Yahoo Autos Now's Your Chance To Own The Weirdest Infiniti M45 In The Country
For years we’ve shared stories about the Japanese company Mitsuoka and its, shall we say, eccentricreskins of pedestrian cars. Now you can buy one of Mitsuoka’s cooler models in the U.S., with a bit of a catch. This 2003 Infiniti M45 for sale on Facebook Marketplace underwent some cosmetic surgery in the form of the front and rear clips from a Mitsuoka Galue II. The Galue II was heavily based on the Japanese market Nissan Cedric, which was brought to the U.S. as the Infiniti M45. A real Galue II isn’t old enough to import yet, and unlike one of the actual Mitsuokas, this Infiniti is left-hand drive and fully U.S. legal.
Basically all of Mitsuoka’s models are popular Japanese cars reskinned with bodywork that harkens back to a more grandiose era of automobiles. With the Mitsuoka front and rear ends, this M45 looks vaguely like a vintage German or American coachbuilt car you’d see Cruella de Vil angrily piloting, and it certainly stands out. To me the rear of the vehicle is more successful at embodying a retro vibe than the front is, with vertically oriented tail lights shroud in chrome bezels and perched above a big, classic-looking exposed chrome bumper. The front of the car is more unfortunate. Its tall rectangular grille has vertical slats that make it look like a knock-off Rolls-Royce, and the grille is flanked by two circular sealed-beam-look headlights protruding from the hood.
It retains the Infiniti’s interior and virtually everything between the front and rear fascias, though a previous owner did add some other Mitsuoka bits and excellent OEM Nissan lace seat covers. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I’m not certain any beholder will find beauty in this cars looks. Looking straight on from the front or the rear it looks relatively cohesive, but when you view at it from the side this thing looks mad goofy. The front and rear fascias add a not-insignificant amount of visual heft tacked onto the ends of the car, and the Infiniti greenhouse doesn’t gel very well with the retro theme.
Since it’s a 2003 Infiniti M45 under the skin, it features that car’s 340-horsepower 4.5-liter V8 and 5-speed automatic under the elongated hood. This particular car is advertised to have 159,000 miles, and the seller is asking $11,000 for it. It does have some defects like a failing starter motor, an air bag warning light and paint that has lived a hard life, but overall this rare and special V8 sedan has held up quite well over the course of its 21 years of existence. I’ve seen people spend $11,000 on worse cars, so if you’re in the market for something a little unusual but you’re on a budget, this custom Mitsuoka/Infiniti might be a great choice for you.
