HS30-H

The 'S30-S' model came from the factory with rubber mats (visible forward of the seat in that photo) rather than carpets, but I presume it is something attached to/around the forward seat bracket. Looks like a piece of foam or something to my eye, but hard to tell. I don't think it's anything worth worrying about...

Forward seat-mount brackets, as fitted to the Japanese market cars:

Judging by the bumpers (no rubber trim) I'd say it is likely to be an S30-S model 'Z-S' / 'Z-Std' / 'Standard' Fairlady Z rather than a Deluxe. The S30-S model had a 4-speed transmission as stock equipment, but the 5-speed O/D trans was an extra cost showroom option. Should be pretty easy to pin down the original model type. It looks to be in great unmessed-with 'survivor' condition and should be pretty easy to sell. Why not try to sell it here on classiczcars.com? Is it my imagination (can't see it all that clearly) or has the original bonnet/hood 'Z' emblem been replaced with a 'Datsun' emblem from an Export market car?

The 'carpet discussion' developed in the comments section of the Bring-a-Trailer auction for the car which is the topic of this thread: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1970-datsun-240z-43/ You'll need to scroll through the comments to see the 'carpet discussion' develop, but if you really want to go in-depth I recommend you search our own forum here for far better reference material.

The original paint/non-original paint thing started to get silly, and the pushing for a paint thickness meter examination started to look like bullying from at least two people who have an interest in prices going up. Surely if anyone wants to verify the paint they should go and see the car in person and make their own decision, and that would be their advantage over others in the auction format? I'm still not sure how these BaT auctions can be classified? I've always considered auctions as a format akin to a game of poker, where serious buyers don't want to show their hand until the last moment and the 'game' was to get something for less than you think it is truly worth. Instead, BaT seem to foster the idea of getting the price up no matter what, and some of the people making comments on the live auction are actively showing their hand ("I'm out", "I'm intending to win this"). I find it truly bizarre.

Someone's watching...

Here's another - hair edited - version in current use by Nissan Japan which shows more floor detail. Maybe a bit less airbrushing on this one?

Watch out for those acronyms, Kats. 'STD' might be 'Standard', but it's also 'Sexually Transmitted Disease'...! Nice YMO cover! I worked with them some years ago.

That's stuff I learned about right here, courtesy yourself and Mike B. Thank you.

I just wanted to say "Thanks Mr K!" *Mr Soichi Kawazoe.

Cranes!

I believe it is at the Pierre, Kats. You noted the difference in the flooring (Beverley Hilton Hotel carpet is quite distinctive in your colour photo) but something does not look 'right' in the B/W photos to me. I feel like they have been airbrushed/re-touched. I think editors would prefer a plain backdrop. The version in the Nissan 10-year report book looks especially as though it was edited to me. Floor area under the car and around the lady on the left looks especially suspicious to me, whilst I see more floor detail - and even some flash bounce? - on the short hair-edited version. I get the feeling that the Pierre Hotel event was not ideal for press photography...

What did you think about the carpet discussion? One of the latest came-out-of-nowhere bulk dealers states that he has seen no variation on '69 through '73(?) carpets (says they were all the same), which I find pretty remarkable seeing as the very first type of carpeting in North American market cars was manufactured by a third party in the USA until the factory started fitting them a little later on. Identical? One of his customers is backing him up, of course. It's like a Punch and Judy show.

Kats, You will see two different versions of the 240Z USA debut 'unveiling' photo. The version in the Nissan 10-year report volumes is different than another version, as one has been 'edited' and the other has not. I have seen Nissan using both versions. They are clearly both exactly the same photo, but in the edited version the lady on the right has had her long hair airbrushed out to make it look shorter. My wife (and I believe her...) says that she thinks the 'long hair' version looks "wrong" for a classic Kimono-wearer in 1969. The lady on the left looks far more correct, with her hair up.

What a great shot. I've never forgotten the first time I walked through a full size bamboo grove in Japan. That noise in the wind. Extraordinary! I like your 'Kari' plate too.

If you're a connoisseur of factory-style 'Overfenders' mounted on the wrong side of the car and - in any case - far too low, you'll love this.

Here's a gathering of 1960s/70s American sports cars: I think there's a Corvette behind one of those pillars...

