Clarification: Not JUST the 432s, but ALL the Japanese home market models had a round pillar emblem with the 'Z' mark in the centre.

Ha! I didn't realize that! Send me to my photographs! Sure enough, here is a picture of an S30 with round emblems and hatch vents. The PS30 shows the same, but my pictures of an S30-S do not include hatch vents. Of course that makes sense. The home market cars would not have 240Z on the pillar, would they?

You must be insinuating that the North American imports were left-strokers and the home market cars were right-strokers?

As far as I am aware, the vent emblems were marked left and right so that they were put on right. The reason, if on correctly, the side of the emblem that faces the front of the car is solid. The side that faces to the rear has a indent. Therefore, my understanding is that when the car is moving forward, air can be "sucked" out as the air travels over the emblem and over the rear. If the emblem was on the wrong side, the indent pointing to the front, the air would be "pushed" into the vent through the indent when the car went forward. Thus less ventilation.

Cheers

Ian

I have re-examined my emblems and they are indeed as RIP260Z describes. Each has a slot on the top, bottom, and towards the rear of the car but not in the front. When I originally compared them I was looking for a taper (back thicker than the front) or different positioning of the pins. It would indeed be possible to install them on the wrong sides without realizing.

Clarification: Not JUST the 432s, but ALL the Japanese home market models had a round pillar emblem with the 'Z' mark in the centre. This emblem is often mistaken for a 'vent' type emblem, when in fact it is solid, and mounts on the two small holes in the quarter panel.:

Hi Alan. Are the solid pillar emblems still available for purchase? If so, can point me in the right direction to purchasing a pair? Thanks!

Hi Alan. Are the solid pillar emblems still available for purchase?

Sorry Eric,

I've been chasing a pair for my project car for a couple of years now.

As far as I know they are NLA from Nissan, but I did hear that some had been privately repro'd in Japan a while back. Haven't got to the bottom of that yet.

They are the kind of thing that people will have knocking around at the bottom of boxes of spares in Japan. I keep my eyes open at swapmeets and autojumbles over there, but so far no success.

I'll let you know if I find a source.

Cheers,

Alan T.