Nissan will restore Craigslist Maxima, display at headquarters [w/video]

Sat, 08 Feb 2014

Nissan showed that it had a great sense of humor when it bought Luke Aker's beat-up 1996 Nissan Maxima GLE for $1,400 back in December based solely on the quality of his tongue-in-cheek sales video.

Aker's Maxima had been thoroughly driven. It needed a strap to keep its hood closed, had front end damage, a missing turn signal and shredded leather seats. Of course, like Aker said in his ad, the car was still "fully loaded with an engine, wheels, tires and an automatic transmission." How could Nissan resist?

After buying the car, Nissan teamed up with MotorAuthority to decide what to do with it. The winning idea was to restore the car to its proper condition and display it at Nissan North America headquarters in Franklin, TN, with Aker's video playing nearby. According to MotorAuthority, the car has finally made it there, and its rebirth will begin soon. Nissan is not sure when the car will go on display.

"We are still assessing the project to determine cost and timing," said Rob Robinson, Nissan Social Communications Senior Specialist, in an email to Autoblog.

Scroll down to check out Aker's bombastic advertisement that made his Maxima an unlikely hero for Nissan fans everywhere.

By Chris Bruce