see is so close that the whole truck is obscured by the dirt and dust. The camera guy must have been shaking in his boots as well!

Outside of the sheer bravery shown by these British soldiers, the truck caught our eye. Looking like something straight out of the Mad Max movie (but moving at a pace slightly slower than a tortoise, especially when loaded) is a British built Scammell Pioneer rig. This was the Semi-trailer version of the truck which was a bigger, beefier version of the standard issue Pioneer which was used to tow heavy guns, had a wrecker type setup that was used on it, and found use in virtually every theater of the war that the British fought in. The Pioneer Semi-trailer truck weighed about 22,000lbs with the trailer and was just under 40 feet long. The trailer could not be simply unhooked from the truck so they were essentially a one piece unit. Power was derived from a 501ci inline six diesel engine that made a whopping 102hp. As was always the case, torque was the name of the game and while the engine made some, the 18mph top speed meant that it needed lots of gearing help as well. The good news? It could go 430-miles on 54 gallons of fuel (unladen). Hopefully there were team drivers because at 18mph, 430 miles would take 24 hours, give or take pee breaks. 

All kidding aside, these guys were literally yards from catching one of those shells and they didn’t run, didn’t take off screaming, and got the job done. Even while they lumbered away they were not completely out of harm’s way as evidenced by the final closing seconds of the scene where a shell lands and explodes just to the back of the truck. We hope all the guys in this video lived long and happy lives after leaving the war effort and heading home. They certainly earned it.

PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE THIS AMAZING FOOTAGE STARRING THE BRAVE SOLIDERS AND THEIR HUGE LUMBERING TRUCK –

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