Hi all!

I just had an idea the other day, and I am not sure if it is safe, or legal, but I think it would be exceedingly cool (and useful).

I was browsing online for a back-up camera, and found a system which supported up to 5 cameras; one back-up (viewable only in reverse), and up to 4 ' auxiliary' cameras in a 4-way split screen monitor (that would actually fit in the 350z nav cubby)...

So my thought was, mount a back-up camera above or below the license plate as usual, then mount one where each side mirror goes (and remove said mirrors), and finally mount two at the top corners of the hatch; all facing rearward. Then the monitor would show a clear 270 degrees or so around and behind the car at all times, no blind spots at all; except in reverse it would show just the back-up display (with those little guide lines and whatnot).

I'd love to have that done in a custom fiberglass or CF enclosure where the side mirrors go, and remove those mirrors. I don't know about removing the rear-view mirror; I like the garage remotes on it, lol - but I may do away with it as well if it would be legal.

Any thoughts? Has anyone actually done this (or anything similar) before?

 

What happens if the fuse blows while driving?. Also do you think the car would look better?

 

real cool for car shows.. but havent yhou ever moved your head forward to change the view of your mirrors in heavy traffic?

Yeah.. if you cut someone off getting on the fwy w those things on your car and injure them, youre losing your civil suit when they see those on your car.. not street legal.

Bad idea..
neat idea, but not a good idea.. go one to another dream heh heh,.
show me a performance car that has them that isnt a concept car..

 

A good point I hadn't thought of - though I can't recall ever having a fuse like that blow while driving, I am sure it could in some rare circumstance happen.

And yes, I think it would look amazing on the car. Obviously, I would think they look good, or I wouldn't have posted the query in the first place.


[edit] I will clarify - I have a setup envisioned in my head which I think will look amazing. I can also envision some pretty ugly setups doing this. So as far as looking good, I think it certainly CAN look good. And I also know that no matter how anything looks, there's someone who loves it and someone who hates it...

 

This I wouldn't be concerned about - having seen the available camera types and lenses, I would have much less of a blind spot (actually, zero blind spots) for the car with 4 cameras. Wide Angle lenses, with lowlight filters and some IR leds for nighttime driving.

In fact this is the biggest problem I have with my 350; I remember in days of racing 240s and 280s, I had as close to no blindspots as possible (aside from such a camera set up) - with the 350 I AM constantly having to crane my head around, double checking mirrors, changing my angle to the mirror, and actually looking out the windows/rear hatch at odd angles. There's no comparison between the modern (bad) and the old (amazing) when it came to visibility. This is one of the reasons (aside from thinking it will look good) that I am contemplating it.

Now you say it wouldn't be street legal, which was my main question - do you know why/where it wouldn't be? I've seen both vehicles with no rearview (either just missing, or due to no rear window, etc.), but with side mirrors. And I have seen cars with no side mirrors, though I think those all had rearviews - not certain. I can't recall ever seeing a car without any rearward facing mirrors; but I wasn't aware of any laws. Thus the question.

 

One of my buddies just did this on his brand new Jeep Wrangler. It came with nav, DVD and a back up camera standard. He hacked into the system and added tow cameras facing the rear in the two front wheel wells. When he takes his door off and has no side mirrors the cameras activate when he puts on that sides turn signal. Actually works very well but I am not sure about this on the Z?

 

Actually, I finally found the statutes for Colorado (my home state)... they state;

So I could strip the side mirrors, but not the rearview; or vice versa...

The next point, which would take a lawyer (or team thereof) to have satisfied in court, is that a video camera actually contains one or more mirrors within its workings; and as long as that camera is providing me with the required 200' rearward view, it satisfies the letter of the law.

I would not try to do that, however. I'd just keep my rearview mirror; it has all those handy buttons on it anyway

 

I'm not sure either - I wouldn't put them in the wells, but actually have a pair of custom mounts molded to fit where the mirrors were (and a pair of custom mounts for the top corners of the hatch)... and I would want them on at all times, not just with the turn signal. But with that kit I saw, it would work that way; a 4-way split screen at all times except in reverse, when it switches to a full screen view of the 5th back-up camera mounted at the license plate.

 

Good decision. Sometimes poeple do stuff to test the definition of certain laws/codes etc. In this case the question could be "is a camera a mirror"?
Some would say yes, some no. It will come down to the thinking of judges in a legal system that is more complicated than the word "legal"