26th-Z

I can't get back into the link either. It worked when I posted. But build date stamp was my search. Good ol' stroll down memory lane, this topic.

I typed "build date stamp" in the search box and came up with this list of articles. Great reading for those interested in the production techniques at the time. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/search.php?searchid=566943 This thread should be referenced in.

That's a pretty cool find, Arnie. The E4100 is indeed the whole console assembly. My North American parts book jumps to E4155 at 2/71 however my Japanese parts book makes the jump to E4150. There is no E4635 number listed in either. I like Ron's answer.

Carl, I luv ya 2 pieces but the fact is that the 240Z never took on the reigning C-Production 911 of Milt Minter. Minter won the national championship in Daytona in 1969, but by 1970 the Porsche effort was represented with 9 Porsche 914-6s. The C-Production national championship was the highlight of the 1970 ARRC. Held at Road Atlanta for the first time, the fierce battle staged the Datsun 240Z against the best of Triumph, Porsche and Lotus. Porsches were fielded by Peter Gregg, Alan Johnson, Ritchie Ginther and Elliot Forbes-Robinson. Five Datsun 240Zs were entered, driven by John Morton, Bob Sharp, John McComb, Jim Fitzgerald, and Jack Scoville. As if this wasn't enough, two Triumph TR-6s were entered; Bob Tullius and Kas Kastner. Kastner did not start, however. Tullius took an early lead and exchaged it for several laps with John Morton before falling back on lap seven and finally retiring on lap eleven of the nineteen lap race. Bob Sharp finished second and John McComb rounded out a Datsun Sweep. The Porsche 914-6s were never in contention. Worth mentioning is that John Morton's pole qualifying time was 0.7 sec. faster than the fastest B-Production qualifying Corvette.

Does it have any casting marks or identification? Size? Way cool junkyard find and nice paint job!

What are the advantages to QQ plates and why would you get them? Seems like there are all these restrictions and possible violations just to save a couple of bucks on the registration cost?

My guess is that the model is 1:24 or 1:25 scale. Probably one of the BRE model kits because of the Libre wheels. Fortunately, I don't need something expensive like that. I have one of those in full scale.

Frank's car is one of three manufactured in 1981 in that color scheme - black and silver. The three were supposedly made for Nissan executives. Two were shipped to Canada and one to Hawaii. Frank's car is Canadian and sports 28,000 original miles. Quite a piece.

Carl, That's a Bentley.

And the crowd they were running with.

Pics of the Zs.

Yes, the pics are from the Festival of Speed in St. Petersburg last Saturday. Beautiful day. Great show. Frank Rygel brought his ultra rare 280ZX. Of, course ZWolf was there with both his cars. It was good to see that many Zs mixed in with the crowd of exotics. The Festival of Speed is getting better every year. I'll post some pics.

Just picked up a copy of "Sports Car Market" magazine published in Portland, OR and thought of this thread. www.sportscarmarket.com Check out the site as they discuss cars in the terms Carl posted. They use +/- indications to describe what may be the grey areas between condition ratings. I also found thier explanations and grading of particular cars to be a little more lenient than the sounds of descriptions posted above. For instance, their description of a #1 car or a #1- included particular flaws or "nitpicking points". Also this graph describing current market value of the 240Z in America.

I picked up a copy of "Sports Car Market" magazine the other day and thought of this thread. "Sports Car Market" is published in Portland, OR. www.sportscarmarket.com They had an article about the Porsche 914 which included this value graph. There is another thread about current market values. I'll go looking for it. CW- (This graph in no way implies that Her Majesty the 26th or Princess 27th are by any means cheap sluts. They are worth far more than any Porsche and much more than what the graph shows)

That Datsun logo is available on eBay. I have seen it used on hubcaps before.

Thanks for the heads-up. I wonder if the fuse box is the long pig tail. Probably is. The dual hand throttle / choke style is the later version with the square knobs.

