While Infiniti is completely out of the convertible business, today’s Nice Price or No Dice M30 shows that the company was once eager to strut its stuff in topless fashion. Let’s see if this old-school open-top is priced to keep on strutting.
As far as backwaters of the multiverse go, the timeline we are occupying is presently a very scary place in which to be. However, nothing is quite as terrifying as the prospect of driving the V8-powered 1972 Volkswagen Beetle we looked at last Friday. Neither the polling, nor the comments were particularly complementary regarding that brute of a Bug’s $6,995 asking price, with the result being a terrifyingly-huge 85 percent No Dice loss.
Closing out last week with a pair of customized cars (the VW, and last Thursday’s Capri), each with the connection of an adopted 302 V8, was weird, and a bit taxing on the whole. That’s why we’re kicking off this week with a perfectly stock Infiniti M30 convertible that… checks ad a second time, comes with its original VG30E V6. Huzzah!
Spot the Leopard
Now, unless your favorite flick is the Marky-Mark, George Clooney Iraq War hunk-fest Three Kings, which contained a debate over whether such a car ever existed, you’ve probably never given the Infiniti M30 convertible a kitten’s fart of a thought your entire life. Hell, you’re probably just remembering that Infiniti still exists at all, the brand being such an also-ran in the auto industry. That may all be true, but the M30 does have a good bit of historical significance for Infiniti, and its lower echelon parent, Nissan.
Introduced in 1989 as the second-tier of Infiniti’s initial model line, the M30 coupe wasn’t a clean-sheet tour-de-force like its Q45 big brother. Nissan seemingly didn’t have the resources for two new cars plus a new ad campaign that contained rocks and bonsai bushes, so it put its money into the higher-profit Q and dusted off the existing, and already long-in-the-tooth home-market Leopard for its companion car.
Under the hood, the M30 received a 3.0-liter edition of Nissan’s SOHC V6 already seeing frontline duty in the 300ZX and Maxima. Here it made a factory-rated 160 horsepower and 182 lb-ft of torque. The standard transmission in the M30 is a four-speed automatic with console-mounted shifter, as this was positioned as a GT rather than a sports car like the 300ZX with its available manual and optional turbocharged engine. Befitting such a car in this class, disc brakes and independent suspension are featured at each corner.
The California connection
Of course, this M30’s party piece is its convertible roof. That’s not a Nissan jam as all M30 convertibles started as coupes and were converted—as so many cars were at the time—in California by drop-top specialists American Sunroof Corporation (later American Specialty Corporation, and even later R.I.P.). These were factory approved, meaning that proper strengthening of the unibody was done to account for the removal of the roof, and the top looks professionally constructed either up or down. There is even rear-side window glass that is unique to the open-top cars and goes up and down electrically. The top, too, is electric, although the rear window in it is plastic, so it can get janky over time.
Speaking of time, that has been reasonably kind to the M30’s rectilinear styling. Never a particularly attractive car, the Infiniti’s lines are, at worst, inoffensive. This is also one of the rare convertibles that looks well-proportioned with the top up or down.
Florida manhandle
This one is in great shape as well. According to the ad, which humorously opens with “Dust off those LA Law VHS sets and get ready to cruise down US-1 all the way to the Keys..” the car sports a modest 102,000 miles. It’s a Florida native where a garage-kept life has managed to keep the car safe from both alligators and hurricanes. Based on the undercarriage pics, there’s not a spot of rust on the car, save for some surface coloring of the rear muffler crimps.
Other plusses include solid-looking factory alloys with center caps and tires that are showing lots of tread. Per the ad, the top is newish and the car comes with extensive service records for all your late night reading enjoyment.
There aren’t very many complaints about the interior either. The dash is very ’80s square-jawed, but that has a charm that you don’t see in modern cars. A Pioneer head unit has been added, and that sticks out for its awkward fit in the faux woodgrain dash. There’s some crazing in the leather upholstery, but the seller passes that off as “adding to the vehicle’s era charm.” Nothing appears to be torn or missing so it’s not too bad. The bodywork is also said to have some minor imperfections in the paint, but nothing is so bad it shows up in the pictures.
Brass tacks
Per the ad, the car has a clean title and a two-owner history. To bring that owner record up to three, the seller is asking $6,500. There doesn’t seem to be any requirement that the car continue to be kept in the Sunshine State, so non-Floridians can play too.
Floridian or not, what’s your take on this Infiniti and that $6,500 asking? Does that feel like a good deal for a cast-off car? Or, does that price have you saying Fuhgeddaboudit?
You decide!
Nice Price or No Dice:
Facebook Marketplace, out of St. Augustine, Florida, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Eric Weigand for the hookup!
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