Could anyone tell me what this piece of metal was used for? A series of snaps have also been installed on the passenger door. A leather "satchel" with matching snap pattern also came with the car. I asked a few months ago about the snaps and Carl (Beck) wrote back and thought it was part of a rally package,which I believe to be true. Could this bar be part of the rally equipment? It has been installed to last the test of time! Any thoughts would be great. Thanks all... Tim

A series of snaps have also been installed on the passenger door. A leather "satchel" with matching snap pattern also came with the car. I asked a few months ago about the snaps and Carl (Beck) wrote back and thought it was part of a rally package,which I believe to be true.

Any "rally package" would have been installed by a private owner or shop, as Nissan never sold any "rally package" that included such parts and only made rally cars for its own factory use. They never sold such to the general public.

Could this bar be part of the rally equipment? It has been installed to last the test of time! Any thoughts would be great. Thanks all... Tim

It would be a logical place to put a Halda Tripmaster or other proprietary distance-measuring meters and a stopwatch setup, for "rally" use. However, it might also have been a mounting / blanking plate for a grab handle ( which I've seen before ).

Unless there is other tell-tale evidence of rally / trials use, they may just have been the affectations and whims of a former owner.