What an amazing restoration! I only wish I had this much reference material available when I redid my car 15 years ago (not that I could have approached this level of quality). I see what appears to be light reflected on the spokes of the steering wheel, suggesting the finsh is a semi-gloss or gloss. The original finish on the spokes and hub was a non-reflective satin black.

Looks like they may have intended it to be the same finish as the shifter knob.

9 hours ago, christoffel said:

I'm by far an expert on Australian cars, but I think that should be corect for your Australian 09/1971 car. As far as my knowledge goes, HLS30-00004 should not have a lower splash pan fitted. If I remember well, it had a splash pan with holes mounted on it. It is very difficult to be on par with all WW markets/years in terms of exact specs.

I believe a 'splash pan' (Nissan called it a "BOARD - splash" in their technical literature) is visible in early Australian press photos of 'HS30-00004'. I think I can see one, anyway...

A slightly later production Australian market car (very early 1971 production if I remember correctly) was imported into the UK some years back and I watched it go through a full refurbishment. That car arrived from Australia fitted with a no-hole 'splash pan':

In any case I think it unwise to expect hard and fast universal rules when it comes to items like this. Yes, it was part of the original design engineering and the mounting points are there on the bodyshells, but it may have been the case that fitment was withheld/paused for some markets/variants/territories for periods of time. We have discussed this on the forum several times in the past.

Of course we are observing all this retrospectively, but I would recommend caution when cross-referencing content on cars made for different markets.

I'm always amused to see discussions of component paint finishes defined as 'matt', 'satin' and 'gloss', as though there's nothing in-between.

Some of the first restoration-linked discussions I ever had with like-minded enthusiasts about these cars were on the bewilderingly diverse range of finishes observable on the various parts of the cars. But we should not be surprised. The components of these cars were made in many different factories and facilities by many different companies, both within the Nissan fold and without. So the black paint used on the spokes of the steering wheel when Izumi made it is not necessarily going to be an exact match to that of the seat mounts (which - by all accounts - was applied by a Nissan Shatai line worker armed with a pot of paint and a brush...), and the black paint on the suspension legs made by Atsugi is not necessarily going to match that of the diff casing made by Fuji Heavy Industries.

Hair-splitters (guilty as charged) might also imagine differences depending on who was wielding the spray equipment/paint brush, what day/time (Monday morning vs Friday afternoon?!) and even what month of the year. Not stirred thoroughly enough? A little too much thinner? Getting near to clocking out time? If you've ever worked in a manufacturing environment some of this might be familiar to you. The production line at Nissan Shatai was a busy place from late 1969 and through 1970, when the car in question here was being made. Like a good garden, A Little Bit Of Chaos would always have been involved...

Not forgetting that we are now unable to source/use many of the formulations of paints originally used on these cars 55+ years ago. We have to use modern - safer, more environmentally friendly - formulas which cannot be expected to be an exact match to what was used in period.

So a fair amount of pragmatism is required both by the restorer, and by the observer/judging panel.

Beautiful car. I'm certainly no expert, but I think I see a couple minor things that are not quite correct.

For example, I don't think the shift pattern emblem on the shift knob is quite right. It looks like a flat bottom (presumably second surface screen printed) emblem instead of the reverse embossed that was originally used. I don't see the "depth" that should exist on the shift map:

This pic shows the 3-D "depth" of the original map:

And (hopefully not being too self-serving), I've got a beautiful NOS shift knob on the shelf here if you're interested. Haha!!

The most difficult thing in trying to restore a 240Z to 100% factory standard is trying to get NOS parts that match those used when the car was built. For a commercial operation constrained by time it's not always possible. There's quite a few parts on this car that have used later bits because that's all that is available. It shouldn't detract from the car and what S30.world have achieved. I'm sure @christoffel will appreciate any feedback on areas that we may think need changing or improving. The road to perfection never ends but as long as we are willing to listen to feedback and make corrections along the way the destination gets closer!

