JNC NEWS: Nissan creates a watch for John Morton using his Datsun 510’s chin spoiler

[Mike]

Nissan has created a watch just for racing legend John Morton in honor of his SCCA championships behind the wheel of Datsun cars. The one-off timepiece incorporates not only design cues, but parts from the actual No. 46 BRE Datsun … Continue reading →

Read more at JNC Magazine

[SteveJ]

I actually was able to attend the presentation of the first watch to John. I had to keep it quiet until the press release. 

Burt Levy (http://www.lastopenroad.com/) commented to us that John was always so low key that despite driving for many popular marques, Nissan and its fans were the only people who remember him.

 

[jfa.series1]

The JNC article has an error in regards to the relationship of the spoiler and brake ducts as pointed out by one reader's comment.  In early 2016 I contacted Randy Jaffe, humorously inquiring as to whether I should guard my car against a midnight raid to acquire my BRE "Spook" since it is the version used in 1970.  here is the response  I received from Randy:

" Hey Jim -
thank you very  much for the appreciation of my car! We  have done many many upgrades since the car was in Memphis as  I have been w/ Morton and Brock on several trips and every time I’m with them I learn more of the details and we change the car! I had many discussion w/ Peter on the early  front spook and I just went thru his emails and here’s his  response when I ask him about the one that is one your car:
 Yes that was the early spoiler  that had to qualify as “brake scoops”  to be  legal….Once everyone else started copying my idea it was  “accepted” by the SCCA that any front spoiler was legal  so I changed the design to be more efficient for ‘71.  PB
That’s from the horses mouth!!! Hope that helps put the puzzle together!"

[SteveJ]

2 hours ago, jfa.series1 said:

The JNC article has an error in regards to the relationship of the spoiler and brake ducts as pointed out by one reader's comment.  In early 2016 I contacted Randy Jaffe, humorously inquiring as to whether I should guard my car against a midnight raid to acquire my BRE "Spook" since it is the version used in 1970.  here is the response  I received from Randy:

" Hey Jim -
thank you very  much for the appreciation of my car! We  have done many many upgrades since the car was in Memphis as  I have been w/ Morton and Brock on several trips and every time I’m with them I learn more of the details and we change the car! I had many discussion w/ Peter on the early  front spook and I just went thru his emails and here’s his  response when I ask him about the one that is one your car:
 Yes that was the early spoiler  that had to qualify as “brake scoops”  to be  legal….Once everyone else started copying my idea it was  “accepted” by the SCCA that any front spoiler was legal  so I changed the design to be more efficient for ‘71.  PB
That’s from the horses mouth!!! Hope that helps put the puzzle together!"

 

Someone on the blog brought up about the spook. Ben is pretty good about making corrections to his posts that he sees in the comments section. I wouldn't be surprised if he updates it later.

As far as Randy's pursuit of recreating the BRE Z, here is one of my favorite stories. Randy was showing the car at the Amelia Island Concours. John was looking at the car and noticed something was off. Randy had to persuade John to divulge what he saw wrong. John didn't want to tell Randy because he knew Randy would put a lot of effort into correcting something that almost no one besides a former BRE team member might notice. John finally relented and told Randy that the holes for 240Z pillar emblem were filled in on the race car. Of course, Randy arranged to have them filled in, requiring a repaint of the roof, C pillars, and rear quarter panels. This also meant repainting the hand-lettered BRE Datsun logos on the rear quarter panels. Here's a link to a photo of the car afterwards: https://photos.app.goo.gl/SLFpfYHP4vtV578GA.

I'm not sure which is more amazing: John's memory for details 45 years later, or Randy's dedication to preserving BRE history.

[SteveJ]

1 hour ago, SteveJ said:

Someone on the blog brought up about the spook. Ben is pretty good about making corrections to his posts that he sees in the comments section. I wouldn't be surprised if he updates it later.

And Ben has already made the correction. It's great that he's conscientious like that.