In the early 2000s, America’s lowrider culture also became a thing over in Japan, with this being clearly visible in the contemporary custom car landscape of the latter country. And the digital proposal we’re currently feasting our eyes on brings a bit of a role reversal, giving the JDM essential that is the fourth-generation Skyline (C110) a Cali-style makeover that sees it riding as close to the asphalt as possible.
Truth be told, the said Skyline iteration was always linked to the North American market—back in the day, Nissan ran a Japanese campaign featuring a young couple augmenting life with such a ride and with the two characters being named Ken and Mary, the sportscar became known as Kenmeri.
And while the lowrider community has expanded its reach to accept automobiles of many shapes and sizes (more on this in the final paragraph), muscle cars are still not that common of a choice, which makes this JDM goodie uber-special, since its styling is unapologetically inspired by that of America’s OG muscle cars (here’s how a Kenmeri GT-R looks when rendered with Dodge Challenger parts).
The digital artist known as Sad Machines went for a realistic approach when portraying this creation (as well as that from the Mopar story mentioned above) and we’re not just talking about the photorealistic result.
For starters, he steered clear of the rare and expensive Skyline GT-R, going for a lesser GTX instead (this still packs a six-cylinder heart, though). After all, the two are visually separated by only a handful of details that might escape an untrained eye and since the pixel master was aiming for a thorough visual transformation anyway, his choice makes perfect sense.
The efforts of American artists who work on lowriders in real life are present on this Nissan
Speaking of the changes the mid-1970s sportscar has gone through, the striking visuals adorning the body of the car are borrowed from U.S artists who work on lowriders in the real world. As such, handmade graphics, pinstriping and lettering come from the artist known as @SubstanceMatt, while the stencils were originally made by @StickItStencils.
With all the said colorful bits, we musn’t overlook the serious hardware changes done to the Skyline GTX, namely the hydraulic suspension and the wire wheels, which, of course, are wrapped in white-sidewall rubber.
The list of exterior changes continues with the front grille and the yellow window tint. Speaking of which, we can peek into the cabin, where we find a perfect-fit white leather finish with contrastinc accents.
And since it can be difficult to say “lowrider” without thinking of an Impala, the artist also showcases the Kenmeri Skyline GTX in the company of such a Chevy, as you can notice in the image gallery.
