Carl Beck

I think that is a completely phony sale... not his pictures, no VIN given.. and private sale by a seller that has "0" feedback... I've reported it to E-Bay FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Ron: Sorry -- but that is just too funny... But now we'll all know that it is the navel signal flag for the letter Z, while we contiune to search for the rest of the story. FWIW, Carl B.

Two Days to go on this one: E-Bay Item #330237123980 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&viewitem=&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.com%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm37%26satitle%3D330237123980%26category0%3D%26fvi%3D1&item=330237123980 This is a nice 72 that has already had a bunch of money put into making it road ready. Fly in to GA and drive it home... FWIW, Carl B.

From: http://tmg110.tripod.com/japan1.htm "Admiral's Togo's signal passed into legend as the Japanese equivalent of Nelson's flag hoist at Trafalgar or John Paul Jones' defiant protest that "I have not yet begun to fight!" On the morning of December 7, 1941, Admiral Nagumo, commander of the Pearl Harbor strike force, hoisted the "Z" Flag aboard his flagship, the aircraft carrier Akagi—later sunk at the Battle of Midway." So the Z Car represents the economic attack on the American Auto Industry??? Is that the hidden meaning? Seriously: Is Admiral Togo's use of the Z Ensign the root of the "common symbol" in Japanese culture, to which the cultural meaning "ultimate" has been assigned? Would it be correct to say that it's the FLAG that is the symbol - - rather than the English letter "Z". Does anyone know why Admiral Togo - selected the "Z Flag" to represent some then new message? Was that part of his training with the British Navy of the period? Interesting bit of history - thanks for the lead Chris. Now I must know more... FWIW, Carl B.

See my Post #19. In 1948 William R. Gorham joined Fuji Motor Company as Vice President. Mr. Yamamoto who had previously served as President of Nissan Motors, had moved to become President of Fuji Motors and ask Mr. Gorham to join him there, to get Fuji restarted. Fuji Heavy Industries was broken up after WW-II. Fuji Motors was started in 1948, to refurbish thousands of US Military Trucks that had been left in various parts of the South Sea's after the war. In order to determine where and how these vehicles would be repaired/rebuilt, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers had to decide. Both Mr. Yamamoto and Mr. Gorham were ask for their assistance in this matter. Of course Fuji Heavy Industries was reformed in 1953 by consolidating Fuji Motors with several of Fuji Heavy Industries' previous parts. FWIW, Carl B.

73 510 ? Is that in addition to the Station Wagon? Carl B.

Hi Jason: I've read that in accounts related to Mr. K and the Z Car - - - - however, I've never been able to find any mention of an "Unofficial" ensign used by the Japanese Navy in any historical account. Their official ensign was the Rising Sun 1894 to 1945. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Alan: At least one person agreed with you. Katsuji Kawamata, the President of Nissan Motors Ltd. said in a 1973 interview with Business Week, that he felt it was a mistake to have introduced the Datsun Brand, rather than using the NISSAN brand from the beginning in the US. He envied TOYOTA for having done so. I don't think too many people that bought a Datsun here in the US, did not know that it was a product of Nissan Motors, just as they knew that a Buick was a product of General Motors. The automotive press always made that clear, and most of the literature published by Nissan also made that clear. Now however, years later the average consumer doesn't know that Nissan produced Datsun's. FWIW, Carl B.

"DATSUN" (DATSON) was the original Brand name of the small line of cars produced by Nissan Motors Ltd. when it was formed in 1933/4 They applied the NISSAN Brand name to a larger line of automobiles, trucks and buses years later. ( which were actually Graham-Paige Crusaders; the design and manufacturing equipment purchased from Graham-Paige in America). Nissan Motors Ltd. was really formed as a conglomerate with several smaller manufacturing and production branches. In its earliest days for example Nissan produced parts for Fords and Chevy's being manufactured in Japan. While it's founder, Yoshisuke Ayukawa had a strong desire to get into the automobile manufacturing business in Japan, I'd call him more of an Industrialist than a Car Guy. For example David Buick was a guy that wanted to make and sell cars (the Car Guy)... whereas William Durant putting GM together was a guy that wanted to build an Industrial Empire. Just as Durant had his technical genius in Charles F. Kettering, so Ayukawa had his technical genius in William R. Gorham. I believe that it is more than possible that such a short time after WW-II (1958), the then current management did not want to use the NISSAN brand name on exports to America/Australia etc; because of Nissan's support for the Japanese Imperial Army in China, and more specifically the fact that its founder and President, Ayukawa had been tried and imprisoned for war crimes committed by Nissan in China. Toyota has no such PR problems with the Toyota Brand... Photo by Travis Rogers: FWIW, Carl B.

