THE HEIST

Words by Charles Kha Photos by Jarrett Pinksterboer

Nissan’s beloved Z child grows up and becomes an indisputable tuner hero car.

Cars are meant to be driven, that’s a given. But in my mind, the rule doesn’t apply to two situations. The first is when you’ve created a show car, a car that’s financial value (governed by the level of modifications) and the sheer attention it draws no longer makes it viable for street use. The second is if you live in Indonesia. And if you’ve been to or at least heard of the roads in Indonesia, then you’ll know exactly what I mean. Over there, rules don’t mean anything. Those painted lane markings? Ornamental use only. Five abreast on a two lane road? No worries. Beggars knocking on your windows demanding money at every single traffic light? It’s expected. Huge, crater-like potholes? They’re on every second street.

If you were to mix those two elements together – a show car in Indonesia – then obviously this would be a car that you’d leave locked up and under covers. Well, that’s what we thought. When we first met Adi, the owner of this funky and certainly tough Z, we thought he’d organise a tow truck to transport the car to our photoshoot location.

So as photographer Jarrett and I stood at the photoshoot location – a tunnel which we had stumbled across two days prior – we were expecting a flat bed to deliver the cargo. But then we heard it. A bellowing rasp, a chirp of blow off and a crackle on overrun. A sliver of gold flowing towards us, HIDs flickering rainbow over the bumps. We had guessed wrong. Adi drove the sucker, decked one inch off the ground et al, for the forty minute drive from his house to our location.

Over a cigarette we ask Adi why he didn’t tow the car, and his reply was an expression of repulsion. We’re not sure if he took the question as ludicrous or that it was lost in translation, but we’ll assume the former.