350z v 240z - Alan

[Gee]

So Alan, when were you going to announce the fact that you were in the June Classic and Sportscar?

Did you have to set the journo on the straight and narrow on the Goertz myth?

Shame they didn't have a bigger pic of your lovely ZG...

[halz]

Heh, heh...I agree. A better photo of the HS30H would have been nice. Alan's comments on the 350z echo my own thoughts. Think of all the Fridges that have now been denied legitimate door handles since the 350z went into production...

[HS30-H]

Hi Gee and Halz,

I was hoping it would take a bit longer for that issue to get published in your neck of the woods..........

I was misquoted! Honest!

Actually, its been a salutary lesson in minding what you say and how you say it. Mick was writing things down as we chatted, but I certainly would not have said "240Z" when talking about all the first generation cars. And I certainly don't remember mentioning the name of Mr Burt Reynolds:ermm:

He missed out one of the things we discussed at length, and I was really hoping he would point it out in an S30 / Z33 comparison. It was about the fact that the two models have mirror-image Handbrake Lever positionings; The S30 always had the lever on the RIGHT of the tunnel ( whether LHD or RHD ) and the Z33 always has it on the LEFT of the tunnel ( whether LHD or RHD ). I think this shows us something. We have discussed this ad nauseam on here - but I was hoping he'd point it out in the article. He didn't.

Actually myself, Len Welch and Geoff Jackson were kind of an 'afterthought' addition to the article. The whole article was pretty much written and finished several months ago I believe. They borrowed the red 350Z from Nissan UK's press office along with their yellow 240Z press promotions car, and took them to Wales for photography. Nissan - I believe - had told them that they were the first to get the two press cars together for a magazine article, and C&SC would have an 'exclusive'. Then their rival 'Classic Cars' Magazine brought out their January 2004 issue with a Photoshopped version of Nissan UK's yellow 240Z ( they changed the colour and put the number of another car on it because they did not want two consecutive cover cars in yellow! ). So the C&SC article was put on the back-burner for a while. Mick then revived it and did a little bit of re-writing, plus the addition of the 'interviews' with the three of us.

Mick didn't want to take a photo of the ZG that showed too much of it. He said he wanted to 'save' it for a full feature at a later date. I would have preferred NOT to have my photo taken, frankly!

He made a few errors in the text, but I was very glad he made the point about Goertz and Matsuo - which was not from my prompting, by the way. He also made a point about that in his Editorial column elsewhere in the mag.

What did you think of the comparisons he made between the two cars? I got the feeling that he didn't really rate either of them all that much, which was a pity.

Cheers,

Alan T.

[halz]

What did you think of the comparisons he made between the two cars? I got the feeling that he didn't really rate either of them all that much, which was a pity.

err... well I didn't actually buy the magazine I just had a quick peek in the local auto-book shop to see what it was about (and to spot a 'famous' face!). I read a similar comparison in a local W.A. magazine here in Perth which compared a 350z and a well-sorted 240Z (with performance prepped L28). The comparison was favourable but of course the 240Z was tweaked in all areas as a classic racer... a truly original car would not have fared as well I suspect.

I do look forward to the 'future article' on your car though, Alan. Promise I'll buy the magazine then!

[Gee]

I'll have to read the article again, but I got the feeling that despite the 240z v 350z theme, he really didn't compare the two cars per se. It was more a discussion about the 240 abutted with a summary of the features of a 350. This also happened in a magazine article here in Australia fairly recently where they claimed on the front to have a "vs" type comparison, but again merely just did a summary of the two cars and smacked 'em together.

I notice that you said that they sat on the article for a while. A few months before they had a "coming next month" type page in the mag which advertised the comparison - and it did not appear. That explains it then!

So have they done the photoshoot on your car yet Alan, or are they waiting until a later date? If later, maybe they could do a comparison between a UK-delivered Z, a ZG and your 432R replica? Now THAT would be interesting reading. I remember when those classic car mags used to do articles where they compared (say) a MK I, II, III & IV Spitfire with each other. Wouldn't it be great if they compared a 240, 260, 260 2+2 and a ZG? I guess this might not have the readership interest though.

Have any english magazines done these types of comparison before??? I guess it must have been done in Japan, but in an English speaking country? There was that one last year in OZ, but that was more of a "timeline" type article.

Enough of my rambling..

[Alfadog]

Make sure you tell us when they do your 'proper' article, Alan!