By The Community
Disclaimer: For informational purposes only. We do not encourage illegal activity but will definitely tell you about it….
Let’s Talk About the Z
You’ve seen them. The silver ones with QF-350 plates. The blue ones with faded headlights. The ones that sound like they’re trying too hard and the ones that sound just right.
The Nissan 350Z. It’s everywhere in Pakistan’s car scene. Not just in the meets or the Instagram reels. I mean everywhere.
Customs yards. Side streets in Quetta. Midnight convoys. Even parked outside your local mechanic.
After the Mazda RX8, the 350Z is the most popular sports car that ever got brought into this country. And that’s not an opinion. That’s just counting.
How Many Are There?
Let me give you my personal estimate.
About 40% are custom paid. The rest are NCP.
Think about that. Sixty percent of the 350Zs you see on the road probably didn’t pay a single rupee in customs duty. Some got cleared through amnesty. Some through auctions. Most are still running in the gray.
Hundreds of them. Not dozens. Hundreds.
It wasn’t an expensive car in Japan. Still isn’t, relatively. And for the performance it offered back in the day 280 horsepower, rear-wheel drive, proper sports car looks so people went for it. A lot of them were brought in brand new as well, fresh from auction. The amnesty era added hundreds more.
And even today? Automatic 350Zs are still being brought in very readily. Because they’re still cheap at Japanese auctions.
The Customs Yard Reality
I’m not joking about this.
If you ever get the chance to walk around a customs yard or fly a drone over one in any major city, do it. You will find 350Zs. Lots of them.
Yellowed headlights. Flat tires. Dust everywhere. Just sitting.
I was watching a random train spotting video the other day. The guy was standing on a bridge in Lahore, filming trains. On the right side of the frame? A customs yard. And when I zoomed in, there they were. Multiple 350Zs. Just parked. Forgotten.
Some of them have been sitting for years. No history. No movement. Just seized and left.
The auction process is slow. Too slow. Considering how many of these cars are sitting there, the government moves at a snail’s pace. So they just wait.
Quetta Is Different
If you want an NCP 350Z, Quetta is the place.
You can get one starting from 17 lakh. Maybe 15 if you play your cards right. All the way up to 27 depending on the spec and cleanliness.
Cleared ones? Different story altogether. The cleared market starts from 85 lakh and goes up to 120. That’s the absolute peak for a really clean, documented car.
But here’s something that used to happen a lot. Bribes on the spot. You get caught with an NCP 350Z, you pay the officer, and you drive away. That system was very popular until they computerized everything. Now they flag the cars. They know what’s up. The moment your plate is scanned, your history comes up.
So the easy days are over.
The Clearing Game
There are dealers and people in the game who are clearing record numbers of 350Zs. They rig the auctions. But that’s not as popular now because the trend has shifted. Everyone wants German vehicles these days. The old JDMs are not the hot ticket anymore.
The cost to clear depends on who you ask. Different people charge different amounts. And no, I’m not going to reveal prices. Bribery is haram in Islam. Highly discouraged. So we’ll leave that there.
Why Was the 350Z So Popular?
Simple. Availability.
It wasn’t as flashy as a Supra. It wasn’t as legendary as an RX7. So it flew under the radar for years. Parts were cheaper in Japan. Maintenance was manageable. And people slowly realized you could get a proper rear-wheel drive sports car for not a lot of money.
Plus, because there were so many of them, it was easy to hide one. Blend in. A silver 350Z looks like every other silver 350Z. Who’s going to notice?
That changed. Customs caught on. Now they are far more alert. They know that the car in front of them might be the fifteenth 350Z running the same fake plate number.
They Are Still Coming
Even today, 350Zs are being smuggled in. Not a few. A lot.
The volume varies. Depends on the stock arriving from Japan. But make no mistake the 350Z is still the most popular sports car being brought into Pakistan. I don’t see many RX8s anymore. I’ve seen some RX7s recently, some Supras. But the 350Z? In extreme volume. Too many to count.
This causes problems for customs. But for the enthusiast market? It’s a positive thing.
Think about it. These cars will end up being cleared one way or another someday. When that happens, more cars enter the market. Demand gets met. Prices come down. That’s good for everyone who actually wants to drive, not just flip. Ye 370 hai but this is cool too….far harder to hide waise…
A Small Request
To every NCP 350Z owner with a silver car:
Please stop using the QF-350 number plate.
I’ve seen it on way too many cars. There’s a whole story behind that plate, but let’s just say it’s become a cliché. Get something original. Please. Kuch naya karo pls
Famous Ones
There were many famous 350Zs that came and went. Too many to count. One that stands out a Tokyo Drift spec car, owned by Sarmad Chaudhary, custom paid. But that’s a story for another time.
What’s Next?
This article focused on the 350Z because it’s the perfect case study. A car that arrived in huge numbers, lived in the gray, got seized, got cleared, and is still being smuggled in today.
But there are other cars. Other stories. Other controversies.
If you want us to write about something specific….the Supra situation, the amnesty scheme deep dive, the underground supercars, or something else entirely , do comment or DM us.
This is your scene. We’re just writing it down.
The Truth
The 350Z invasion isn’t over. It never really stopped.
Every month, more land on Pakistani soil. Some get caught. Some don’t. Some get cleared. Most wait.
And somewhere in a customs yard, a silver 350Z with flat tires is sitting under the sun, waiting for its turn.
Maybe one day it’ll drive again. Maybe it won’t.
But for now, it’s part of the landscape. Part of the story. Part of Pakistan’s strange, beautiful, illegal car culture.
THE FULL STORY
This is one chapter. Find more in the Carnama magazine.
Special Thanks
To every 350Z owner running the risk. You know who you are.
To the customs officers who stopped pretending not to see.
And to the guy with the QF-350 plate. Please change it. Yar mehrbani karo I know koi 10 garian running the same plate.
To our friends jdm.pk , arkimoto.pk and supras_in_pakistan and oldpkcarscene , especially that one pakjdms guy….shall we reveal who he is?
From all of us who were there, and all of us who still are.