What Would a Nissan LEAF and Frontier Mashup Look Like? Fuglymazing!

Nissan engineers build an electric cruck by merging an electric LEAF and a Frontier pickup truck. The results are fuglymazing.

Nissan's Technical Center in Stanfield, Arizona is where they do a lot of testing, idea trying, and fine-tuning. One day, a couple of engineers were thinking about creating a work vehicle to use around the complex. They could get a bone stock LEAF electric car, but it wouldn't have all of the features they'd need.

After staying up into the wee hours of the morning, engineer Arnold Moulinet had a way to merge the LEAF with a Frontier pickup truck bed and Sparky was born.

Sparky is a Nissan LEAF EV which had its back end chopped off and modified by Nissan Durability and Reliability engineer Roland Schellenberg and fellow engineer Moulinet along with the Reliability Center's team. Made as a team building project for the facility, Sparky is unique in almost every way. The rear panel is from a junked Titan in the facility's bone yard, the bed is a modified Nissan Frontier bed, and personal touches finished the job to create the one-of-a-kind Sparky.

Though not destined for production, the cruck is a useful tool around the complex used to haul people, supplies, spare parts, and more.

"Being a slick truck, and not so tough, I see it as a boy – but a boy with a heart. It's something that we all put together. We all share. So it has a little bit of everybody in there," said Schellenberg.

The two made a video that Nissan is sharing showcasing Sparky and the engineers who built him. A few details about some of the construction and where some materials came from flesh out the making of this unique little cruck.