HLS30-00006 at the Crusher?

[240260280]

Another thing to consider:

In 1970 the 240z's do not seem to show up in competitions in the USA until September :

- Sept.   6th SCCA National Bryar         (Bob Sharp, BSR)

- Sept.   6th SCCA National Bonneville (John Morton, BRE)

- Sept. 13th SCCA National Portland     (Jack Scoville, SL)

 

So a two or 3 month preparation would be reasonable to assume therefore BSR & BRE could have received their cars as late as early July, 1970 meaning the Green BSR HLS30-00006 show car could have been at the NYC show.

 

It is interesting to note that a 240z raced in Canada in June, 1970:

- June 14th Mosport - Touring and GT Race (Peter Ferguson, Kovac Motors)

First Z to Race in North America?   Canadian by the duct-taped light buckets.

 

Edited January 16, 2017 by 240260280

[240260280]

Detroit Auto Show Nov 30-Dec 8 1969 (Squint to see the Datsun area in the back grounds).

I read that Mr. K did not show Z's here so as to avoid stirring things up with the North American Industry.

[240260280]

Here is an early 240z commercial. It has a Red Z with white wall tires, no OK sticker, and a single choke lever. Could it be a later showing of the red one from ARRC?

HLS30-00008 Red Commercial.mp4

[black gold man]

On ‎1‎/‎9‎/‎2017 at 6:19 PM, 26th-Z said:

Usually there is a three month lead time on magazine publications so the car shown in the January issue of Road & Track was in all probability a Kaku U silver car (with badges).  The car photographed in Competition Press & Autoweek, November 15, 1969 was definitely a Kaku U silver car.  Interestingly, the road test comparison with the MGB and Opel GT in "Sports Car Graphic", March 1970, was darker than a silver car.  Perhaps the same blue car that appeared in San Francisco.  As I said, all of this is difficult because the photos are mostly B&W.  Photographs of the San Francisco car appear in the Japanese publication "AutoSport", February 1970.  You will also want to find "Car Life" from February 1970.  Also, "Christian Science Monitor", November 19, 1969; "Sunrise in Sales".  All of these "early cars", published within the first four months of 1970, were photographed with the hand throttle.

I did find "Drive the Ragged Edge" on Youtube.  The quality is very poor; made from film that has seriously deteriorated, but I managed to capture and enhance these shots.  I think the whitewall tires you mentioned are actually reflections off the tires.  I think the 'Ds' are missing on the hubcaps which would be normal for these cars.

So in the fall of 1969 there were several cars in North America.  Two silver Kaku U cars, a blue show car, a green show car, and a red show car.  The red car explains many pictures I have.

Here is another pic 69 Daytona http://www.datsun.org/fairlady/Vern.htm

 

[240260280]

Compelling evidence the roof was crushed in Canada in 1969:

 

[Captain Obvious]

So it's apparently a long standing tradition in the Great White North to have beautiful women perched atop your cars?

I like it!!!

[240260280]

From the horse's mouth:

Sharp:

"By 1969 I'd started a Datsun dealership and I saw my very first Z car-a green one-at the New York Coliseum auto show (April 4-12). I went up to Mr. Kawazoe, who had a very close personal relationship with his dealers and asked, "When am I going to get one to prepare for racing?"

Mr. Kawazoe shook his head and said, "Maybe if we get a salt-damaged car you can get one, but right now I have nothing I can give you."

Well the green car went to the Toronto auto show and a model sat on the roof and caved it in. I got a call from Mr. Usami who said excitedly, "Bob, come down here quick and get this car. It's no good as a show car and it can't be sold. Grab it before they change their mind." So I took that car, prepped it and raced it all year. We built up a second car for the Runoffs and Jim Fitzgerald, our Southern Division driver, ran it at Atlanta."

 

So the show in Canada would have occurred after April 12, 1970..... now to find it.

If Brock's car arrived after Sharp's, it would account for the late entry of these cars into racing in 1970 (~ September).

Sharp:
"A very significant change occurred with how we prepared race cars when BRE got into the game. Up till then we'd get a car in February, strip off the putty, make a few changes, add decals and numbers and two months later you'd be racing what had been your street car. The first time anyone had a contract to build a car and race it the following year, holy mackerel, that was a whole different breed of cat. The whole concept of stripping the car down to nothing and rebuilding it was a whole generation of expense above what anyone had previously done."

