Nissan Z Kaze Concept Has The T-Tops The New Z Has Always Deserved

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, all the coolest cars wore T-tops: The Bandit's Trans Am, the Toyota MR-2, and even the Nissan 300ZX. But as the years wore on, manufacturers appear to have forgotten the glory of the "split roof with a structural thing down the middle" design — these days, if you want God's perfect roof design, you have to live with yourself after buying a GMC Hummer EV. But Nissan, it seems, hasn't forgotten the old ways. It still understands the appeal of the T-top, as evidenced by the new Z Kaze concept the company revealed today at ZCON. 

The Kaze name comes from the Japanese word for "wind," and this is just about the perfect Z. The carbon vented hood and body kit, the Pacific Teal paint color, the stripes, the wheels pulled off an R33 GT-R — everything is simply the best this platform will ever get. But one feature elevates this concept above all others, possibly above all other cars for sale now or ever: The Z once again has T-tops. We are saved.

Nissan says the Z Kaze concept is "a passion project conceived and developed by a team of product planners and designers," with the guiding vision being "an exhilarating drive along California's Pacific Coast Highway on a perfect summer day." Now, there's nothing to indicate that Nissan will be bringing T-tops to production on the new Z, and the press release doesn't have that many details on the setup. In fact, you could even say there are no details — Nissan just says it's a "custom-engineered T-top roof."

But it does look pretty well finished. In the photos, we can see the small mounting points and rubber seals for the T-top panels, which themselves have glass sunroof inserts so you'll always have more light coming into the cabin whether or not the T-tops are in place. They seem easy to take on and off, with one image showing a popped-out handle, and nothing about the setup feels too far-fetched or impossible to produce for real. Presumably, the panels can be stored in the Z's fairly generous hatchback cargo area.

While the big change with the Kaze concept is the addition of T-tops, that's not all this bright blue Z brings to the table. It's also been worked over by GReddy (thus the stripes), with a new exhaust, intake, and front-mount intercooler. Nissan hasn't published any performance numbers, but turbo engines like these love to breathe more freely. That extra power, plus the weight reduction from the carbon bodywork, certainly offsets whatever performance is lost to the weight, complexity, and rigidity sacrifices inherent in the T-tops.

Nissan

Those awesome 18-inch LMGT2 wheels from the Nismo catalog — an evolution of the three-piece LMGT1 wheels from the Skyline 400R — haven't been in production for a long time, so the Kaze's product planners had to source an original set. The wheels were then "painstakingly restored and rebuilt," and they're 10 inches wide up front and 11 inches wide in the rear, which means they've certainly been widened.

Through those T-tops, we can see the Kaze's interior, which has also been worked over. It's done up in light leather, which ought to keep the seats from getting too hot when parked out in the sun — a real problem with too many modern cars. It's a much more flattering shade than the tan color that's actually available on production Zs, and it's coincidentally the feature I'd think is most likely to actually hit the market — not that it should be the one. I'd gladly trade all the performance gains and the interior beauty just to get those sweet, sweet T-tops. The seats also get Nissan's Bose Personal Plus headrest speakers, a feature not available on the existing Z.

There's a degree to which I'm being hyperbolic here — T-tops are strictly less practical than a traditional convertible top or a targa — but also a degree to which I'm being completely serious. T-tops are a vestige of an era where manufacturers lived in fear of future rollover regulations, where they thought that at any second a law would come down banning convertibles outright. They're a design that makes absolutely no sense on its own merits, and yet the style persevered for decades. T-tops are absolutely bonkers weird, and I love them for that. 

Nissan

More cars should be weird for weirdness' sake, and I'm including T-tops within that. Give us more split roofs with permanent bars down the middle, more absurd designs that can't justify themselves in a vacuum. Nissan, give us a production T-top Z — I honestly, genuinely, want this more than a convertible variant of the platform. Please, put the Z Kaze on dealer floors.

You can see the Z Kaze for yourself at ZCON in Phoenix, Arizona, which is running through Saturday, September 26. It'll also be on display at the Japanese Classic Car Show in Long Beach, California, on Saturday, October 3.