HS30-H

Again, you're going further than what's actually there. The single character shown is not a complete word on its own. What's written is 'Sam' (pronounced phonetically with an inflection as though it had a letter 'u' on the end) and that doesn't say (or mean) 'cold' on its own. It's similar to saying that 'col' says 'cold'. I think we should be very circumspect about assigning definite meanings to these scribblings, and that includes resisting the temptation to guess complete words when there are parts missing.

That one reads 'Sam', as would be used in the word 'Samui' ('cold') or 'Samusa' ('chill'/'coldness') if it had an extra Hiragana character next to it. But it doesn't. It's just 'Sam...' on its own, so it does not make complete sense.

Again, yes that Kanji character is pronounced 'Kan' but it doesn't - on it's own - mean anything that specific. 'Finished' / 'Complete' ('Kanryo' / 'Kampeki') would both need an extra paired character to make complete sense. I think we have to be very circumspect about applying definite meanings to these marks. We might be able to read part of the message, but it doesn't mean we know what the message actually means.

It's a single Kanji that - like so many other of these - doesn't make any literal sense when used on its own. It is indeed pronounced 'Kyo', but it doesn't say 'Kyo So' ('Race'). It would need the other character next to it to say 'Race'.

First of all, it's really hard to measure these things as there's not really any good datum point to work from. Secondly - in my experience, having had a lot of the OEM headlamp cover sets pass through my hands - there's some noticeable variation in size and shape from piece to piece. They can sometimes need some fettling to get them to fit better, and it's the fixings that pull them somewhat into shape. Rather than taking measurements from the trim rings themselves you might be better working from the shape of the headlamp housing that they need to fit... So I just don't see how you can replicate them accurately without having a set of originals in your hands as reference. And that's reference to nebulous values like 'feel' as much as any size measurement. To be honest, the originals were somewhat variable in quality and even the best examples were fairly crude (although I forgive them that) so this may be an indication of how much time it takes to get them up to an acceptable standard. You know that the original trim rings were made in two pieces and then welded together, right? The shape of the 'U' channel in cross-section is also subtly asymmetric because it overlaps the clear plastic on the outside but not the inside, and I reckon that's tough to achieve without making dies to form the channel (meaning four dies and two welding jigs) which is how the originals were made. If you make them so that they sit fully on the plastic (instead of overlapping on the outside edge) then they won't look or work like the originals. I think it would be a bit pointless to invest time and money in such a project unless you could replicate the exact look and feel of the originals (warts and all). That's what people want I think.

He's light years ahead of you, I'd say...

With regard to its pertinence to this forum, it speaks more of an "interesting attitude" for a Moderator to put forward so often. He's even got it in his sig, along with an advertisement for his business. Either he's being deliberately provocative, or he's just gauche. Maybe its both, actually? In any case, I think classiczcars.com ought to be better than that.

Go back and check. I haven't called you a racist. You've just got a real hard-on for "the Chinese", haven't you? It's something you've displayed on this forum many times in the past and it makes you (despite your Ruskin quote sig.) look like a fool. What's your Z a "copy" of? Can you "see the quality..."?

...but since you ask: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11631402/Artist-sells-other-peoples-Instagram-photos-for-90000-each.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31818367 How about a little architecture: http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/images/070912-VisitorsGuide-BranchesTour-Capitol.jpg

But we are really, aren't we? This is just another of your anti Chinese threads/posts.

No bombs, books or compasses where you come from then...? When it comes to China, *we* copied *them* before *they* copied *us*...

By the way, the yellow circle is a pit signalling aid. It identified a particular car for lap timing / scoring and pit-to-car signalling in period.

The '22' in an oval is a participant sticker from the Goodwood Festival of Speed event. If it was a clearer photo, it would show the logo and the year of the event. However, as it is no.22 I can tell that it is Nick Mason's Ferrari 250 GTO, which wears the no.22 as its race number. Goodwood always like to give cars a number that ties in somewhere: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Nick+Mason%27s+250GTO+at+Goodwood+Festival+of+Speed&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=lPyGVY-PAoefsAHvkb_QAw&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1247&bih=602

The Petrolicious article is just another (count 'em...) article which forgets that the term '240Z' doesn't mean just one thing. What do you reckon the other export market versions - and the Japanese home market versions - were capable of with 3.9:1 ratio diffs and 5-speed overdrive transmissions, not to mention different suspension and some aero tweaks as stock equipment? Less, or more?

