A ragtop Nissan GT-R? And we thought Godzilla couldn’t get any more insane

By Joe Mahan February 27, 2014

Newport Convertible Engineering is at it again, reshaping the infamous shark-like Nissan GT-R by cutting its head off.

I rather like the idea of blasting my way from a standstill to 60 in 3.0 seconds inside an open-air Japanese monster. The sound emitted from that glorious 3.8-liter, 548 horsepower V6 bouncing off its redline to the world would only make the experience all the more thrilling.

A few problems I foresee, besides losing my hair in the open cockpit, is how the rag top will be able to hold up. The GT-R is a jaw-dropping vehicle and nothing would be lamer than seeing someone punch it, only to have the roof blown off. Structural improvements will surely have to be made, and no offense to NCE, but the engineers at Nissan are hard to compete with.

The company plans to produce a limited number of convertible GT-Rs for a global audience, but that is just about the only information provided. NCE has a history of chopping off other vehicles tops but none this formidable.

I’m not sure about you, but I certainly wouldn’t dare a top speed run with only a rag top over my head in such a vicious vehicle. Then again, leaving nothing but burnt tarmac behind, as reality becomes a blur, would be all the more surreal with an open-air GT-R.

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Joe Mahan is an intern at Digital Trends working in the Cars section. He is currently a Junior at the University of Portland…

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