April Fool?

[sblake01]

Originally posted by Zedrally

Ah, finally get to see Alan T in person, he isn't half biscuit after all!

Now all we need is a pic of Alphapuppy to complete the collection!

They both posted pics in 'Member Mugshots' long ago. Alan T. is seated in a Skyline and Lachlan is holding a fish that he either just caught or is getting ready to use for bait!

[daddz]

Thanks to everyone for another history lesson.

Alan,

Thanks for the detailed pictures of the works rally cars. I noticed that the left hand drive works car had the e-brake re-located to the left side of the transmission tunnel? I can't imagine the sterring linkage and such to have been re-located as that would have been vastly more work?

I would have to agree with a statement made by Guus earlier regarding the 120db of a competition prepared engine. After having experienced just such an animal this past weekend you would never get a road car confused with a track car. Even the racing 510's at Datsun Dynamics are almost obscene in the way they invade your eardums.

Even the dedicated Z car publications often have trouble getting their facts straight, so why should we be surprised? In some of the recent Z car books I have noticed grammatical errors that surely should/would have been cought by the editor(s) before going to print. Much like what happens in the business world these days it seems to be a case of LCD (least common denominator). If a job can be completed more cheaply it often happens that way.

[Z-point]

Gentlemen, this is an response from Ed at my invitation.

[Guus:

Thanks very much for your message and for the information which I am now getting from other people as well. It was interesting to be offered this car to drive on short notice in Sicily, and we don't claim to be experts on all cars, fortunately. I took some advice on the history, but the article went to press before we realised what had happened. However, as late as last week, Nissan Italia are still argueing the case!!

I covered the Monte Carlo Historic Rally recently and asked the teams to tell me which 240Zs were original and which weren't and they couldn't, though the steering on the left should be the giveaway. We have learned a lot and I would like to visit you sometime.

best wishes

Ed]

This is no excuse! People who are driving the MC rally nowadays are hobbyists and do not have to know anything of the history. Sure there where Datsun 240Z’s in works colours. But that will not express the owners have to know every thing about it?? It is just a mirror from the past.

No, that was the JOB for “VINTAGE RACECAR" magazine!!!! If you are going to make an item about anything do you home work and don’t tell fairytales.

I doubt he ask Tony Fall any question otherwise he should have known…………he was there in Monte Carlo!!!!!

[HS30-H]

Originally posted by halz

Alan,

Are you sure about this? I was fooled by the mag layout too.. red car on front, yellow one inside. When I look closeley however I see that there is one article on the yellow car (the badge snobbery article) and another under the topic of "treat yourself" (things you can get/do with 5000 pounds). In the second one they use the orange car depicted on the front cover...I don't think they've photoshopped it!

Hayden.

Hi Hayden,

Actually, Glen Waddington ( the staff journalist of Classic Cars magazine who wrote the article ) fessed up to it:

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e-mail from Glen Waddington:

"Guilty! You've caught us red-handed. That cover car is a ringer, but not quite in the way you probably imagine.

In the magazine, you'll have seen the studio photography of Nissan UK's gorgeous, freshly restored yellow 240Z. We did an action shoot with that same car for the cover, but we were nervous of using it because the previous issue had a yellow Ferrari 275GTB/4 on the cover. To the untrained eye, from a distance, they look very similar indeed...

So we 'resprayed' our yellow Z using a dash of computer magic. To try to avoid confusion, we changed its registration (again by manipulating the photographic image) to that of a Datsun press car that was lent out for road tests back when it was new.

I'm glad to hear it's still very much alive and well, and that it's been rescued from its life as a drag racer. Well done for spotting it - and I'm going to send a pat on the back to our art department for altering the image so seamlessly.

Thanks for getting in touch. I hope I've set your mind at rest about the identity of the cover car - even it it has meant me passing on a few trade secrets.

With best regards,

Glen

Glen Waddington

Features Editor, Classic Cars magazine."

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Personally speaking, I'd have thought that it was slightly dangerous to use a registration number from a car that might still exist. Here in the UK, the registration number tends to stay with the car for its life ( its a National rather than county based system ) unless an owner decides to pay extra and choose to transfer a personalised number onto it. In which case you might think that they would have checked before using it....... :cheeky:

Luckily for the magazine, the current owner appears not to have kicked up too much fuss about it.

All the best,

Alan T.

[halz]

Alan,

I standeven more corrected !

I had a very close look at the magazine last night... you can even see a yellow reflection in the metal of the windscreen wipers too!

What a contrast between the open contrition or Classic Car mag and Vintage Racecar. By being honest about what they did Classic Car will move forward with their credibility intact... VR should be sunk for their scurrilous, un-researched story!

Hayden

[Gav240z]

It's pretty funny when you take a close look you can really tell it's not real.

It's true the Ferrari on the previous cover caught my eye the first time and from a far i thought it was a Z . The red car caught my eye straight away and I bought it without even looking for what article was inside.

Alan did they mention anything about Goertz and did you correct them on their mistake saying he designed it?

[HS30-H]

Originally posted by Gav240z

Alan did they mention anything about Goertz and did you correct them on their mistake saying he designed it?

Gav,

They have been informed on this occasion and many times in the past. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink........

The first thing these journalists do is to get the old books out ( which are full of the old mistakes ) and use them as source material. If its written in a book, it must be right - right? The mistakes are set in stone now, just like the bad data and nonsense in this Vintage Racecar Journal article. :disappoin

Alan T.

[HS30-H]

I thought some of us might like to compare the Italian car with pics of the real car, in period:

[HS30-H]

On a road 'passage' stage, between special stages ( drivers are not wearing helmets, but Todt is wearing his Russian cossack hat):

[HS30-H]

A special stage, at a tight hairpin so typical of the Monte:

[HS30-H]

Detail from the car as it is now. One of the faded 'Controle Technique' stickers:

[HS30-H]

Faded and shrunken by sunlight and age, one of the official Monte stickers on the roof of the car: