Hi all, I picked this up the week before christmas, and have finally got it clean enough to share some pics.

Its a New Zealand assembled 1993 Maxima S, which is the base trim level of the 4 trim levels we got..S, SL, SE and SEL. Being the base model, its entitled to: hubcaps instead of alloys, no air con or auto control, no ABS etc. Its has been fitted with an aftermaret trunk spoiler and rear window louvre. I have fitted a front spoiler/lip from a 1992 Maxima Silhouette (a sporty limited edition 'S'), which is a similar design to the Stillen lip, but made in NZ for Nissan NZ specifically for the Silhouette which also had driving lights fitted in the spoiler as standard.

Its fitted with the VG30E and auto trans, as all 3rd Gen Maximas here were. Being from NZ its also right hand drive...lol.


This is my 4th Maxima, having owned in the past: 91 Maxima SE, 98 4th gen Maxima SEL and a 01 5th Gen Maxima ST

 

Thats awesome, I didn't know there was such a difference in foreign models. That front lip (which came stock on some models?) and the louvre put it my cool class.

 

Heeyyy you got the optional lower spoiler thing on the front bumper, nice.
Check out http://www.maximasdownunder.org/forums/ if you haven't already, a bit more support on Aus/NZ specific models on there if you need it.

 

holy crap i love the RHD ones, i was trying to find one in Japan to bring over but a guy i know there says theres very few, ive been trying to see if i could get a Aus or NZ one because i used to know a guy in NZ with a Silvia and 3rd gen

 

sick! RHD FTW! nice pickup man hope u mod her up

 

Clean and Beautiful.

I love the louvre man. If you end up taking it off, someone here in the US will surely take it off your hands. Just don't trash it!!!

 

Looks good. I like the louvres, too. Something different.

I don't think Nissan sold a Maxima here in the states without AC.

I have the same grille, corner lights and amber signals, I just haven't installed them. Well, I put the corner lights on. I need to get my sht together and take some new pics. My signature is old.

 

Actually I'm pretty sure my first 92 Maxima didn't have AC and it came from New Jersey. Maybe I'm just mistaken too.

 

i wonder if the rule for Canadian import from you guys is the same as Japan, 15yrs after manufacturing date? if so it might be worth bringing one over. that louvre is killer too, you know you want to send it to me. Cmon, Aus and Canada are bro's

and holy crap Niccos your Cefiro is T1TS! i love Cefiros, cant find any for sale locally

 

It doesn't matter where the car is from. But why would you import a car you already have and was originally sold in your market? It's quite a bit of money after all is said and done. There's customs fees which is a percentage of the value, shipping and registration costs, might even be other costs for de-registration. Plus, there aren't any ports close to Edmonton are there? So you might need to tack on another $500 to get it home.. All of this on top of the price of the car. You might end up paying about $6k just to have a RHD version of the car you already own..

 

For such a small country we seemed to have had a large number of trim levels to choose from, obviously to cover a big market share, as they were competing closely with the Toyota Camry range, along with a number of GM and Ford models. As they were assembled here, Nissan NZ could add or delete what they wanted. Apparently when they were released in January 1991, NZ was the only country in the world outside of Japan to be assembling Maximas.

As a comparison, our SE was similar in spec to the US GXE, which had the auto aircon, exterior keyless keypad, electric seats etc. Our SEL added leather seats, sunroof, and 6disc CD changer. They were never known here as the 4 door sports car, that title was given to the U12 Bluebird (1992-1995) by Nissan NZ in their advertising.

The front lip was standard on the Maxima Silhouette which was available during 1992 untill the release of the updated Maximas in 1993.

NZ brochure pic for Silhouette

 

A/C was an option on my model. Standard on the other trim levels.

The grille, clear corner lights and amber signals were standard on all our Maximas. Ours had a side indicator repeater on the wing between the wheel arch and front door, so we didnt have a need for the repeater in the corner light. Also, our parking (clearance?) lamp is a small bulb which is part of the main head light, so our corner light is only lit up when indicating left or right with the head lights on.

 

Cliff...you painted and fitted that grille I sent you yet ?

 

really feeling the old school look with the louvre..Nice!!

 

I haven't even driven my car since July or August. I started it about a week ago and put a gallon of premium in it via red can.

Right now, I have some wheels and tires blocking the Maxima in my garage. I bought some Murano wheels with studded snow tires for my FX35. Plus, I bought some 17 inch 6th gen wheels. I need to paint those wheels. I might paint the Murano wheels, also. They are chrome.

 

RHD would make a killer show car, ive never seen one here yet. Importing here wouldnt be a problem because i know lots of people in the city here and a few in Calgary who import cars for a living so i could get a deal on importing it to B.C plus shipping it to here, but driving to the waterline in B.C would only be 3 or 4 days of driving from here.

first i would want a 4dr RB26 swapped R32 but a 3rd gen is up on my list of wanted imported vehicles along with the 50 other

 

Can you guys in the US/Canada not get rear window louvres for the Maxima? You can still buy them for Gen3 cares here.

I posted it on my local Maxima forum www.maximasdownunder.org/forums and all the guys there say lose the louvre and you guys say keep it. Im in two minds now keep it or ditch it....lol. There is no sun damage to the top of the back seat or the rear shelf, so guess its been an advantage.

 

I have never encountered one until you posted your Max up and I like it because it is different. I don't have leather, and don't see any damage from the sun, likewise there has been tint on the window for some time, even if it is bubblicious. How much would it be to get one, and ship it over here to the US East Coast?

 

I think those of us here in the states think the louvres are cool because we can't get them easily and we just don't see them here.

For you, it might be different. Mostly, louvres are something used a lot in the 70s and 80s, like on Firebirds and the Datsun 280z.

 

I'd ditch it, it makes it look ancient (can't help but think "mad max", or "hill billy iroc")
maybe with a different set of wheels (best looking hub caps ever, imo, by the way), and a drop, it wouldn't look so bad.

noticed something strange just now (for us, anyway); USDM maximas with a spoiler have a light in the spoiler only. no spoiler models had a light on the rear parcel shelf. you have both.

 

the rear window thing wasn't all that popular in the US so it didn't really catch on. maybe it was semi popular in the late 70s to late 80s...but after that people didn't really go for them.

so people around you would would say ditch it since it's so common there. people in the states (and CAD) would say keep it because it's unique to us.

few items that's different from aus/uk cars and the US cars.

US - UK/AUS
clear bumper lenses - amber bumper lense
smooth rear bumper - red reflectors in bumper
2 light corner lense (part clear part amber) - i light in corner lense (part smoked part clear)
different grill all around
no headlight wiper - headlight wiper optional
9004 headlight bulb - H4 head light bulb with 194 city light inside
standard hazard button - hazard button blinks when haz lights are on (and the button piece is red)
no seat heaters - seat heaters available
no fold down rear - yup they have it
auto seat belts - manual (i believe the CAD cars are manual also)
VE avail - VG only


that's all i can think of right now...

 

"aftermarket rear spolier"
since they didn't have spolier as std option there ALL their cars have the GXE shelf in the rear. so they all have the 3rd light behind the glass but if they slap on an aftermarket spolier then there's the 2nd one.

 

Guys, rear fold down seats are a myth.
NZ MIGHT have them, but Aus definately do not. Never seen them and I can't see a way the rear seats could even possibly fold down anyway...

NZ got alot of stuff Aus didn't, like slightly different bumpers, "JDM" style Maxima badges (and "3.0" badges, and ****)

 

yep Canadian cars have regular seatbelts, no auto. honestly i would go crazy with auto seatbelts, for the lulz i found a American Cressida so it had auto seatbelts and i didnt like them at all after trying them.

factory we didnt have the louvre here, but i'm sure if i asked the JDM import people i know i could find one. they look sick plus my windows arent tinted (you get away with alot with untinted windows here) so a louvre would make up for it

problem here is 3rd gens are pretty much gone, whats happening is theyre all at the junykard and the only people here in the city that have 3rd gens are old people that dont want a new car and a few middle age oriental people. younger people now die for 3rd gens, ive had a guy follow me home and want to buy my 3rd gen on the spot, people give props to see a good condition and fixed up one, etc. the only thing close to a modded 3rd gen besides mine ive seen here is one with a huge CF wing and i think it was from B.C or Saskatchewan

 

For $4000 US, I would drive my car up there and sell it. Let me know if you can find the guy that followed you home.

It does have auto seat belts, though.

 

what he did was i stopped somewhere to eat, and when i pulled out this Chevy Suburban i think it was pulled behind me and i figured whatever, 10 minutes later he was still on my *** so i thought kinda weird, then he followed me into my neighborhood and that freaked me out but i live across a school so i thought he was maybe going to lure children in his truck, and when i stopped he parked right behind me so i thought o **** because i was speeding a bit and thought it was a undercover cop. he came right up to the drivers side, stared for like 20 seconds, then just said i want to buy your car. i just said its not for sale and he said Nissan went all out with 3rd gens, yours is in such great shape, i'll buy it on the spot etc. i said no again and he was kinda pi55ed and drove off.

it was right infront of my house though so now i park in the garage all the time, hes probably stalking me to steal it

 

going to email a JDM parts guy i know right now to see if he can get me a louvre, never hurts to try

 

Fold down rear seats a myth???? I promise you they do exist...lol

It was raining and dark when i took the pics so they are not my best work. Seats are 60/40 split. Most New Zealand assembled Nissans had them during the 80's and 90's. Wouldnt have taken much to adapt an existing hinge and lock system specifically for the Maxima.


Apparently the US cars have a hump on the trunk floor behind the back seats which ours dont have.

The spoiler is an aftermarket one. Mine is a base model Maxima, so the factory spoiler was only an option. If a factory spoiler was added when the car was assembled the window brake light wasnt installed. Our SE and SEL Maximas had the factory spoiler standard with no window light. If an aftermarket spoiler with a brake light is added, the rear window light doesnt have to operate, so you are able to disconnect or remove it.

