This sorry tale all began back in 1999 when I sold my trusty Bluebird and upgraded to a flashy new Maxima. Well, in truth, that's new to me, as it was a 1989 model and thus ten years old at the time. I was blown away by this car, and loved it from the first day of ownership.
As a confirmed net junkie, I started trawling around the Internet to see what I could find out about my very rare car. I was amazed to find that the Maxima was absolutely huge in America, despite the tiny numbers it was sold in here. This had led to a large Internet following in the States, and I was able to talk to fellow owners and get some hints and tips for my car.
One of the great ironies of the Internet is that whilst you can talk to people from across the world, you could equally be talking to your next door neighbour. After spending some time posting on Matt's US third gen BBS I got a mail from a guy called Steve who lived in Skelmersdale, just up the road from me in Liverpool. He too had a J30 Maxima, and we met up, swapped notes, and a friendship struck up.
One day I was reading the huge (and unfortunately very hit and miss) US site, www.maxima.org and realised that the US perspective on the model is very different to ours. In America, the car is common, not particularly large, and often driven by kids still in College. What was needed was a similar site taking a uniquely British perspective. I floated the idea of www.maxima.org.uk by Steve, and rather than calling me every dickhead under the sun he encouraged me to go for it, and so in late 2000, www.maxima.org.uk was born.
I wasn't really sure how the site would pan out, but gave it a go anyway. Focussing on good content, rather than thousands of tedious 'seen one, seen 'em all' pictures, the site flourished and Steve tackled me about the idea of including the later QX model as well. This was a difficult undertaking, as neither of us knew a lot about them, but I agreed that as soon as anyone approached me about QX inclusion I would do it.
In late Summer of 2001 Dave Hewitt was that man. The site then grew to include the A32 QX model, and whilst we were doing that I expanded for the A33 Maxima QX as well. Over the Christmas holiday of 2001 an interesting chap called Ganesh floated the idea of Laurels as well. I had started getting slightly uncomfortable with the name maxima.org.uk as I felt I was putting off QX owners, and I was mooting a name change to bignissans.org.uk. If I was doing this, it was just as well to go the whole hog and include the other big Nissan saloons prior to the J30.
In January 2002 I talked this over with Steve and he floated the idea past the Datsun Owners Club to see what they thought. Nigel and Will at DOC were both very supportive, and so with the Papal blessing in place, I spent the night of 9/1/02 writing the bones of a new site. And here it is! With Steve promoted from staunch contributor to full blown co-owner bignissans.org.uk was born!