Suncoast Z Car Club http://www.suncoastzcarclub.com/index.php or the South Florida Z Car Club http://www.sfzcc.com/ The last Statewide event was the 2007 Z Car Club Association national convention in Daytona. We have been doing Z-Fest in Orlando, but I don't know what the future is for that event. Everyone is burnt from the convention? I don't know. South Florida announces events and meets on this site. Suncoast IS very active also.

I got tired of door dings a long time ago and did two things that changed this whole way of life. First, I started parking my car very far away from the parking lot hord; in the most protected spot I could find. I was actually a prick about it a couple of times, telling people not to park in MY spot. I put a car cover on my car regularly. Second, I use a ding man about once a year to fix any dings I get. It costs me less than $25 per year. There is no way I would put ding molding on my Z. It looks horrible IMO.

To put this in perspective, you guys are talking about automatic transmissions in America or HLS30 models. Automatic transmissions were available from day one in Japan. One of the North American test vehicles had an automatic transmission.

I could not have put it better, Alan. So I got my April 1970 edition of Road & Track out and there is no reference to the Porsche 911T. The 914 is mentioned because they featured a road test of it in the issue. Furthermore, the 240Z was introduced in the January issue of Road & Track. The April issue was the road test. Trivia question of the day. Who owned the Porsche in the picture Carl posted? And why is it sitting next to the Z in the picture? Factory picture? Hardly. That's from a private collection. Carl! Scold, scold. What I am leaning to believe is that you guys don't know your Porsches very well. Hate to sound like a schmuck, but this conversation is opinion based. Denise McCluggage put it very well recently when she said Nissan was the best Italian of designs in all of Japan.

Hi kats! Porsche was a very well known sports car with racing lineage well before (20 years) the introduction of the Z. The 914 type was introduced at about the same time as the S30 and I recall comments about the choice between the two. Road & Track magazine did an article in July 1971 comparing 4 GT cars of the period with the 240 Z; MGB-GT, Fiat 124 Sports, Opel GT, and Triumph's GT6 Mk3. The Porsche 914 was comparably priced with the 240 Z, however it was the 914-6 and the smaller displacement 911s that raced in the same class (C Production). They were far more expensive than the 240 Z. Of course, we all know how the 240 Z performed in the hands of John Morton at the SCCA "Road Race of Champions" in 1970 and 1971. In fact, the 240 Z enjoyed a very similar reputation with the Porsche as a "giant killer", out performing cars of much higher horsepower. I never realized the "poor man's Porsche" expression was used in Japan, but I see why. The S30 was not built to the same quality level as the Porsche but it held the same if not higher performance level. The S30 is nimble, quick, and responsive like a Porsche at much less cost. It is less costly to maintain as well. I imagine the expression means the same in any culture. One does not have to pay such a high price to get the level of performance and reliability.

Carl Beck supposedly took his BRE Baja Z. Did you see him?

I'm surprised Six Shooter has never heard of the PS term also. But I am not surprised with the confusion of what was normally fitted to the S30 model variant and what was "optional". In America, in the begining, the 240 Z was a standardized import with no "options". "Options" as we Americans are acustomed to, were what we call "dealer enhancements" mostly of aftermarket parts. In fact, it can be argued that Datsun was instrumental in the development of the American aftermarket parts business. I know Carl and I go back and forth over the carpeting / rubber mats issue even though my bill of sale clearly states carpeting as a standard feature. I recall trying to establish a connection between the features included in the S30-S model ahd the HLS30 model with no real conclusion. I think it might be pertinent to say that in Japan, the S30 could be ordered with "option" features when this opportunity was not available in America even though the parts catalogs included the "optional" items. Indeed the whole thing is so confusing. Case in point, and I'm certain you will agree Alan; a Japanese customer could order the S30-S model with all the options that would make it an S30 (Z-L) model. There seems no doubt that Kerrigan has a Z-L model - the delux version. I would comment that it would be shocking to see a Fairlady at a ZCCA judged show in the first place! I have one question that has not been covered so far. Is the road hazard flashlight (hand held torch) optional or standard? The Z-L I know of in Tampa has the flashlight. Chris

Alan, The "man-from-Z-Therapy's wife" has a very nice collection of literature and techmical information. Be gentle. :-)

Very Nice Kats! Greetings!