So many mistakes and misconceptions in articles like this that they have become the norm. However, this part in particular jumps out as being particularly ill-advised: Yutaka Katayama's input on the creation of the S30-series Z is often overstated, but here is a writer asserting that Katayama had "...near total control over the project..." This is absolute nonsense. Where do people get this stuff from?

More here from when the car was up for sale last year: http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/49781-macau-240z-could-this-be-the-real-deal/

Situation normal with Bring a Trailer; Two or maybe three people who know what they are talking about, but the rest of them shouldn't be trusted with crayons let alone scissors...

Here's one of several previous classiczcars.com threads where they have been discussed in the past: http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/3621-fog-lamp-switch/

Like I said, you're playing the man not the ball.

Maybe so, but that's the auction environment for you. I could counter by putting forward the possibility that the previous - long term, Japanese - owner undersold it. In any case, asking prices and selling prices of 432s (and 432-Rs...) have been rising steadily for years and high profile cases like this one will reinforce that. The 'blue bullet holes' were evidence of (I believe) the previously-fitted aftermarket ignition system. It was an Ultra MDI system, if I remember correctly from when I saw the car in Japan. As presented, the car was probably not that different to how it was in the hands of the previous owner in Japan: A regularly used and 'honest' classic, with a number of "incorrect" details that would theoretically mark it down in a concours competition but - like all my cars and like many of ours I'm sure - didn't bother the previous long-term owner too much. It's perhaps surprising (or maybe not...) that the seller didn't put a few things more 'right' (I'm thinking the top radiator hose, the plug leads and stuff like that) before the auction, but at least it gives the new owner a chance to put some work into it if he wants.

As before, you're making this more about me than the car itself. Things would still be the way they are even if I didn't exist. What's this nonsense about making me special? It's laughable. The world doesn't work like that. You - and your pal Blue - are concentrating on playing the man rather than the ball. Just like the diamond/Matisse/Patek Phillipe analogy, it's how human society works and unless you go to live in a mud hut and opt out of society you will have to buy into the economics of it to some extent. The products that you use every day - even the food you eat - is subject to market forces and the 'hype' that you point at. If you bought into the idea of the 'cheap, affordable and uncomplicated sports car' (and I presume you did, since you are here...) then you've bought into exactly the same system that causes somebody to pay the price that's just been paid for the Amelia 432. It's just a matter of degree. So yes, I'll take that 'mystique' thank you very much. It's the same mystique that causes a Porsche 911R to change hands for more than a 911L, and the Patek change hands for more than the G-Shock. You might want to sit down before I tell you this, but here's another newsflash: The PS30 Fairlady Z 432 IS "a Z with different badging." Go back to late 1969 and have another look. Nissan designed, engineered, built and sold a family of models at launch. They were all Zs. What you call "The Datsun community" is - if recent experience is anything to go on - still living under a rock. Most of them haven't got the faintest clue about the model we are discussing, and I reckon 99.99% of first generation Z owners don't even realise that many parts and details on their cars are the way the are because other models in other markets were also on the drawing board and factory floor at the same time. So I counter your inverted snobbery of "pretentiousness" by pointing at that ignorance. By calling the buyer a "sucker" you're making a judgement that I believe you don't have enough information to make. That 250-odd thousand may be chump change to him, or not. He might drink bottles of wine that cost as much, or he may not. He may wear a Patek Phillipe, he may wear a G-Shock. You never know - he might be the kind of guy who owns and wears both and knows the 'value' of both in all senses. It seems to me that you're heading down the road that leads to Philistinism, and in that case I'll wave you on your way and wish you good luck.

Get back in your radio shack, Radar.

Depends who's writing the 'history', doesn't it? If it's a single-source, non peer-group critiqued specialist website, then probably the one the author thought was the only one until relatively recently...

No $^!#, Sherlock. The mistake you are making is to comment on the 432 as though it has become something else overnight, simply because somebody paid a high price for one and it popped up on your radar screen. Newsflash: The 432 - along with several other Japanese market S30-series Z models - has always changed hands for higher prices than your equivalent year HLS30-U. Nothing has changed except your perception of what they are 'worth' in comparison with the 'price' that somebody just paid. As I said before, welcome to November 1969. There's a whole family of models that has just been launched, and guess which one is the most expensive? Guess which one is the most sporting package, the most complete sporting driver's car? Here's a clue: It's not the dumbed down, softened up and de-contented HLS30-U. If you're looking for Emperor's New Clothes, why not comment on the 3+ million Dollar Ferraris and the like that were in the same auction? Moonpup probably doesn't like this.

No need to wind a G-Shock... You'd have to go some to wind me up any more than the sillier Facebook comments do. It's like the Flat Earth Society out there.