Information about a very rare S30?

[dylan_UK_Z]

Sorry I thought my seesion had timed out and it lloks like I posted my reply twice!

[HS30-H]

Hi Dylan,

Glad we have managed to help and reassure you so far.

Don't worry about Nissan UK. It seems that a large proportion of their 'suits' don't now one end of Nissan's history from their elbow. I had an exec from Nissan UK standing in front of my genuine Fairlady 240ZG at a car show once, and he was telling me that 'no such model existed'. Oh dear........

Pics will be great. Posting them here as attachments to your posts is pretty simple as long as they are not too big.

You have mentioned one detail that would appear to show that its likely to be a Fairlady Z ( S30-S ) model rather than the better-equipped Z-L ( S30 ). The Clue is the fact that it has the four-speed transmission. This was standard equipment on the S30-S, and a very very rarely chosen option on the Z-L, so its more likely to be the 'basic' S30-S.

That in itself makes it even rarer than the Z-L.

I know of at least four other Z-L models in the UK, but possibly only one S30-S ( which is non-original now anyway ). Its rare anywhere in the world.

The most common way that these Japanese home-market models filtered into the UK was in the personal posession of US armed forces personnel. Very often they were stationed in Japan and bought their cars new or used whilst there. Many of these people were then stationed in the UK, and brought their cars with them ( particularly USAF personnel ). It made sense to bring an RHD car to another RHD oriented country, and I'm told that the freight was 'gratis' - as part of their personal effects. My 1970 Z-L came to the UK in this way.

Yours seems to have been imported by a Japanese businessman working in the UK, which is exactly how my 1972 Fairlady 240ZG came to the UK. Maybe even the same guy?

To pin down more Z or Z-L differences, check out the bumpers ( no rubber trim on original S30-S bumpers ) carpets ( usually rubber mats only on the S30-S, but carpets could have been installed later ) sunvisors ( sometimes only one on the S30-S ) and seat recliners ( non-standard on an S30-S, but Optional equipment ). Lots of other things - which admittedly could have been changed / updated / upgraded across the years - but the transmission already gives a clue that it is the rarer and more basic S30-S.

Alfadog posted a link to another recent thread that he started which details the Options on these cars. Should make interesting reading for you.

I'm slap in the centre of car-unfriendly London. Where are you?

Cheers,

Alan T.

[dylan_UK_Z]

Alan, we are on the South Coast in Sussex, about 20 miles from Brighton

[HS30-H]

Great, that's relatively close then.

Drop me a PM with your direct e-mail address and I'll put together some pics / data to send to you for your reference.

Cheers,

Alan T.

[HS30-H]

Just as a little taster, and a bit of encouragement ( you can show it to the 'unbelievers' who don't know what the car is ) here's a scan of one of the earliest Japanese market sales brochures.

That's 'your' car ( if its an S30-S 'Fairlady Z' model ) on the far left.

Enjoy!

Cheers,

Alan T.

[Rogersz]

Dylan ,I have that article the chassis number listed is s30001716 ,in the photo it had a two tone paint job lower mid blue with white or light blue above top of the wheel arch line and what appears to be black non genuine

mirror's on the doors. Maybe yours is the sister car ?

Cheers Roger

[HS30-H]

Roger,

Do you think that magazine article's quoted VIN number might have been a typo?

I think it has too many digits for a Fairlady Z or Z-L of that age.

I think it should read either "S30-01716" or "S30-01712" ( as Dylan said it was ) as they only had 5 numbers in the serial at that point.

Likelihood of a sister car with a very close VIN number here in the UK would be fairly unlikely considering that they were not officially imported.

Cheers,

Alan T.

[dylan_UK_Z]

Ok I managed to pop round to my parents house on my luchbreak and found out that the guy who my Grandad bought it from was in fact English but working in Japan and he'd bought it from his boss (the Japanese shipping magnate mentioned in the magazine article). It is definately a 4 speed gearbox, it's got rubber strips on the corners of the bumper.

I also managed to take these photos. Apologies for the quality but it was only on my phone.

[dylan_UK_Z]

Roger that is our car in the magazine and yes it is a typo. The two tone paint job was done by someone after my grandad received some bad advice about the car. It has now been removed.

[HS30-H]

Hi Dylan,

Good to see the photos.

Engine bay looks like it has not been messed with - which is nice.

The bumpers *might* have been replaced if they do have the rubber trim. Either that or the original buyer went for the extra-cost Option of having them supplied on the car new. I still think its more likely to be an S30-S if it has the 4-speed.

Any idea of the original Factory colour?

Thanks for your PM. I'll contact you directly to send further info. I hope that I can help you with it.

Cheers!

Alan T.

[dylan_UK_Z]

Yeah when I Grandad bought it it was metalic silver. I have loads of questions but one curious quik one. Did they add material to the wings for shaping (like they did to e-types). Where my dad has been removing the horrible paint that was put on he has found filler like leading material (he has experienced this from e-type Jags). Also the wing mirrors were on the car when my Grandad bought it and it doesn't appear to have holes or trace of holes in the wings where std one would have been???

[HS30-H]

My Z-L was originally #901 Grand Prix Silver too ( yes - it was metallic ). It seems to have been very popular in the domestic market in the first year of sales.

There were indeed areas of the car that were lead-loaded by the Factory before painting ( particularly the roof to rear quarter joint on the rear pillar ) but to see it on the front wings I would say was unusual......

However, the fact that the car ( as you say ) has no evidence of the domestic market mirrors on the front wings ( that's a pretty big hole to cover up ) suggests that the car might have been modified some time earlier in its life. The aftermarket mirrors on the doors are a big clue to this. I am willing to bet that they are a famous aftermarket make ( "Sebring" perhaps? ) and were fitted to the personal taste of a previous owner. This is quite common, I'd say. Nothing to worry about.

If you want to put it back to Factory spec mirror-wise then I can help you with parts and positioning.

Cheers,

Alan T.