Originally posted by hls30.com

Non Z to show the experience of our contestants: Who is Ernest T. Bass, and what is he famous for?

He was a character on the Andy Griffith Show. He was played by producer Howard Morris. He only appeared in 5 or 6 episodes and was also the Return To Mayberry movie. What is he famous for? Speaking in rhymes, throwing rocks, mysteriously breaking out of jail, singing the song 'Old Aunt Mariah', getting a 'diploma' from Opie's teacher Helen Crump who was also Andy's last girlfriend, getting kicked out of the army, stalking Charlene Darling, and ruining Mrs. Wiley's party although he did have a lot of fun with 'Romena' (Ramona) who I believe was Mrs. Wiley's niece.

hls30.com, you got some of the serial number stuff right, but not enough of it. How about this?

When did Datsun convert from 5 digit serial numbers to six digit serial numbers and explain the coding letters involved. With all due credit to Alan, the sleuth that he is, I'll post an interesting photograph to the winner.

Originally posted by hls30.com

You don't look dumb, you have just proved you are smart enought to want to learn! I didn't know this until I had owned my 240Z over a year! You know them by their common names: the 240Z, the 260Z and the 280Z. S30 is the factory model designation for the 1st generation body of the Z car(1969-1978)! Look at VIN #s from all countries, the S30 is the only part that does not change anywhere.

A vin with HLS30 starting it is a 2 seat, L series engine powered, Left hand drive(steeringwheel)'69-'78 Z car.

A VIN starting GHLS30 is a four seat(2+2), L series engine powered, Left hand drive(steeringwheel) '69-'78 Z car..

The G or the lack of it tells whether the car is a 2 seater or a four seater. If the G is there it had 4 seats.

The H tells that the car came with an L series engine for example:

Japanese 240s had a 2 Liter 4 valve per cyl engine,and right hand steering- they were PRS30 cars, not HLS30 cars, but both were S30.

The S30 is the factory model designation for the body.

Not quite!

You forgot that GHLS30 only applies to the 280z 2+2

The 260z's were referred to by the factory as RS30 or RLS30 I believe at least in Australia anyway.

I don't believe there was such a vin as PRS30 i think it may have been a typo. They were PS30.

Unless that indicates the difference between the 432 and 432r I have forgotten if they use a different prefix or not or wheather it was a factory reference.

Also the 240zg were known by the factory as HS30-H but it never appeared in the prefix just refrenced this way.

What beats me is why Nissan said we will use the H prefix that they used on the 240z for the 280z

Why bother?

It would have been better probably not really important but better to have H mean 240z , R mean 260z, and maybe Q mean 280z for example.

Ah well.

On the topic of Z's converted to Ferraris does anyone know what the blue GTO was in Vanilla sky I swear it was a Z from the drivers window outline.

You can see it in the first 5 - 10mins of the film. It's not really worth watching the whole lot . well it wasn't actually that bad I guess.:tapemouth

Originally posted by Gav240z

On the topic of Z's converted to Ferraris does anyone know what the blue GTO was in Vanilla sky I swear it was a Z from the drivers window outline.

You can see it in the first 5 - 10mins of the film. It's not really worth watching the whole lot . well it wasn't actually that bad I guess.:tapemouth

I too thought that looked like a Z-Ferrari conversion. The give-a-way IS the window. They really don't give you enough time to check out the car.

Doesn't it also show Tom Cruise driving a killer 'stang too?

Freaky deaky movie

yep it's a fastback alright.

It's a dead giveaway that the Ferrari is fake afterall it's a modern blue color and they never came out in that color and with that price tag they'd never be resprayed like that.

:classic:

Great explanation, Gavin! Begining with the 260Z, and 'R' designation letter for the L26 engine, Datsun added another digit to the serial code sequence apparently because they were selling far more cars than they originally envisioned

Now that's an early 260z.

Alan had a pic of a PS30 Vin prefix see if I can dig it up .

that shows a lot of how good our cars are.

using them to sub for a ferrari. i have heard a lot of peaple say them ferraris arnt worth the money you pay for em. cuz there trans never hold up.

but the way i see it, if a z is good enough to sub as a ferrari then why not just get a z?

Wow, I may have to make multiple posts on this one!

First, to the Answer on Ernest T. Bass- We have a winner!

He was famous for thraetening to "break every winder from here (Mayberry) to the State Capitol!", And for (as described by Barney) for bieng "A NUT" Sounds like we have a member of the crew from the Andy Griffith show, or their #1 fan!

Vin Deciphering is as follows (I am using the only method that works for all of the S30 cars)

If the first letter is a G the car had 4 seats.

If the first Letter was an H the car was a 2 seater and had a L series engine

If the second letter was an H-the car had an L series engine

If the third letter was an L the car had the steering wheel on the left

If the third was and s the next two places will be 30

if the fourth letter is an S the next two places will be 30,

If the car has letters following the S30, whey will indicate transmission type, country/fed/california destination, and whether or not the car had factory AC. The numbers that follow are the serial#

A G was added as a possable first number in 72/73 when the 2+2 was added, another numeric was added when the Number of cars produced called for it. Im not certian of the timing, but 26th-Z give it up!

On the Vanilla Sky question-You got me, I haven't seen the movie, but if there is a converted Z in it I will at least rent it and watch that!

As far as the "Bodanker", yea, I got your "Bodanker" right here!

I did get it! Chain or rope and all...

That Japanese 240s had a 2 Liter 4 valve per cyl engine had the same carbs (Japanese version of Webbers) on it as the 140Z. I think that those cars were moded by an aftermarket company (like the Scarab was here in the USA) and re-badged to give it a tie in to Z promotion-(No datsun badges on the exterior)

You guys have some great info! We should collect all of this Z trivia, verify it and post it somewhere.....Hmmm-I guess we are already doing that, Huh!

Originally posted by hls30.com

................A G was added as a possable first number in 72/73 when the 2+2 was added, ...............

From a North American market standpoint:

2+2 production "may" have started in mid to late 1973, but those cars would have been 260Z models exclusively, and (for the most part) registered as 1974 year models. I've never seen a 260Z registered as a 1973, but I suppose it is possible.

All except for the verification part. We are showing a few mistakes. HL cars came with an L24 and an L28 engine. The difference is L24 engined cars (1970-1973) show five serial numbers (HLS30-00026) and L28 engined cars (1975-1978) had six serial numbers. RL cars had an L26 engine (1974-1975). L26 engines also appear in world export cars from 1974-1978. The Japanese market L20 engines (1970-1975) are single overhead cam and the S20 engine for the PS30S and PS30SB chassis had dual overhead cams, two liter. The engine description for home market Fairlady Z's is probably the one common mistake I see most often. Typical Fairladys came with 2 liter, single overhead cam, engines L20 and L20E (fuel injection). The 432 / 432R variant came with the S20 engine. And no, it was not made by an aftermarket company "like Scarab".