..and that is only part of the reason why many business leaders consider changing the Brand Name from DATSUN to NISSAN was one of the largest corporate blunders of the 20th Century. FWIW, Carl B.

I have no idea where that came from... The Flag as used as a Nautical Flag represents the letter "Z". Flown by itself it means; "I need a tug" When the "Z" is preceded by number flags, the first two represent hours, followed by minutes. In that case the "Z" represents Zulu Time. Zulu - is part of the NATO phonetic alphabet... which assigns code words to the letters of the English alphabet (Alpha for A, Bravo for B, etc). - so that critical combinations of letters/numbers can be pronounced and understood by thoes transmitting/recriving voice messages via radio/phone. The most commonly used sign for "Infinity" is the Lemniscate of Bernoulli. The Latin word "lemniscus" means pendant ribbon. This name was first used in 1694 by Jacob Bernoulli (1654-1705) to describe a planar curve, which is now named after him. (see image below) FWIW, Carl B.

I'd guess a fracture in the water jacket in the head... and when you torqued it down to a straight block - the fracture opened up on top of the gasket. You may have to take the head to a machine shop so they can magniflux the head - the crack may not be visiable with the head off the block. Be very careful pulling the head back off - so that you don't damage the gasket in the process. Damaging the gasket while removing the head -can mislead you in all directions... good luck Bill Carl B.

If it needs a tranny - don't buy that car. Buy this one instead. E-Bay Item Number 330237123980 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&viewitem=&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.com%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm37%26satitle%3D330237123980%26category0%3D%26fvi%3D1&item=330237123980 I don't know how high the bidding will go - but this is about as clean, as rust free, as well maintained a 72 240-Z as you will find today - in more or less its original condition. I know this car - it sold in California first when it's original owners wife sold it after he passed away. The second owner put a ton of money into it - fixing, updating (shocks, tires, brakes, cooling system, OEM door seals, new clutch etc etc. over $6K worth of work/parts). He and his wife drove it up/down the West Coast on longer Road Trips/Vacations. Then sold it, when a new business venture presented itself and they needed cash more than cars. It was shipped for a friend in Georgia as a great daily driver... he kept it until he came across a 73 240Z with 21K miles... This is a Z you could drive daily or drive across the country - instead of spending thousands of dollars doing all this stuff to another Z, not to mention the time, work, hassle - you could buy this one, and simply make monthy payments if necessary (much the same as spending money monthly of parts) If you don't want it - someone here should scoop it up. Personally I like the Green... although it's not everyone's cup of tea... Anything below $10K is a super bargain here, and it really should go for $12K to $13.5K because of the condition of the body and the mechanical aspects. Just a thought... Carl B.

Hi E. Actually it is quite common for Japanese Industry to use roman numerals and letters for numeric or alphabetical filing systems. The Design Project Folder was assigned the file name "Project Z". The 240 of course came from using the 2.4 liter L24 for the US, and the name Fairlady was continued in Japan. But "Z" it was and "Z" it still is. Datsun 240Z or Nissan Fairlady Z (of course DAT, DATSUN, and Fairlady came from the English language as well). They didn't name it "Z" BECAUSE that is the last letter in the alphabet. Rather they named it Z because that follows "Y", which followed "X". Z was simply the next available letter not already assigned. If "Z" had already been assigned to an earlier project they might have named it AA. FWIW, Carl B.

Sadly - the Webmaster of that site has plagiarized about 99% of its content. The history presented at that hyper-link is all but an exact copy of my writing several years ago. I had requested that he remove it, both because it was copyrighted material, and because it contains many errors of fact, that I have corrected on my own site. There is no character in Japanese, that resembles the roman letter Z. (according to Nissan's Historian) Creators of other Datsun History related web sites have also complained to the Webmaster at that sight about his copying word for word their work. I believe we will have to take our case to the Sponsors of that Club/Website FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Dave: Did Black Dragon redesign their Headlight Harness upgrade? I just received their new catalog, and was looking at the picture. Looking at the picture - I wonder if they really mean "headlight sockets"... or if their harness plugs into the cars wiring harness (as yours does)... Do they expect you to take the headlight buckets out - and plug their harness directly into the headlights through the headlight buckets?? - or are they using the connectors that go into the wiring harness?? It would seem that if one could simply find the connectors for the cars wiring harness - one could easily adapt the BD harness... for thirty bucks it seems like a deal... What do you think? Carl B.

Sleepy-Z and Zero-Z What camera's did you use to take these photo's? thanks, Carl B.