The louvre wasnt factory either, its a NZ made Aunger brand, which is the same brand as the spoiler. You could buy them through your local friendly Nissan dealership who would have sourced them from an aftermarket company. They would have also commisioned various aftermarket companies to make other optional accessories also, like: perspex headlight covers, perspex hood protectors that fitted on the front of the hood, towbars, roof racks etc.

Main badging for our Gen3 was the same as USDM cars... "Nissan Maxima" was written on the trunk panel between the tail lights, with the additon of a "3.0i" badge and trim designation badge (S, SL, SE or SEL) on trunk lid above right side tail light. The 3.0i and trim level badge were black on the early cars 91-92, and chrome on the later ones 93-95.

The red lenses in the rear bumper are for foglights, although they are not installed on ours. We get the same bumper they used on the European gen3's where its mandatory to have them. You will notice that the registration plate aperture is wider for our cars too.

There are still plenty of gen 3's on the road here. We also had a lot of second hand JDM Maximas imported here during the late 90's also. They were usually around 4-5yrs old when they were imported, which is when they had to have there very stringent safety check in Japan. Japanese people just seem to ditch their cars at this point and buy new ones. Seems to be a good mix of VG30 and VE30 engined ones imported. Its amazing the differences between the imported JDM cars and the ones sold new here.

The importation of used JDM cars was an initiative by our Government in the mid/late 80's to give us more modern cars along with the safety features they contained, eg: airbags, ABS, better crash protection etc. It did bring the price of used cars down a lot, and spelt the end of our new car assembly industry. Maximas were assembled here until mid 1998 with the Gen4 cars. The last of the Gen4 Maximas 98-99 were Australian spec and were imported fully assembled without fold down rear seats, which was the only time they were never available on a NZ sold Maxima. Our Gen5,6 & 7 cars are Japanese assembled to NZ specification.

Hope that hasnt bored anyone too much...lol

 

Are your seats retrimmed? Different to your doors which look like the cloth material from the factory.
never seen that material before ... might explain why neither my cloth or my leather seats have ever folded down.

 

That seat material is standard to all our Maxima S cars. Higher trim level cars have fancier velour seats, with all seat material being sourced from New Zealand manufacturers. The lower trim level cars (S & SL) even have see through headrests. The door cards came as a complete panel, including the cloth panel, from the factory in Japan ready to be installed onto the door during assembly here.

Nissan NZ would have had an incentive from the NZ Government to use as much local product or content in the cars assembled here as possible. Usually this incentive was paying less import duty or tax on the parts that couldnt be manufactured or assembled here. Items that were bought in built up would be: body panels, trunk lids, hoods, doors, interior door panels fuel tanks, dashboards, guages, seat frames, transmission levers, centre consoles etc. These would have arrived from Japan with each indiviual item eg: front left doors in one container and rear left doors in another contaniner, trunk lids in another and so on. These parts would then be put together in our New Zealand assembly factory.

Items that would be considered local product that Nissan NZ would have sourced locally from NZ companies would be cloth/leather seat material, seat foam, carpets and underlay, wiring looms, alloy wheels, tyres, light bulbs, window glass, bolts, nuts, clips, radios, speakers etc. These would then be all put together with the parts sourced from Japan by New Zealand people in a New Zealand factory, which in turn kept more money in our economy. If I remember correctly, any NZ assembled car had to have a minimum of 40% NZ made or sourced material included, as set by our Government. Im pretty sure Australia had a similar scheme except their local content had to be 60%.

Nissan NZ had the sawblade style alloys manufactured here. Body panels were bought in unpainted, so our exterior colours would be unique to us. Black or Gold wasnt offered as a colour.

The same operation of the fold down back seats, leaving the side and top of the seat back in position, was already in existence in our Bluebird and Sentra/Pulsar/Sunny ranges since the mid 80's, so converting it for use in the Maxima would have been easy.

The front seat with the see through head rest. Higher trim level cars had solid head rests like the US/Aussie cars with the fore/aft tilt adjustment. Lower trim Bluebirds and Sentra/Sunny/Pulsar cars had the same see through head rests too.

 

i think that front lip would look awesome on my 89 SE IMO and i kinda like the see thru headrests...that way i can just lean my head to one side and reach back to b***h slap any smart asses in my backseat lol

 

Does anyone know the brand of those window Louvers? ive been looking FOREVER for them. all i can find are the crappy plastic textured ones. PLEASE, please please, contact me if you are ever planning on selling or getting rid of them. PLEASE, thanks for any help with this,

Sick car by the way...

 

in the 3rd gen section we were talking about this because im wanting one, there is a company in NZ that is selling them but the site is under construction.

apparently Mustang louvers will maybe work as well on a 3rd gen

 

Nope, Mr. Gone doesn't work on 3rd gens anymore

 

i'll try to find a Mustang louver and be the test dummy to see if it fits

 

how is that louvre (?) attached? any close up pics? why so many questions??

 

mine came from jersey too
i found out in my car report

 

Steve your car just become my desk top back ground!! i love the louvers too i wonder if they can still be found! id like a set

 

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