Someone Is Building a T-Top Nissan Z and It Actually Looks Right

T-tops are one of those car features that instantly pull people back into another era, and now someone is bringing them back to the modern Nissan Z. Nick Scherr, better known as NISMO Nick online, has revealed plans for a custom T-top conversion that will headline a new “Open Air Collection” of unusual Nissan projects arriving next year.

The Z project is meant to feel less like a backyard roof chop and more like something Nissan itself could have built in the late ’80s or early 2000s. That’s the whole idea behind the collection. Nick says he wants to blend OEM-style design with the kind of weird enthusiast creativity manufacturers rarely approve anymore.

And this isn’t just about cutting the roof off. Nick says one of the biggest engineering challenges is making the T-top properly seal against water and wind noise, especially around the windshield, side glass, rear section, and removable roof panels. Unlike a simpler targa roof, a true T-top design creates far more complicated sealing points. He’s also looking into how the side-curtain airbags will work with the modified roof structure.

The current Nissan Z already leans heavily on nostalgia, so adding removable roof panels honestly feels pretty natural. Older generations of the Z offered T-tops for years, and plenty of enthusiasts still associate them with the golden era of Japanese sports cars, even if they were never exactly famous for perfect sealing.

The rest of the Open Air Collection sounds equally strange in the best possible way. Nick is also building a heavily reworked Murano CrossCabriolet and a one-off Nissan Juke Convertible concept. Basically, it feels like someone looked at Nissan’s weirdest ideas from the past 20 years and decided they deserved another shot without corporate committees getting in the way.