Original Keys

[Spieg16]

Hey guys,

I included a pic of the original key for my car. Ive seen keys like mine and ive seen square ones can someone tell me the difference.

[montoya_fan01]

yeah, the ones like your original are not available anymore.

seriously, Nissan changed the design at some point in time, several times.

Early 240Z's had one sided keys, and some had different placement of the gooves along the shank of the key.

There are keys with different shaped keyheads (at least 3 three that I am aware of) throughout the years of S30's sold in the USA.

[Hrududu]

Hey, you've got the same one I do! I was quite pleased to have the original key as my car is not in very good condition, nor was it purchased from the kind of place you would expect to have the original key still with the car.

[kenz240z]

I've got a key like the middle one pictured for my '73.

[=Enigma=]

Mine are the one on the left. I have one for the ignition, doors and hatch, and a second for the glovebox. The P.O. or locksmith ground the sides of the ignition key flat for easy recognition by feel making it look almost like the middle one.

[sakijo]

Early 240Z's had one sided keys, and some had different placement of the gooves along the shank of the key.

There are keys with different shaped keyheads (at least 3 three that I am aware of) throughout the years of S30's sold in the USA.

The earliest key that I have seen is the one-sided key that looks like a Volkswagen Beetle's - oblong, with one side bigger than the other. Montoya_fan01's picture shows the progression of the keys shapes from left to right, going from round to rectangular to that "new" shape.

There are also left-hand and right-hand keys, depending on which side the groove is cut.

From what I've experienced, the keys are not interchangable. I bought the later key blank from Nissan, only to find out that it would not work on my car which had the rectangle shaped head. The grooves look very similar, but they don't match up. Luckily, the key shop lady told me this before cutting the keys and I was able to sell the blanks.

[mazingerz1976]

My first Datsun was a 73 Cedric 330 GX 2600 (260C) and it has the rounded key... i still have one of them. Then i changed the gas cap and it had the square one ..... now the key of my ZX is completly different.. (by the way another thing that the Cedric shared with the Zs was the wood shift knob... awesome!!!)

Camilo

[26th-Z]

There is a great wealth of information about keys on this site. Do a search.

There are two styles of keys for the series one chassis (1969 - 1971). Long and short. There are two styles of door and deck keys also. Here are some pictures.

[Fun_in_my_z]

Mine is like the third pic on post #2

[bill mackay]

i found a bunch of the round on ebay they were blanks so i got them had local lock smith cut them he told me he has the round keys for these cars he also had an org. replacement for my 88 300

[mazingerz1976]

Here they are!! these keys are from a 73 Cedric, the one in the left is the ignition key, the one in the middle is the doors, gas cap and glove box key, and the other one was the key that we installed later on the gas door.

Camilo

[DatsunZsRule]

Spieg16, the key for my Z looks just like yours in your picture except mine still has all the black on them and I still have both sets On mine, the one key operates everything.