Interior Ergonomics

[carguyinok]

I'm still trying to work out what carguyinok was doing in his Zs - surely it would have been easier for the pair of you to climb in through the hatch !

Sure

[HS30-H]

Er,

This is a bit of a long thread to revive, but I thought that there was so much information / debate in it that it could not be ignored.

I have some more grist for the mill.

Last Sunday ( 2nd Nov. ) I attended a meeting in Japan organised jointly by "CLUB S30" - of which I am a member - and the "S30 OWNERS CLUB". An honourable guest at the show was Mr Yoshihiko Matsuo, the chief designer and leader of the team that designed the S30-series Z car.

It was great to see him again, and he was in good spirits with a lot to say. Along with some others ( notably Dr Suzuki of Club S30 - who is great at getting to the point! ), I took the opportunity to ask him some questions. One of the questions was with regard to the positioning of the Hand Brake / E Brake on the S30-series Z car. His answer was quite unequivocal;

Matsuo san stated that the position in the RHD car is what he would consider 'correct' ( closest to the driver ), and that cost considerations prevented them from engineering the relocation of the handle and mechanism for the LHD cars. As far as he is concerned, the whole car was designed primarily with RHD in mind - but with details that would accommodate an LHD version for the markets that required it, and suiting some of the ergononomics that those markets also required. The car was designed with RHD layout bias.

Matsuo san also made two points to back this up; The first point was that a great deal of Nissan's design process and engineering systems had been inherited from their days making Austin cars. As Japan had taken up the habit of driving on the left of the road ( with the driver sitting on the right of the car ) there was naturally a great legacy to doing this. Most of the systems on the cars that they started to make were ( naturally ) oriented to RHD layout. Most of the parts that they licensed from other manufacturers ( brake and clutch hydraulics, as well as carburation come to mind ) were sized in the Imperial ( Inch based ) systems that they had been using on the British-designed Austin cars. Carburettors and exhausts were usually situated on the left of the engine, conveniently avoiding the Brake, Clutch, Accelerator and steering systems in the engine bay. The S30-series Z was no different in this respect to most of the other models they were making at the time. It was designed and engineered using many components that were primarily intended for RHD applications. Matsuo san said that he and his team designed the car mainly

with RHD in mind, but added some features that would allow an LHD version to be produced at the same time. This was after all a natural bias considering the history of the company that they worked for, and the home market that they sold to.

Second point ( and one that history seems to have forgotten / ignored ) is that Matsuo and his team did NOT think that the LHD version would sell anything like as well as it did. Matsuo san actually said that even up until the launch of the car in late 1969 they were convinced that they would be lucky to sell as many as 2000 cars in the USA market. Of course Mr Katayama was trying to convince them that they could potentially sell a lot more ( and he was of course proved right ) but the point is that Matsuo and his team were not taking the LHD market as seriously as some might have us believe. Sure they did a great job, but the LHD cars were not the focus that the subsequent sales figures would point to.

I'm conscious that I'm probably not reporting / explaining this as well as I could be ( I tend to be a bit too wordy anyway, and I'm a bit tired and not very focussed after getting back from Japan ) but I DO think it was worth reporting what he said. It would be nice to see a proper interview on the subject with Matsuo san in English ( I've never seen one other than in Japanese - have you? ) and his views are ( I would say ) more interesting and enlightening than just about anybody else that I can think of with regard to the cars that we love.

I'm looking forward to seeing him again. Its a great education and he is very inspiring.

Alan T.

[Bambikiller240]

Words from the Chief Designer's mouth should lay the controversy to rest! Good Stuff Alan (as always!) Thanks.

[Alfadog]

And with that, 13 pages of heated discussion are quenched... for now.

[Bambikiller240]

Originally posted by Alfadog

And with that, 13 pages of heated discussion are quenched... for now.

Not wanting to kill a discussion, but I HOPE that no one would dare to disagree with THE MAN who (above all others) really knows what went into the creation of the S30 series.

(ducking for cover now, bye)

[Alfadog]

The ignorance of some people may surprise you...

[Bambikiller240]

Originally posted by Alfadog

The ignorance of some people may surprise you...

Trust me on this one Lachlan; the ignorance of the general public will NEVER surprise this old dog! Woof Woof.

So, how did you like my Aussie slang in the X mas gift thread? I'm practicing for when Rick comes back from vacation!

[Alfadog]

I noticed that actually

Very well done, almost got the spelling right too :cheeky:

[Bambikiller240]

Originally posted by Alfadog

I noticed that actually

Very well done, almost got the spelling right too :cheeky:

Hmm, I was copying and pasting from the web page you provided so any errors there would have been carried over.

[Alfadog]

Hmm I had another look at the site, apparently you can spell it bonza or "bonzer".. I stand corrected

[Ben]

If this is the real deal (and I for one believe that it is), then who was the individual in NDA who decided that they would get their revenge on Matsuo san & the rest of the RHD world?

Great to see that you asked the question when you had the chance Alan!

[Zedrally]

Absolutly fantastic.

No one could ever dispute the facts as they have been presented, staright form the head of the design team.

Pity though, as we don't have any argument anymore and the thread was slipping into obscurity!

How's the definitive book progressing Alan?