This family man from Rocklands has his wife and two daughters to thank for this awesome refurbished S13.
Bobby Nitro spoke to Mogamat Ismail Mitchell just after he received his newly redone 1992 Nissan 200sx S13 from the shop.
He says: “Originally I was after an S14, but the three of them are petrolkoppe and were the driving force in me getting the S13.”
The Nissan 200sx S13 has classic styling that simply hasn’t dated, one could even compare it to those of the new Ferrari coupe. The bottom line is that these little cars are great fun to drive, and economical fun at that, which goes a long way.
Like many who pursue their passion cars, petrol runs in his veins as his dad was a racer and the need for speed was instilled at a young age.
Regarding the S13, he says: “This car caught my imagination when I saw it in drift videos, and I really liked the way it looked.”
The S13 was one of the early entries into the drift craze that has swept the globe over the past decade, as it is an accessibly priced car and can be converted to drift setup relatively simply.
When he bought the car it was not a runner and the strip-down was to bare bones, with the build-up from the ground up.
When Ismail bought the car it was in bad shape. He says: “I had an S13 previously for two years. Sold that one, and bought this one about 18 months ago. The car was rusted and motor had been standing two years in the rain. The pistons were stuck in the block, rusted. So I refurbished everything myself, wanting to keep everything original. And got it running in five days.
He did full restoration on the bodywork and fitted the body kit, apparently the only one of its kind in the country coming from Origin Labs in Japan. A carbon fibre wing was designed and fitted, as were BC coilovers, with all the work being done by D&A Performance.
Rolling on Rotiform 10j wheels, the S13 makes a stunning entry, all new, shiny and raring to go.
“In my area, you don’t often see cars like this and people want to know how you got it. I tell them to put their head down, work hard for what you want, and ignore the people who will bring you down.”
Asked how it felt to have the final product finally in his driveway, Ismail says: “It just feels awesome after all the hard work and long wait.”
Standard motor here is a 1.8 litre turbocharged inline four-cylinder good for 126kW and 224Nm. With a curb weight of 1190kg one can understand why this cabbie was a serious street contender in its day.
He has supported this output somewhat by installing a bigger turbo, bigger injectors and an Excell wastegate, as well as management, bringing the output to about 200kW.
Asked if he intended this as a daily drive, Ismail responds: “More a daily race car. I love the sound of it and how comfortable it is to drive. If there were anything else I would do one day it would maybe be an engine swap.
“When I bought the car as a non-runner, I has a vision of what it might turn out to be, and what kept me going through the challenging project was bringing that vision into reality.
“The car’s name is Bad Influence, because whenever I’m out at petrolkop gatherings I get into nonsense and apparently it has been said that I influence others.”
Though nothing serious, he says: “I’ll be the first guy to start a burnout at the hook-up.
“When I was a kid I always used to go stand at Atmosphere parking lot and watch the guys drift, and now at night I’d rather sit in the garage than sit in front of the TV, I just love to look at the S13 and say to myself ‘is that really my car’.”