Prerunners have a pretty standard definition: Pickups (or what’s left of them) with tall tires and taller suspension, meant to shoot across the desert at terrifying speeds to scout the route ahead of a race truck. What if you wanted to do a prerunner’s job, but your mind was stuck in the world of Tokyo Drift? Well, you might build this Nissan 240SX prerunner, which is one of my favorite cars I’ve ever seen.
To be clear, this is a dumb build. S-chassis cars are built to slide around corners endlessly, never driving straight, turning tires into smoke the whole time. Building an S14.5 (an S14 with an S15 front end) up to have this kind of suspension travel should be a fool’s errand, but it’s an errand Jake O’Donnell decided to cross off his to-do list. I’m thankful he did, because this Silvia is one of those genres of dumb that loops all the way around to being incredibly cool.
Just look at this thing
Why build a prerunner out of such a small, low car? Because it’s hard, and because doing so leaves you with a build that no one else out in the desert will have. There are a million Tacomas done up in this style, and one of those can be made with plenty of off-the-shelf parts — not so with an LS2-powered S-chassis. This is a very custom build, and all the time spent on it (the car’s been drivable in some state for years) paid off by making something truly unique. Plus, putting out 700 horsepower doesn’t hurt.
Yet, somehow, this isn’t the first off-road 240SX we’ve seen. A Japanese garage called Top Rankaz put one together a decade ago, with a Rocket Bunny Boss body kit and plenty of lift to fit the dirt tires. That Silvia lacked this 240’s long-travel suspension, though, and certainly lacked the desert playgrounds of the United States to hoon around in. This is my new favorite off-road vehicle, bar none.
