Subtlety has never burdened Adam Carolla. The comedian and filmmaker's latest project, however, is the perfect opportunity to blend his passion

for vintage Datsun racing cars owned by the late Paul Newman into a respectful look at the legendary actor's racing career in an upcoming documentary.

Carolla's interest in Newman and the Datsuns he drove for Bob Sharp Racing has continues to evolve, with more cars added to his fleet on a semi-regular

basis. He unveiled his latest acquisition—one of Newman's flame-spitting IMSA GTO 300ZXs—at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion in August, telling

Road & Track that the attraction is an obvious one to understand.

"I like anything Newman…and anything Datsun…and this is Newman and Datsun…so how could you go wrong?" he said.

Entertainers with the kind of disposable income available to Carolla tend to stray towards predictable vehicle purchases. And if they veer towards vintage

racecars, buying something with a Porsche badge or a Prancing Horse emblem is a mortal lock, which makes Carolla's appreciation for these lesser known

Japanese purebreds a fascinating aspect of his character

"I don't feel like the guys who drive the modern cars have much appreciation and/or brand loyalty, if that's what you want to call it," he explained. "I

think they just buy the [Nissan] GT-R because it's about the best thing you can get for under 100 grand. And they they like the idea of performance, they

don't like the idea of a Corvette and thus they end up with GT-R. But what they know about Nissan and Datsun and its heritage and racing and Bob Sharp and

Pete Brock, I have no idea. I don't know that any of them would know who any of those guys are. I think you could bring up Clayton Cunningham to some and

they'd think he was on Bonanza. Different generation."

Beyond owning old Datsun race cars, Carolla goes a step further by driving them. The relative exclusivity of participating in vintage events with a one-of-one

PLN Datsun is also part of the allure.

"I like the idea of showing up with something that's a little bit different," he added. "I think that's a fun thing to do, to not be just another GT350

Mustang fastback in a race that has 14 of them in there. The only real distinction is some are blue-on-white and the others are white-on-blue and they kind

of look the same. Everything's a cool piece and I love every car out there, but I like the idea of having something that's a little bit different, a little

bit funky and a little bit off-the-beaten-path. I just think it makes it fun.

"And as far as people appreciating it, I know most people aren't going to know what it is that I'm driving and not going to care either, I mean, there's no

doubt about that. But for the few people who do know and do care it's a big deal to them."

With the 300ZX, featuring a bespoke chassis that was built in America and an inline-6 turbo engine that was also developed here, Carolla owns what

easily qualifies as an inspiration for the JDM tuners that emerged in the Nineties.

Newman's IMSA GTO racer took the fight to a grid loaded with V8-powered Mustangs and Camaros, and held its own while blazing a trail—at least for a

Japanese race car in North America—during the primitive days of forced induction.

"Yeah, I looked under the hood of the car and it's just unbelievable," he said of the maze of piping and ancillaries to feed the turbocharged mill.

"There's a lot of stuff out there that doesn't look any different than the big bore Trans Am stuff looked in 1971. And now it's 1985, and it's the same

pushrod, iron block V-8 with, some of them are injected, but four-barrel or whatever on top, that goes back into the 50s."

"This engine you look at and you go, what the hell is this thing? I don't know where to start. So technically, it's a lot more fun, it's a lot more

aluminum, a lot more stuff going on. It's just the reduced weight, with basically the same horsepower of the V8s and half the size. I'm not sure if it's

the most practical way to go about racing but it's definitely fun. And you can definitely geek out on it. There is something pretty cool about those

Porsche 935s that have a 3.2-liter flat-6 that were getting big horsepower back in 1980. So that's pretty cool. It's kind of fun to have a Datsun

that essentially has 600 hp.

"I just like looking at the engine; that's part of the hobby for me—the cars and the technology of cars. And it's as much fun or as exciting as doing

the racing."

On the topic of his PLN documentary, which will encompass Newman's career as a driver and team owner, Carolla says it's in the final stages, but distribution

has yet to be sorted.

"We're working on it now," he said. "We've sat down with a few people who know Paul and we're going to just keep going. It's coming along nicely we're just

kind of pecking away at it. I imagine it will be done in a couple of months, I don't know when it's coming out, what we're doing with it, who's going to

distribute it or any of that. I just know theoretically we should be done in several months. Then we have to figure out what to do with it."

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