Pretty close to my vin! I am 20212, same color.

I have the AM/FM radio, I have the original manual, my neighbor owned the car since it was new and cannot remember having the radio replaced. Maybe the dealer did? I would say it looks factory installed, but I could be wrong.

I also have the white wall spare. Which some people have said was odd?

My z is crazy low mileage. But sadly she danced on the roof and had her resprayed in the 70s, extremely poorly.

Good luck on the sale, it looks like a ludicrous amount of time was put into it!

On 2/25/2026 at 1:53 AM, jfa.series1 said:

What an amazing restoration! I only wish I had this much reference material available when I redid my car 15 years ago (not that I could have approached this level of quality). I see what appears to be light reflected on the spokes of the steering wheel, suggesting the finsh is a semi-gloss or gloss. The original finish on the spokes and hub was a non-reflective satin black.

Nice to see you here! Super nice car, congrats!

Edited February 26Feb 26 by christoffel
typo

13 hours ago, duffymahoney said:

Pretty close to my vin! I am 20212, same color.

I have the AM/FM radio, I have the original manual, my neighbor owned the car since it was new and cannot remember having the radio replaced. Maybe the dealer did? I would say it looks factory installed, but I could be wrong.

I also have the white wall spare. Which some people have said was odd?

My z is crazy low mileage. But sadly she danced on the roof and had her resprayed in the 70s, extremely poorly.

Good luck on the sale, it looks like a ludicrous amount of time was put into it!

I have seen your story of the car, very nice! Great video you made about the door weather strips, Thanks!

On 2/25/2026 at 4:34 PM, Captain Obvious said:

Beautiful car. I'm certainly no expert, but I think I see a couple minor things that are not quite correct.

For example, I don't think the shift pattern emblem on the shift knob is quite right. It looks like a flat bottom (presumably second surface screen printed) emblem instead of the reverse embossed that was originally used. I don't see the "depth" that should exist on the shift map:

This pic shows the 3-D "depth" of the original map:

And (hopefully not being too self-serving), I've got a beautiful NOS shift knob on the shelf here if you're interested. Haha!!

Thanks for seeing it, it will be adjusted, it is not correct. Actually we have some NOS knobs, but unfortunately I think their size is different, I remember from an observation some years ago. Feed back on this pleae????

13 hours ago, christoffel said:

Thanks for seeing it, it will be adjusted, it is not correct. Actually we have some NOS knobs, but unfortunately I think their size is different, I remember from an observation some years ago. Feed back on this pleae????

Yes, from what I've seen, Nissan changed the size of the shift knobs somewhere along the years. The knobs originally supplied on the Zs are smaller than what was supplied as a replacement some years later. Here's a pic showing an older original Z car shift knob and a genuine OEM replacement that could be purchased some years later. Both are genuine OEM, but the newer version is larger than the older original.

Original 240 knob on left, newer Nissan replacement on right:

So yes... For your car, NOS isn't good enough. You want an "ONOS" (Old New Old Stock). 🙂

I thought I had pics of the ONOS knobs I have here, but I can't put my finger on them. I'll have to take some fresh pics when I get the chance.

2 hours ago, Captain Obvious said:

Yes, from what I've seen, Nissan changed the size of the shift knobs somewhere along the years. The knobs originally supplied on the Zs are smaller than what was supplied as a replacement some years later.

Curious, but how do you know this? I know that you picked up a 240Z a while ago so probably have an original knob. But where did you source the replacement?

Looks like you could explore old photos on BaT and might find a point where things changed. The white rings on the knobs have different spacing so should be distinguishable from a distance. You said "replacement" but does this also apply to originals on all four speed knobs from factory cars? Was there a changeover at a certain year? Love a good detective challenge...

Edited February 28Feb 28 by Zed Head
orginal > original. I knew something bothered me before I hit Submit Reply...