I have one of the 'Radio Delete' trays too, and have sometimes heard them called a 'Sunglasses Tray' in Japan. It seems to work as well for that purpose as any other:

I think it is natural for people to have a bias toward their local market variants, and in pre-internet days not so many people got to see other market variants - so they didn't even consider them. What I do not understand are people who tell us not to look, or that a particular market/model is not worthy of attention. It is bizarre. Every variant has its own significance and the more contemporary variants you look at, the more you learn about them and your own market variant. There is always something to be learned. I own variants from three different markets; Japan, UK and North American, and two different models from one of those markets (Japan). Each one informs not just about itself, but also teaches us something about the others. I find it fascinating to compare them, and I'm still learning something new every time. I contend that you cannot understand each model/variant fully without looking at its production line and showroom siblings. It's a pipe dream, but I'd like to have an S30-series Z event where we managed to corral at least one of every variant/sub-variant and market model, and every different production spec and showed them all together in one space with full access. No velvet ropes around the cars and no cars locked. I think it would be both interesting and informative. Just a pipe dream though...

Hi Kats, Nice set! They look to be in good condition. I believe they are the 'old' type 44PHH-2, as fitted also to the U20-engined SRs. Nissan Sports supplied them in sets of three as a Sports/Race Option for the S20 engine, and Nissan's Works team used them on the first versions of their LR24 race engines (as tested by Kobayashi san for Car Graphic back in 1970). Did the previous owner put some reproduction A15 type stickers on them? Terashima san has a set on his PZR:

Do you want me to cut-and-paste my reply from the other parallel thread you started? All of this is doing nothing good for the filing in the forum archives.

Yes. No. No. It didn't. It shared it's 'PS30' chassis number prefix and body serial number combo with the 'ordinary' PS30. You're confusing prefixes with suffixes. 'Ordinary' Nissan Fairlady Z432 was factory build code 'PS30-D', and Nissan Fairlady Z432-R was 'PS30-SB'. Nissan's Works race & rally department(s) gave their charges their own designations as they saw fit, for their own purposes. They also gave each car it's own company internal identification (called a Maintenance Number) which is, as civilians, technically none of our business. Yes you are. You're taking all this 'VZ' hoo-ha too seriously. It's a story that's a bit frilly around the edges. That '240ZR' name is nickname given to a customised [is it/isn't it 'VZ'] car by the people involved with customising it, that's all. A bit of unofficial Droit de seigneur... Do you think Yutaka Katayama's yellow HLS30U with all its customising (Grande nose, basket wires, fancy paint etc) was any kind of 'factory special'? Of course it wasn't. It was just a car modified to the tastes of an individual long after leaving the production line. If you think that factory designations can be changed on a whim then you're falling into a whole new world of philosophical hurt. The safest and surest way to deal with official factory designations for the S30-series Z is to stick to the rule that the factory-applied designations cannot be changed after the fact, and that upgrade/downgrade/sideways shuffle of variants is technically impossible. People making up new model names, or re-using old ones unwisely and applying them to custom cars in the former colonies is nothing to be taken too seriously. ^Case in point. Yeah, "rarest" LOL. "Kept it under wraps" ha ha. "Off the records", what records? Oh, of course! Penny just dropped! You're prepping the pitch for your own custom car's upgrade from Coach to Business, aren't you? Good luck with that.

This is what a real '240ZR' looks like: (it's the one on the right...)

How is it "the rarest one"? It's an individual car - like they all are, given that they each have unique chassis prefix and body serial number - and the only difference is that it got a few additions and an extra nickname a good 20+ years after it left the production line. Since that nickname was not anything to do with the manufacturer and it was not an official series variant, it's hard to take it seriously as anything over and above any other car. '240ZR' was an internal Nissan race department soubriquet for a factory Works-prepped S30-series Z race car with an L24-based engine. What's the betting that the Z Store people didn't think about the name clash, or simply didn't know?

Kats, As you know, I am all in favour of your LHD S20-engined plan. I'm cheering you on! However, I can't say that I have taken on any of my own project cars and thought about future value. How much would my 432-R 'replica' project car be worth if I had to sell it? Maybe not even as much as the component parts would sell for. And my white 240ZG that I'm now putting together would probably be worth more as a totally stock 240ZG, but I don't want to do that... I hink you should do what you want to and take a few people with you on your journey. Any car will find a buyer in the end, and who would not want to buy an ex-Kats car? I don't think this BaT bubble is going to last all that long. It's a really strange format for me. Bidding on a car you cannot personally inspect in the metal before buying is never ideal, and it seems to me that a relatively small group of people are commenting on the auctions - some of them 'bidding' - and the BaT site owners are moderating comments before they are posted. One or two characters seem to be allowed to say almost anything they like whilst controlling the narrative. There's a potential for all sorts of shenanigans. Your 'S20-powered VZ' project might change a few minds. According to our new BaT friend 'Lstepp4re' apparently "....Here in the US we didn’t know of or care about JDM.. we knew about Datsun 240Zs that most of us couldn’t afford or acquire ..and as such ..99% of the people on this site ..just don’t care about the JDM market...". He reminds me of somebody. My personal favourite 'VZ' car? This one: