There are some truly iconic motorsport liveries involving drinks: Martini is the obvious one, but think as well of Red Bull (of course), the Warsteiner BMWs and all the race cars that Budweiser has featured on. Well now there's a new one to add to that list. Or rather, an old livery we didn't know about.
In 1987, Nissan entered a Patrol in the Paris-Dakar sponsored by Fanta Limon. Not your regular orange Fanta - oh no, this was the super fancy Fanta Limon, clearly the drink that Coca-Cola wanted to promote at the time. But as well as looking cool, this was a very significant Dakar car. Not only was it the first diesel to finish in the top 10 (9th overall and head of the diesel class), it was created in less than a year, with the idea of a Patrol-based endurance racer only floated in 1986.
Now it has been restored over two years of weekends by the Nissan European Technical Centre, ahead of this 30th celebration photo shoot. This car, number 211, was stored in the private collection of Salvador Claret from very soon after the race until February 2014. Nissan asked for it back with this celebration in mind, only to find a car in a very sorry state: the engine wouldn't start, the electrics had been attacked by rats and the front axle has been described by Nissan technician Juan Villegas as "quite damaged". You sense he's being a little diplomatic there.
The resto began in May 2014, a team of eight working out of hours until last month when the car was returned to the Sahara for these images. Looks great, doesn't it? Pedro Diaz Illan worked on the original project and this restoration; he said "Our brains, hearts and souls have gone into this project and it has not been easy. But to see the car in the desert again was just fantastic."
Finally, it's worth noting that the Patrol was brought back from the brink by Nissan's 'Performance Innovation' fund. So how about a few more racing restorations? A Tom Cruise-spec 300ZX perhaps? The Super Touring Primeras were pretty successful also. And the Skyline GT-R will be 30 before you know it...
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