True I had the pleasure of spending many hours with Mike Muller and Peter Brock as they photographed my cars for various publications. Mr. Brock spent about 5 hours shooting, restaging, reshooting and waiting for exactly the right angle of sunlight etc. Likewise Mr. Muller. I would have to say that both of them are "Professional Photographers". So both of these men seem to have the talent, skill and experience necessary to compose photographs that someone else will pay for. One thing they both have in common - very fancy camera's, clicking off photos. Hundreds of them per photo session. Both are using digital cameras as well. I don't care how good you are at composition - if the camera doesn't support and indeed enhance your skill - you won't get the results you should. There is a reason professional photographers pay big bucks for the equipment they use. The best thing about the new digi-cams and DSLR's vs film cameras - is that you don't pay a penalty for taking hundreds of pictures. You can afford to try many different things to enhance your learning curve. Bottom line today - buy the best DSLR you can afford. It will support the growth and development of your personal skills - rather than hold you back. There are some amazingly good DSLR's in the $650.00 to $850.00 range today - - and they will be useful for anyone for several years to come. 8 to 10 meg pixel digi-cams, that you can carry in a shirt pocket - also deliver amazingly good photo's for still images etc... They are now down in the $200.00 to $300.00 range... "Damn it Jim, I'm an Engineer not a Photographer!" FWIW, Carl B. D40x SureShot 1000 CoolPix 950 (now 6 or 7 years old)

The picture was taken at the ZDayZ - Tail-Of-The-Dragon - North Carolina But it does remind me of several places in the Pacific Nortwest. FWIW, Carl B.

What Kind Of Graphics Fit A Z Best? The kind that are printed on static cling vinyl -so you can put them on when needed/desired and then remove them without damaging the paint. FWIW, Carl B.

Your Post has been read 92 times - - and still no one can answer. I don't have a clue related to what you are asking? Can you phrase the question in another manor, or give some more specific examples? FWIW, Carl B.

Am I the only one that fails to understand this Post? Who's pleasure has it been? FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Mike: I have a vague memory of Courtesy Nissan offering one or two "Classic Z's".... but I was never interested in that part of the program, and it seems to have been dropped fairly shortly after the Vintage Z Roll-Out. Since there were still plenty of 90-96 300ZX's in the used car market, mostly with reasonably low mileage and good care - there really wasn't much demand for them at the Dealership level. I'll check with the guys at Courtesy, someone there might remember. Things were still really up in the air at the beginning of the Z Store launch.. and I believe that many of the people at Nissan were still more or less playing it by ear. Had there been a huge demand for Classic Z's (their use of the term), perhaps that aspect might have gained some momentum. To the best of my knowledge Nissan did not intend to offer any Z's in that program other than the 70-72 240-Z's and the 90-96 300ZX's. There was some discussion related to taking 240-Z's into the Vintage Z process, that were privately owned, and whoes owners were willing to pay the $24K cost to have their 240-Z's redone... but that never happened as the reality of the situation became apparent - ie they really did not have the necessary stocks of NOS parts to do more cars, and the actual costs were exceeding the planned costs by a wide margin. Not to mention simply not being able to get that many cars done is such a short timeframe. FWIW, Carl B.

You'll find that the Optima red top will also hold a full charge far longer than the lead/acid batteries. I agree with the others that recommend the later gear reduction starters, if you have to buy a new starter anyway. I used the 240-Z starter on the BRE Z, only because that is what was on it as raced in 73. Nonetheless, it worked out fine... FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Mike: As originally conceived - the Z Store plan was to offer both Vintage Z's and later model "Classic Z's. There was no need, and thus no plan to remanufacture the used Z32's..... just inspect/repair and offer them .... From a Nissan Press Release: Nov. 20, 1996 "Z-Store Of The Future". " "Through our new Z-Store concept, we are partnering with select Nissan retailers to demonstrate our heritage and prove our commitment to the consumer by offering reconditioned Z-cars -- a model line that is legendary in the automotive world," said Tom Orbe, vice president of marketing for Nissan and Infiniti Divisions. "We are really excited about this program because it allows us to offer consumers what they are requesting in an imaginative new way. We hope consumers and enthusiasts alike share in our excitement." Individuals that purchase Z-cars from Z-Store retailers will receive a number of amenities including a special-edition bronze badge, decal and certificate as well as easy access to purchase Z memorabilia. This program will be implemented in two phases; the first featuring "Classic Z's," which include 1990 to 1996 300ZX model pre-owned cars, followed by pre-owned Z-cars from the Z's 26-year history including early model Z-cars beginning with the 240Z ("Vintage Z"). "Classic Z" Kicking off Phase I of the Z-Store will be the offering of "Classic Z." Differentiating this program, from other off-lease programs is an intensive 120-point inspection that each vehicle must pass before being offered for sale in a Z-Store. These cars will also carry Nissan's Certified Pre-owned Limited Warranty and "Classic Z" badging. "Vintage Z" Cruising into Z-Stores early next year will be reconditioned "Vintage Z." These restored early model Z-cars will also include a limited warranty and should prove to be collector cars in the future." FWIW, Carl B.