Japanese Q/A sticker?

[26th-Z]

Thank you for your informative answer, Alan. I suspect you remember how interested I have been in the cultural aspects surrounding our Japanese imports.

If I understand you correctly, the same reasoning might apply to these stampings? Would we call these Inkan? One appears on my FRP headlight scoops which Endo san told me is a "ken" inspection stamp. The other is his steering wheel showing date of manufacture.

Regarding the interior plastic panel moldings, they are indeed injection molded and I can tell you from experience that the butterscotch does not hold it's color evenly. Hand workmanship is also evident on the plastic pieces. Or perhaps the molds were revised. 26 and 27 do not have rear window demisters and there is no notch for the wiring in the headliner panel.

[HS30-H]

Thank you for your informative answer, Alan. I suspect you remember how interested I have been in the cultural aspects surrounding our Japanese imports.

Hello Christopher,

I'm always gratified to hear somebody else thinking the same way as me. I've owned many cars from many different manufacturers and nations, and I honestly think that - in many ways - these humble Japanese sports-GTs are the most 'exotic' things I have come across.

It is the many elements of mystery that I find so appealing. Want to know anything at all about Porsche homologation specials? - go look it up. Its all out there in umpteen books. Lancia suspension patents? - no problem. ALFA prototypes? - likewise.

S30-series Z? - err, what's that?

If I understand you correctly, the same reasoning might apply to these stampings? Would we call these Inkan? One appears on my FRP headlight scoops which Endo san told me is a "ken" inspection stamp. The other is his steering wheel showing date of manufacture.

To some extent, I'm a little embarrassed to have the spotlight on me and to be asked questions that would best be answered by a Japanese native. But here goes.....

No, I would not call these "Inkan". Inkan are the more exotic form of Hanko that were traditionally carved by hand from Ivory. These industrial examples are better described as "Hanko" - which is in some cases used like a verb as well as a noun.

The one on your headlight scoop simply says "Ken" - shorthand for "Ken-sa" ( "Tested" ).

The one on Kats' steering wheel is more complex, and says "Ken-sa" - with the date in the middle - and then "Go-kaku" ( "Passed" ). They would undoubtedly have been stamped by the companies that made them; in the case of the headlamp scoop it would be a company called "Kotobuki", one of Japan's most renowned modern furniture manufacturers, and in the case of the steering wheel it would have been "Izumi" - who made steering wheels for several car manufacturers and also sold sports steering wheels under their own name. These were the people who helped to pioneer the special half wood, half composite, high pressure moulding process that Kats reported to us first hand from Matsuo san.

Regarding the interior plastic panel moldings, they are indeed injection molded and I can tell you from experience that the butterscotch does not hold it's color evenly. Hand workmanship is also evident on the plastic pieces. Or perhaps the molds were revised. 26 and 27 do not have rear window demisters and there is no notch for the wiring in the headliner panel.

Actually, my first work-placement while I was at engineering college was with a company that made specialised injection moulds for the arms industry. I have first-hand experience of the kind of 'fettling' that used to go on with injection mould tools before the days when CNC and more exotic techniques became commonplace. In fact, we used to send some mould tools to be specially finished with a simulated leather-grain effect, and the guy who did this worked in complete secrecy. He would not let us near his premises! It seems like a million years ago now. In those days ( we are only talking late Seventies here of course ) things seemed much more hands-on, and we had to do many many re-fits and mods until the mould worked properly and the end-product actually FITTED the way it was supposed to.

I don't doubt the situation with these interior panels was roughly the same.

Regarding the non-notched headliner moulding panel on your car - this is the same as that on the 'no-frills' S30-S model. There MUST have been more than one mould tool - unless the first few production panels were ALL moulded without the notches and they were cut by hand?

In fact, with production in early 1970 hitting such dizzy heights, I bet they had perhaps two or three different mould tools operating for EACH component on these cars. If we look really closely, I bet we could identify the 'fingerprint' moulding differences that would help to identify each individual mould tool..............

That's probably taking it all too far though.

Cheers,

Alan T.

[26th-Z]

So what if we take it too far. Love the conversation and now I am challenged to take a look for the moulding fingerprint. I had not thought of the S30-S application. Good point. Keep that in mind when you consider the source of the HLS30 derivation, eh? You made a couple of other points pertinent to recent threads on this site. I think we are still on topic although we are getting rather obscure.

"these humble Japanese sports-GTs are the most 'exotic' things I have come across." Yes. Humble in their simplicity yet so efficient. I think it is also appropriate to point out that the use of injection moulded panels for automotive interiors as well as the use of the FRP technology was fairly cutting edge for the time.

I see the PZR is coming along nicely. Thanks for the conversation. :classic:

[drunkenmaster]

I asked in my office today and the translation I got for the sticker in question was also "difficult" but the reasoning and context the Japanese here are unsure of also.

Basically I have nothing new to add, just confirming Alan's post (not like it needed to be).

I have been in Japan for 3 months now, and I work in the automotive industry. The guys in my team haven't seen this before so i dont know if it was an older practice. They were convinced the hole in the panel had something to do with it but I assured them it wasnt, but I couldnt tell them what panel it was to justify it. The fact that they were looking for a defect like that that means to me that it is a negative item.

[Gee]

My red interior trim had those "stamps" on the back and were clearly red on both sides.

I would think that the panels with different colours were more than likely sprayed by past owners who preferred another colour, say black to white?? There's been more than enough posts on this website alone asking how to change the interior colour of a particular car.

[MikeW]

My red interior trim had those "stamps" on the back and were clearly red on both sides.

I would think that the panels with different colours were more than likely sprayed by past owners who preferred another colour, say black to white?? There's been more than enough posts on this website alone asking how to change the interior colour of a particular car.

Here's a full shot of my panel which was originally white and later changed to black. I doubt anyone changing colors later on would have used so much black on the back side and certainly not in the strange circular pattern. While I can't explain why it's colored like this it does look like something that would have been done at the factory. Finally, the "Nan" sticker covers at least some of each color indicating that it was put on after the change in color.

[240 in OZ]

This discussion of plastic panel colour is interesting and Im glad it has been bought up.

I have removed all of the plastic interior panels from my 71 240z and they are black on both sides. When I got the car the removable tailight access covers were missing. I got a pair from a z car wreckers. When I got them I was interested to note they were red on the rear side and black on the outside.

I have always thought that they were red originally on both sides and were sprayed black in the past by a previous owner. Now, Im not too sure. A red interior is also pretty rare to see here in Australia.

Regards

Joseph Gauci