Early rubber mats

[Mike B]

Several threads have briefly discussed rubber mats that originally came in some early North American 240Zs, but I thought it would be good to have a separate thread to discuss more of the details. As Alan (HS30-H) and others have noted, rubber mats came standard on some Japanese home market S30 models and may have been available as options on all of them (maybe Alan or Kats can clarify for us). I am attaching some pictures of the rubber mats from HLS30-00032 (a 10/69 production car).

Here are some questions I have:

1. I have only seen rubber mats for the rear deck and the areas behind the seats. Did the cars also come with rubber mats for the front drivers and passenger floors? If so, does any one have any originals that they can post pictures of? By the way, I am NOT refering to the thick rubber AMCO mats available from the dealer.

2. Are the rubber mats in North Amercian cars the same as the ones that came with Japanese market models?

3. Approximately how many North American 240Zs came with rubber mats, or what is the latest production car that has been found to have them?

4. Did any other markets get cars with the rubber mats?

5. Is there any interest in having some reproduction rubber mats made?

-Mike

[zKars]

HLS30 00137 (11/69) had the rubber mats up front. The car was originally purchased in Calgary Alberta Canada. Only one remained, the passenger side, when I acquired it. All the others were there and in good shape.

I'll get my pictures of it on here when I get home.

I know someone who would like a repro of the driver side!

Jim

[Jim Frederick]

All my low vin cars came with the rubber mats but only the rear deck mats survived. The other mats were tossed once replacement carpeting installed. I looked into reproducing the mat but could not match original grain. If you can match it up I would be interested in a few complete sets less the hatch area.

[zKars]

Here the picture of the drivers side mat from 137. Finally.

Sorry for the delay.

[Arne]

Here the picture of the drivers side mat from 137. Finally.

Sorry for the delay.

You mean the passenger mat, don't you?

[Carl Beck]

Is your 137 a Right Hand Drive model? That looks just like the Right Hand Passenger side of the Left Hand Drive cars... but then there is no cut-out for accel. pedal either...hummm

FWIW,

Carl B.

Oops... Arne beat me by two minutes...

[Mike B]

So Carl, Fred, Chris, or anyone else with a low vin Z, did your cars come with the rubber mats? Anyone have a drivers side they can post a picture of? I think I have seen a 510 with similar mats. Did they have them as well?

-Mike

[Carl Beck]

Hi Mike:

Three of the 69's I've owned had some the rubber mats - minus the driver side as Jim mentioned. Yes, some of the 510 models also had only rubber mats and yes they are similar.. but not interchangable.

I also ordered the rubber mat for the rear of my 72Z, when I bought the car in late 71. Didn't think to order the complete set back then...

FWIW,

Carl B.

[Mike B]

Thanks Carl (and thanks to Jim for posting the picture). I guess it is not surprising that many of the front rubber mats would have been removed by either the dealer or owners since they clip into the same snaps on the firewall. I wonder if the front mats used in the Japanese market say Nissan instead of Datsun, or where they blank?

-Mike

[26th-Z]

The Japanese S30 model (or ZL) came standard with carpeting and the less expensive S30-S came with rubber floor mats. The Japanese had the luxury of ordering their car with certain specifications whereas the American imports were resigned to what we refer to as dealer add-ons. The bill of sale for 26th lists carpeting as a standard feature, but as I have come to understand, carpeting was manufactured and installed in America. Mike, you might want to chime in on this one. I was surprised to hear what you discovered. I have no idea if the ZL model came with both rubber matts and carpeting. From the sounds of our conversation, the American imports may be the only model with both.

I have some original rubber. Here is the deck matt for 26th. I also have the floor rubber for behind the seats. They came from #403 which was a Canadian car.

Good question; "did the floor matts in Japan say Nissan".

[HS30-H]

Good question; "did the floor matts in Japan say Nissan".

The short answer to that is no. The original Japanese home market S30-series Z rubber mats had no logo on them at all as far as I am aware..........

I don't have any photos of mine handy at the moment, so I will have to take them out of the project car and take some shots of them - but they look just like the ones in the photo that 'z137' posted ( apart from the logo of course ) and of course they are for RHD configuration.

As has been mentioned, the 'base level' model S30-S 'Fairlady Z' model and the ultra lightweight PS30-SB 'Fairlady Z432-R' model were fitted with the rubber mats as standard equipment. The other launch home market models ( S30 'Fairlady Z-L' and PS30 'Fairlady Z432' ) had full carpet as standard equipment. The same standard specs / trim levels were carried over into the launch of the L24-engined models for the Japanese market in late 1971.

However, the Japanese market ordering options allowed the prospective owners of new 'ZS' / 'Standard' models to specify full carpet as an extra cost option, should they so wish. Theoretically, the reverse would also apply - where somebody ordering a 'ZDX' / 'Deluxe' model could specify rubber mats instead of carpets. This would be more practical for mountainous areas of Japan, or territories such as Hokkaido - where the winters are very snowy.

I can't think of a Japanese market model - from any maker - that didn't have a rubber mat option. Still true today, I think.

If I get time later today, I will pop the rubber mats out of the 432-R replica project car ( a mid-1970 Z-L ) and take some shots of them to add to this thread.

Alan T.

[zcarnut]

#318 (in storage at the Z Barn) has the rubber mats in the rear deck area.