 

A two month window would put the possession of cars as late as the first week of July, 1970. If Brock got his in the "first boat load" it would probably be "January to March".

So the Canadian crushing would have happened between April 12 and ~July 6th, 1970.

Edited January 19, 2017 by 240260280

[240260280]

May, 1970 Vancouver Airport. Loading a Datsun 510 bound for Toronto.

On the trail and getting warmer

[26th-Z]

Well, that would mean that Her Majesty the 26th was imported, sold and delivered in Florida before Bob Sharp got his car.  Somethings not adding up and I think you will find (as we did) that there was no Toronto show that year and what Bob Sharp is saying is not accurate.  You'll have to find a Toronto show after April 1970 AND that a 240Z was on display.  Otherwise you're grasping at straws.  Me doth thinketh the horse cometh from the mouth of Mr. Ed!

[240260280]

I guess Bob could be wrong but his reference to not having a car by the April 4-12 show in NYC (when he says he first saw the Z.... very memorable moment for all of us) and the late appearance of 240z's in race result records in Q3 of 1970 seem to both point to BSR/BRE procurement well into 1970.

There was probably a car show(s) in May/June in Canada based on the unusual photo of the air shipment of a 510 in May, 1970. Hopefully my archive friend will find more for us!  

Another possibility is that the original green demo car (HLS30-00006) was crushed at the Boston show and Nissan squirrelled it away until Mr. Kawazoe formally asked for it (many months later).

Mr Speakman did not receive his HLS30-00008 until fall of 1970 so Nissan was holding them/using for a long time after the production versions were available in the dealerships.

Mr. Matsuo told me he wanted to buy an early Z when they first came out but was not permitted as the public came first.  Nissan administration in Japan seemed to put Joe Public first ahead of Mr. Matsuo and proven racers like Sharp.

[26th-Z]

This subject is rife with very disjointed "facts" "to say the least.  It always has been with a number of people trying to sort it all out.  It's just not easy!  For instance, take this quote from Zhome.com; " Bob Speakman wrote: Our car started life in the L.A. auto show, was the cover car of a magazine (Jan. 70 Road & Track..ed), then it was sent to the 69 runoff's as a show car. Then on to NYC for the show there. We had d*** Roberts (of Nissan U.S. - Competition Dept...ed) send the car to my house in Lutherville, MD in the fall of 70. "  Red car at the New York Show or green car?  I still remain astounded by the Boston photo which I only found recently.  MikeB has an extensive collection of material as does Dan Banks and we can form a picture of what happened way back when but as I have found many times in this Z history area, as soon as you establish something as fact, up pops the exception.  Keep digging.  Let's see what you come up with.

[240260280]

Will do!  As you say it seems impossible for the Speakman car to do all those things claimed as the R&T Jan 1970 issue seems to have a silver car; the Nov. ARRC car was red;  and the NYC car was green,  so they can not all be the same car.  Hear are pictures of HLS30-00008. I am trying to see the original paint but it was stripped and painted a lot. The good photos of the interior are all painted black (very well painted too) so it is difficult to see the colour inside the interior panels or where a clip or fastener was removed to expose the true base colour.  Parts of White, Silver and Red paint job are hard to differentiate as there is even white on each side of the license plate where the red is.  The other colours seem to be Nissan original primer and rust red primer. Maybe more eyes will do a better job:

Nov 71, Original or painted?

Drips of red paint. Two top heater mount tabs and steering column holding bracket looks silver (w some flat black over spray on the steering holding bracket)? No colour in seat brackets or in rockers. Firewall and rest looks flat black.

Missing grommets and extra holes in firewall do not look red?

White Silver and Red,  Is that silver under the cracked filler on the quarter?  Is that even an original quarter? White on each side of plate but whole back looks like it was all painted red at one time then some black for fun.

The steering column holding bracket certainly looks silver for no reason other than being original?

White door jambs and rust wheel well with 280z-like back bumper.

Red rust primer and Nissan grey/white primer.