1970 240Z Works Rally - the road to restoration

[HS30-H]

9 hours ago, kats said:

And they said “when cars need to across the river, mostly a few seconds, cars have to have ability to go through”.

 It makes me think the huge duralumin under cover would help the cars float a few seconds over the water, wouldn’t it? 

At speed, it would act something like a surfboard. I think there's a skill to driving through deep standing water where you create a sort of 'bow wave' effect which pushes the water out in front of the car at the right speed to stop it coming over the top of the car?

Some of the later cars had big rubber flaps attached to the corners of the front bumper to help with this.

[xs10shl]

On 7/28/2022 at 12:07 PM, SpeedRoo said:

Thanks Thomas @xs10shl appreciate the update. Someone went to a fair bit of effort to make up that Kanri number badge, great to have the background story. 

A little sidetrack on this dashboard number badge.  It may have originally been produced by the Works team as a key tag, to help keep track of all the keys to the rally cars, but for now, I can only speculate as to it's true origin.

My thought process on this badge - comprised of one part deductive reasoning, and one part wishful thinking - originates from a picture taken of the dashboard in one of the Works cars, downloaded from the Nissan Global Media site. I can't say for certain that the tag pictured is an identical style, but it does look similar to my badge I had on the dashboard covering the hole made by the pen holder (since removed, when I reinstalled the pen holder- see here for more info).  Regrettably, no amount of "AI picture enhancement" - a-la Blade-Runner-style - has been able to sharpen the digits to allow me to accurately read the number.  I'd probably need someone at Nissan to provide a better source picture.  Irrespective of what the key tag actually reads, it would still seem to be similar enough in it's style to indicate that my badge was made in the same fashion.  Any inputs as to what you all think the number on the key tag reads?  (credits: Nissan Global Media)

Also to add- I’ve yet to see a period photo of any Works dashboard where the Kanri number is prominently displayed. My own reasoning is that the badge was placed there by the enthusiast-owner in period, simply as a means of covering the slot for the pen holder.  It made a bit of sense to further reason that he got the key tags with the keys when he bought the car, and later refashioned one for use on the dashboard.  

Edited February 25 by xs10shl

[Patcon]

The tag on the keys looks to be the same number. Having had exceptionally bad vision earlier in life I have gotten pretty good at reading letters that are badly out of focus...

[HS30-H]

20 hours ago, xs10shl said:

Also to add- I’ve yet to see a period photo of any Works dashboard where the Kanri number is prominently displayed. My own reasoning is that the badge was placed there by the enthusiast-owner in period, simply as a means of covering the slot for the pen holder.  It made a bit of sense to further reason that he got the key tags with the keys when he bought the car, and later refashioned one for use on the dashboard.  

I believe the long-term previous owner of your car was an amateur aviator? My impression was that he stuck the Works key tag Kanri number on the car's dash in the way that a civil aircraft's registration ID is often seen on its dash:

 

Using it to cover the hole left by the Grayston pen holder would kill two birds with one stone.

Here's a photo of one of the Works cars from the 1971 RAC Rally of GB. Key fob tag just about visible under there, and with rounded corners like yours:

 

Works 'Kanri' (maintenance) numbers are a tricky topic by their nature. These were Nissan's internal ID codes for the individual Works cars, not for us to use or necessarily to understand. Even the service barges had them, but sometimes they did not appear on the cars.

Here's a photo I took of the Kanri number on the '71 East African Safari winner, before the car was 'refreshed' a few years ago (in my opinion it didn't need half of what they did to it, but there you go...). The number is on a clear oblong sticker with the letters and numbers in a kind of golden reflective material:

 

     

 

[xs10shl]

21 hours ago, Patcon said:

The tag on the keys looks to be the same number. Having had exceptionally bad vision earlier in life I have gotten pretty good at reading letters that are badly out of focus...

I'd go so far as to say that there's nothing in the blurred text that rules out "8D-424" as an option, mostly based on what appears to my eye to be two "4"s. This is the "wishful thinking" component of my reasoning.  I can only hope to retrieve a clearer photo at some point in the future. 

[HS30-H]

Lancashire Automobile Club have uploaded another of navigator Mike Wood's films to YouTube.

This episode covers Mike's participation in the 1971 Monte Carlo Rallye with driver Tony Fall in Nissan Works 240Z rally car 'TKS 33 SA 986'. 

This very car... 

 

[xs10shl]

57 minutes ago, HS30-H said:

Lancashire Automobile Club have uploaded another of navigator Mike Wood's films to YouTube.

This episode covers Mike's participation in the 1971 Monte Carlo Rallye with driver Tony Fall in Nissan Works 240Z rally car 'TKS 33 SA 986'. 

This very car... 

 

Unbelievable - what a treasure trove. Thanks to Mike Wood and his trusty 8mm camera!

[DC871F]

I've watched so many videos, over and over I might add of these races on YT. They drove these cars with such precision. I especially like the one in Scotland where they flagged down a passerby to "borrow" the transaxle on the side of the road. 

[xs10shl]

The next video in the Mike Wood rallying days is available - this one from the 1971 East African Safari.  Although Mike was with the Lancia team for this event, there is a great deal of fabulous 240Z footage, both pre and post race.   Keen eyes will spot several well known Datsun drivers from the Works days. TKS33-SA-1223, 1224, and 1228 are all featured.

 

 

[Zpenman]

Great video, thanks! And the Z's took both 1st and 2nd.