1 hour ago, bartsscooterservice said:

interesting is the extra rear stabi bar on the euro versions

S30-series Z was designed to incorporate anti roll bars both front and rear.

Therefore perhaps more interesting that initial North American market variants didn't get a rear bar.

The 'Final Euro' variants of course had much more than just a rear bar in their upgraded specification to suit European road conditions and the perceived requirements of its drivers.

18 hours ago, Zed Head said:

And, as usual, you're ignoring what was written and projecting your own thoughts in order to create an argument. These guys clearly state that they intend to restore the cars to how they were as they as they left the factory. SpeedRoo pointed out some things that were not that, but you just ignored that reality and chose the argumentative path instead. Typical.

For your part, you never ever seem to answer a straight question. You just rock off on your own, often non sequitur, stream-of-conciousness stuff as if you're talking to yourself. You ask questions that have already been answered - often in your own links - change direction and ignore points being made. Take a peep in the mirror occasionally.

Here's the thing about your "reality", and SpeedRoo's pot-shotting. You two are picking fault in cars that are not part of the S30.World 'Masterpiece Collection', and which are not going to auction on BaT. You don't know which cars are part of that program, which cars are on their way to Group 44 nor which particular car is going to be auctioned starting on 23rd October. You've jumped the gun.

S30.World has a museum collection in Buren, Holland (as you can see in the photo I posted above) and this includes cars that are 'survivor', unrestored, original paint cars as well as cars that have been partially refreshed. You will also see examples of cars from various European markets and - for example - the Portuguese 'Entreposto' variants which had a very particular specification for that market. Examples of these cars - and work carried out on them - are documented on the S30.World platform. They also have cars that are being restored to customers' specifications.

*So, anybody seeking to pick holes in the 'Masterpiece Collection' cars might be well advised to make sure it's actually a 'Masterpiece Collection' car that they are picking holes in.*

I've already said that, in my opinion, '100% factory correct' restoration is a logical impossibility. You may well contest the somewhat hyperbolic language used in the promotion, and I'd agree, but I've seen the cars in question and they are indeed excellent. I can see the effort that went into them and I've talked with the people involved. 100% is a fine target to set yourself and getting as close as is reasonably possible to that is fine achievement. I wouldn't put a percentage on the achieved level myself, but the cars are stunning and several people I highly respect - including a Nissan employee who was involved in the development of the cars in period - agree.

By all means pick apart the first car when it comes to auction, when you can see the detail photos and - I should imagine - video provided. Group 44 should be ready to answer our queries and our curiosity. It would be nice if this was carried out for the love of the cars and for the greater good rather than for scoring points against someone who is motivated by 'my enemy's friend is my enemy'...

OUCH!! More later but I have to get my Saab ready for the trip - weather permitting - to Hershey.

The current topic is - do these relative "newbie" restorers have the same concept of what "restoration" means as the "old-timers". Is it okay to remove the things were there "as the car left the factory" and call the car "as it left the factory". In literal terms the answer would be no. The statement is not true. The facts shown in the pictures seem to clearly illustrate this. They are "perfecting" the cars by removing the idiosyncracies of the high volume manufacturing process. The things that give each car originality, and make them interesting to people that want to understand how the cars were made back then. There's nothing wrong with doing that, removing the "defects", they just need to clean up their marketing prose to give an honest representation of what they're doing. Their whole web site is kind of grandiose.

That's the whole thing, summarized. My posts and links are meant to help understand who these newcomers are.

2 hours ago, zspert said:

OUCH!! More later but I have to get my Saab ready for the trip - weather permitting - to Hershey.

Cleanest garage award goes to you.